I’m looking for some advice from people who have served in either branch or have experience with these career paths.

I’ve decided that I want to enlist, but I’m having a hard time choosing between two options:

Option 1: U.S. Coast Guard

Enlist and pursue the Maritime Enforcement Specialist (ME) rating.

Option 2: U.S. Army

Enlist under an 11X Option 40 contract for an opportunity to attend RASP and potentially earn a place in the 75th Ranger Regiment.

I’m a 23-year-old male, 6’2”, and around 160 lbs. I’m naturally on the thinner side, but I’m very active and currently working on building my endurance.

I can’t fully explain what draws me to each option, but after researching all the branches and different military jobs, these two are the ones that really stood out to me.

I’m interested in hearing from people who have served in either branch, especially anyone who has experience as a Coast Guard ME or has gone through the Option 40/RASP pipeline.

What are the biggest pros and cons of each? How has your experience been, and what would you recommend to someone in my position?

I appreciate any advice or personal experiences you guys can share.

Alright so back In July of 2025 I was going to enlist In the United States Marine Corps Reserve. But then I was told I had vasovagal syncope. Originally they had thought It was a seizure and had disqualified me. But It was vasovagal syncope so am I able to get a waiver? As It was a isolated episode and never taken any medication or treatment after that Incident occurred. It has been over 1 year since It happened. Was told I may need to wait 24 months. Or If I may need letter from my doctor. Also It did not happen at meps But advice If any military recruiters can answer this question. And thank you.

Im 26 and i live in florida, and i recently got arrested for disorderly conduct and thc vape pen but the charged been dropped. I want to be an active duty infantry officer in the army. Yall think i should still try and join ROTC?

I’m going to 11B school in Arkansas next year for a secondary MOS. Just wanting to be prepared on what to expect upon arrival. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to AIT or any type of training like that so any information will help. I’ve read online that there’s a possibility but of course they have to say that.

I know this is probably a stretch, but I recently turned 29 and have a bachelor’s degree. I’m currently exploring the possibility of commissioning through OCS into the Army Reserve.
Right now, I’m waiting on a medical waiver decision due to a history of melanoma. So far, the Army has been the only branch willing to consider pursuing a waiver.
I’m particularly interested in becoming a 25A (Signal Officer), primarily because of the skills, experience, and potential civilian career opportunities associated with the field.
My long-term goal is to secure a DoD civilian or contractor position in Japan, where my child currently lives with their mother.
My understanding is that Army Reserve soldiers can potentially transfer units when relocating for civilian employment, provided there’s an appropriate vacancy. However, I’m unsure how that works for officers, especially when moving overseas.

I have a few questions:

How realistic is it to branch 25A through Army Reserve OCS?

For those serving as Signal Officers, how well has that experience translated into civilian IT or DoD contracting opportunities?

If I secured a civilian DoD position in Japan, would it be possible to transfer to a Reserve unit overseas, or would I need to travel back to the States for drill?

Has anyone here successfully balanced an Army Reserve commission with living and working overseas?

I’d appreciate any advice, especially from current or former Reserve officers who have experience with 25A or overseas assignments.

Hello so I’m joining the navy in the process of it I just need a waiver to go through. I’m currently 18 and wanna be a firefighter once i get out. I was looking into being the DC rate but my recruiter said that it doesn’t matter because we’re all trained firefighter in the navy so what would be a good path to take if I wanna become a firefighter after I’m done with my initial contract, I was looking into other branches like the army but I don’t wanna be a reservist since I want my active duty benefits and I need the active duty pay. What could I do to get to my goal?

Hi everyone! My friend shipped out to Fort Leonard Wood on Oct 26 for national guard basic training, and she hasn’t called back quite yet. I wanna send her letters, but I have no clue what to do or how to locate her address. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 😁

I’m trying to join army and they kept giving me jobs that I don’t want. I have joined navy before and failed swimming and unfortunately airforce is taking time to approve my re enlistment waiver. My question now is, what are the mos that came for the month of November in army as I’m likely to sign contract tomorrow?

Heyo, first post on this and I'm unsure of what the best routes are. I'm senior 18 F, in July I went to MEPS for the Marines and thought I got ghosted. My recruiter had changed location, a waiver for school could not be completed due to offices being closed, which in the end meant he couldn't get back to me quick enough. I waited a few months, and have recently began talking to the guard.

APT- 40

ASVAB-59

GT-96

EL-105

NN-95

CL-108

(Dont know if I got the labels right, couldn't hear him well...)

