I had a cousin in the Air Force... He said it was a cake walk, and that they easily had the highest chick ratio and the hottest chicks. Too bad he's gay, lol.
The Air Force, Navy, and Marines have roughly 11 bands each (not counting the premier bands in Washington D.C. and the military academies) and they Army has 28. Each band has 35-45 musicians. So roughly 2,500. As far as what they do: http://www.musicianwages.com/musician-profile/dear-walter-pincus-music-is-a-not-a-waste-of-money/
Air Force, from what I always hear, spends a lot of money for the morale, ie housing and recreations since they dont have as much 'bills'.
This is true, hence the Air Force 'Hilton' vs. the Army 'Motel 6'. Then again, being a smaller service mean less room for promotion. Both points are true, which is why the potential enlistee needs to weigh all of their options. Well....don't ask don't tell is still in effect.
I know that promotions work differently in the Air Force than in the other branches. In the Navy (and I'm pretty sure the Army as well), each job is allowed only a certain number of personnel at each rank. There can be only "x" number of E-6's and "y" number of E-5's, etc. So in order to be promoted, people that are in the paygrade above you within your job have to retire or be promoted, opening up room for someone to fill the vacancy at that higher paygrade. In the Air Force, jobs don't matter when it comes to promotions. The Air Force just comes out and says "we're going to promote 20% of our E-4's to E-5" and what happens is that every job promotes 20% of the E-4's within that job regardless of whether the E-5's within that particular job retired or got promoted. So in the Air Force, you don't have the problem of not being promoted because there was little to no turnover in your job which can become an issue at higher paygrades.
I'm in the Navy and just picked up E6 (again). Anyway, for us if you enlist with a degree, you'll automatically get E3. Depending on your rate (job) when you complete training for it you can get E4 right off the bat. Now if you did that, there are commissioning programs that you could go with to become officer. In the Navy, the guys that go officer that were prior enlisted get paid more than an academy graduate and get a lot more respect from their Sailors. As for the services, typically Army are the grunts. Marines are the guys on the forefront, but are generally regarded as not very bright. Air Force has it the easiest by far. We call them the Chair Force. As for the Navy, we're kind of like the cool middle brother. Smart while still getting out into hot areas. You get to see a lot of ports which is really cool. For me, its a very unique experience. I feel like I have more in common with sailors from ancient times and foreign navies than I do with soldiers. Its a different culture that is hard to explain to people. Things like pulling into a port after being at sea for a while or handling the lines are things I will always love. Good luck with your decision though.
I didn't know that. Interesting. A buddy of mine was in the Army for several years and he just reupped with the Air Force at the same pay grade/rank. He's really happy with it. I thought long and hard about the Navy, but ultimately decided to go Army. I got hurt in Basic. They found arthritis in my spine and sent me home. Finding all of that out and then being told I was going home was one of the worst days in my life. My Army career lasted a grand total of one month. Thank you for your service.
