Military Careers: A Growing Option

If you're considering a military career, you have a lot of different options to choose from: Navy, Army, or Air Force? Or perhaps Marines? Enlisted or officer? The options are, if not endless, at least vast and kind of complicated. And once you've decided on your branch and type, you have to choose a specialty field as well, with its own course of education and its own role and function within the military. Military Careers: Officers versus Enlisted Officers are initially pulled from military academies; to enroll in a military academy, which is a four-year college with emphasis on the military, you have to be unmarried, between 17 and 22 years old, pass a physical fitness test, and have a recommendation from one of several different sources like political figures or current or retired military officers. You also will have to take competitive examinations; only the best will be accepted into a military academy. Candidates go through regular college classes as well as officer training courses, and upon graduation begin their military career when they receive a second-lieutenant commission in their chosen military branch. Enlisted men join their chosen branch of the military, go through an eight-week boot camp after passing examinations and physical screenings, and then go directly to either their specialty school or to an assigned military unit. While enlisted today are encouraged to go to college and get a degree, it is not necessary to join. Changes are being made in all the branches, though, to make it much more difficult to advance in your military career unless you have at least a four-year degree. Neither enlisted nor officers have any real choice as to where they're going to be living; if you don't want to leave home, a military career may not be a good option for you. Military Careers in Different Branches It used to be said that the guys in the Air Force were the smartest, and the guys in the Marines were - less than bright? Not true at all, at least not now. Today, in our technologically-advanced military, all the branches are looking for bright, hardworking young recruits. The Navy is a good military career option for those who are interested in communications and computing careers. Today's Navy is heavily involved in surveillance, both of potential threats to America and of our environment. It is crucial that the Navy be forewarned in case of threats such as hurricanes or tsunamis. Many of the recent meteorological developments have come from Naval surveillance of our weather and atmosphere. The Navy is also a great option for people interested in pursuing careers overseas or with the option of lots of travel. You find very much the same thing in the Marines, who are a semi-independent brother branch to the Navy (they say they're not the same, but the Navy transports them, trains them, and provides noncombat support such as chaplains and medics). Marines are equally involved in communications and computing, and are also brave men who put themselves in harms way on a daily basis. For a military career requiring brains, brawn, and guts, look to the Marines. The Air Force focuses largely on the upper atmosphere these days: satellite and high-flying plane technologies are the impetus behind our scientific advances in these areas. If you're interested in space technologies, engineering, and airplanes, a military career in the Air Force may suit you - be warned that it is highly competitive. And the Army focuses mostly on moving men and equipment through an uncooperative environment. Army military careers are great for people interested in teamwork, hard work, and earth-based technologies like civil engineering, building, and mechanized technology of all sorts. Military Careers: Specialties If that wasn't enough, you can find military career paths in dozens of specialties: things like network computing, medicine, journalism, office management, procurement, transportation, communication - basically, every conceivable career path in civilian life has an echo in a military career path. If you want to see the world, if you like the idea of having your education paid for while you're serving your country, and if you are idealistic and willing to lay your life down for your country if asked, then a military career is an option you should consider.

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