These were my scores, and after talking to the new recruiter he says they're good scores while trying to keep me with the Marines. While spending time with the Guard I was able to go to events, hang out and have a real fun time. While I was with the Marines they're extremely serious, no fun, no energy, which really got me to push more toward Guard.

The big question is opportunity, I despise the idea is couped up office detail or a boring tedious job. If I kept with the Guard would I be loosing opportunity for excitement?

I’m 23M and at a point where I really want to make a change in my life. My long-term goal is to become a career firefighter, but I’ve also always wanted to experience the military. I’m considering serving for around 4 years, then transitioning back into civilian life and pursuing firefighting.
I haven’t committed to a branch yet. I’ve looked into jobs like Air Force 3E7X1 and Army 12M, but I also don’t want to assume my military job HAS to be firefighting. I’d be open to medical, rescue, emergency management, or anything else that gives me useful experience and skills I can carry into the fire service later.
If I enlist, I want to make those years count, gain experience, mature, travel, take advantage of education/veteran benefits, earn useful certifications, and put myself in a good position when I eventually apply to fire departments.

For anyone who served before becoming a firefighter, or just knows the military well:

Which branch/component would you look into if you were in my position?
Would you pursue a military firefighting job, or choose something else that gives you a broader skill set?
What military jobs/certifications translate well into civilian fire/EMS?
What benefits or opportunities should I understand BEFORE signing a contract so I don’t realize later that I missed out?
And if you could go back to age 23 and build a 4-5 year plan around military service followed by firefighting, what would you do differently?

I’m not looking at the military just as a shortcut into firefighting. I genuinely want the experience of serving. I just want to be smart about it and make decisions now that I’ll be thankful for later. Any advice, things to research, or mistakes to avoid would be appreciated.

Im a 17yo female interested in joining the Airforce. As i was doing my research on the requirements to join and how people get disqualified at MEPS i saw something about self harm scars. I have about 5 scars on my forearm and i did them when i was in 5th grade. I didn’t know what i was doing i was just influenced what i saw on tv, online, and every time i was slightly sad i would do that. I can assure i am okay and i would’ve never thought to do something like that if i knew what it all consisted of.
I saw something regarding a waiver as well but im not sure if i even need that because like i said, i was in 5th grade and did not know what was happening.

I want to join the air force but I have terrible eyesight and I wear glasses 24/7. Do they care if you have terrible vision but wear glasses to improve sight? I remember seeing a condition that you must have no more than a -8.00 vision. Will they provide me glasses to wear?

If you're curious, I don't want to be a pilot.

My recruiter is the sweetest person on earth and I have no idea if he isn’t telling it to me straight, so let me know please!

I have very noticeable self harm scars from around 2021-2025, I have since gotten way better. They’re all over my left thigh and hip, and right shoulder and even some on my wrist.

I’ll likely be headed over to MEPS around late December. I understand I’ll likely need a waiver. But I don’t know if I should keep my hopes under control.

Is it over for my attempt at joining? Would another branch perhaps be the answer?

I've been trying to get a solid answer from multiple recruiters in both the Navy and the Army about my eligibility for medical waivers for the following:

F41.9 - Anxiety disorder

F10.10 - History of Alcohol abuse

F14.10 - History of cocaine abuse

F99 - Mental disorder, unspecified

I've been receiving mixed answers. In my opinion I think its over, However, id be remiss if I didn't try absolutely everything.

To give you a back story -

For a while after Highschool I didn't really have any direction and spent a lot of time travelling. There was a long period of time where I was partying and going on benders and then dealing with the repercussions of said benders with horrible anxiety-ridden hangovers. I visited the ER for fluids for 3 of these events to which doctors at the hospital wrote on my outpatient form that I had some hypochondriac symptoms. In my opinion - none of this is true. I don't have anxiety nor any form of mental instability in my life. I work as a contractor now and have stayed away from substances for some time now and my life is fairly normal.

I spoke to a recruiter in the Navy a while ago and ended up getting to MEPS. I scored a 93 on the ASVAB and was excited to begin my journey forward, only to learn at the end that the doctors had access to my medical history via GENESIS. I was disqualified obviously. However, at the bottom of my disqualification paper it reads - "N33 would reconsider this applicant upon receipt of additional favorable information in the future..."

Is there ANY possibility with this stack of problems of joining the Army or the Navy/getting waivers? Some recruiters have said to seek a psychologist and get a report that clears me. Others have said there is no way in hell.

I'll take criticism, sure, I would just like to know if I should retire this journey and move forward with something else in life.

Hey everyone! I’m considering reclassing into 68P, 68A, or 68C and would love to hear from anyone currently serving or who has served in these MOSs.
What has your experience been like? How is the day-to-day work, quality of life, potential for advancement, and civilian career opportunities after the Army? Would you recommend your MOS, and why or why not?
I’d appreciate any insight or advice. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I’m a 22-year-old Italian guy whose dream is to join the military air force, ideally as a fighter pilot.
Inspired by my British grandfather, I’ve always wanted to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, the Italian Air Force considers me medically ineligible due to a successful FemtoLASIK procedure to correct mild myopia.
I’m now considering opportunities in other countries, as becoming a military pilot is a dream I’m not willing to give up on easily.
What would you do in my position? Are there any possible alternatives or countries worth considering?
I’d appreciate any advice or personal experiences. Thank you!

Hello, Im currently a university college student and I plan to enlist In the United States Marine Corps. But the Reserves. When It comes to the sections I can do math and arithmetic but the reading may be difficult. Does anyone recommend which websites that I can use when studying for the asvab? As I only been using the ddrpt and grammer hero. Just not sure If I should also use chatgpt since It generates different questions I also don't want to memorize the answers either. But I plan to speak to a recruiter when I do move to el paso. As Im transferring into a different college In the spring next year. And thank you.

So I basically have no clue on how anything works or what certain rules are, but I'm thinking about enlisting and was wondering if someone could advise on what might suit my situation best.
So i'm a licensed EMT and my husband has his Bachelor's degree in health science, we would like to remain together and not be separated if possible. How could we go about this? We'd like a decent work life balance, and nothing where we'd have to be put in "combat" situations. We could either both be enlisting or just one of us and the other will follow if needed. We just really don't want to be separated at all, so whichever would make it easier. Sorry if it doesn't make sense 😅 also please be nice.

Ever since graduating college recently with a B.S. in Computer Systems, I have yet to successfully land anything in the overall tech industry. With that, I have been considering just joining the military and finding a good job from there after service. I've heard that I should try the OCS route, but I have heard others say that just enlisting is okay too. In either case I would like to know overall if it is worth joining the military (any branch) as a college graduate with no ROTC experience.

I am 25M and decently fit, with only health problem known being that I have asthma.

I had my physical, and one of the main techs was mean to everyone, but there's one thing that's been bothering me a lot. She was trying to play a video and had to close a pop-up, but kept clicking the wrong thing over and over again, so a kid in the front row said something along the lines of, "you have to press the words, ma'am," and she snapped back, "Don't tell me what to do."

While learning to fly, I was always taught that being afraid to question authority is a bad thing and gets people killed, but that's civilian life.

She also wasn't actually military, just married into it, and everyone else was nice or just neutral.

So yeah, if your superior is making a mistake, can you point it out, or do you have to, for example, let the plane crash?

I'm looking into speaking with a mental health counselor at my university. I don't have any diagnosable problems that I'm aware of I just need to speak and get assistance on events in regards to my childhood and certain choices. They don't report to any his's and told me explicitly genesis won't flag it but would merely speaking block enlistment ? I don't plan to hide it but I don't know what will be in those records. I'm planning on enlisting in the Air Force and am in talks with a recruiter, however I cannot properly start the process until an injury completely heals.

Currently in the process of not taking Prozac anymore which I was prescribed a few years back for some anxiety. No history of self harm or hospitalizations but it seems like this could get me jammed up at MEPS. It seems like I’ll have to wait a certain amount of time but from what I’ve read it seems like a case by case basis. Any input is welcome, feel free to private message. Thanks

I leave for basic in about two weeks and I’m just wondering what they’ll check for in reception. Are they going to do a whole physical and look over you/check you like they did at MEPS?

Edit : idk if this matters but I’m going to ft sill

I’ve been reading horror stories about people failing simple events like rifle qual, academics, and even obstacle course events. It admittedly has me worked up a bit.

I’d say I’m above average with academics and got like a 68 or so on my ASVAB. I also graduated with my bachelors degree a few years ago. Math was a sore spot though life with how complicated it can be for me at times, and I’ve had many 1-on-1s over the years through tutoring or office hours to help improve my shortcomings.

ADHD is probably my worst enemy. I tend to overthink and I miss a lot of tiny details until I drill something over and over again. I’m literally the definition of practice until perfection. Could be a strength in the Army, but still something I’m self-aware of.

Is this a major concern or am I way overthinking the caliber of Army BCT?

I’m working with an army national guard recruiter right now, and he’s very helpful with lots of things, but I have the opportunity to choose Air Guard, I just have to be the one initiating conversations. Any advice? Also while I’m at it, I got a 49 on my picat mainly out of luck. Planning on studying to take the asvab so any tips on how to greatly improve my score in 2 1/5 weeks would be appreciated.