Marine corps is pretty much the last branch of the military you should join if you want any control over where you go. In the marines you get sent where they want you sent and you're pretty much boned if you don't like it, up to and including literally sending you to retraining for a different job. At least in the army and the air force you stick with the MoS (method of service ie: job) you joined with and can apply to either stay at your current duty station or potentially request a reassignment to a duty station of choice (though whether or not it'll be approved is obviously up in the air). No real experience with the way the Navy does things myself, but I imagine that's mostly if you want to travel around constantly on a ship.
Spoken as someone that was in the army btw, every time I met a marine on deployment I could only feel bad for them, their equipment sucked (by comparison) as did their facilities. And I wasn't exactly rolling in luxury myself as an infantryman, so that's really saying something.
I was actually in Ramadi myself during the Anbar Awakening, that place was a massive shithole. I still remember the week on / week off rotations at COP Steel. What a hell of a time.
Marine corps is pretty much the last branch of the military you should join if you want any control over where you go. In the marines you get sent where they want you sent and you're pretty much boned if you don't like it, up to and including literally sending you to retraining for a different job. At least in the army and the air force you stick with the MoS (method of service ie: job) you joined with and can apply to either stay at your current duty station or potentially request a reassignment to a duty station of choice (though whether or not it'll be approved is obviously up in the air). No real experience with the way the Navy does things myself, but I imagine that's mostly if you want to travel around constantly on a ship.
Spoken as someone that was in the army btw, every time I met a marine on deployment I could only feel bad for them, their equipment sucked (by comparison) as did their facilities. And I wasn't exactly rolling in luxury myself as an infantryman, so that's really saying something.
Stories from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, from two combat veterans
Left Behind in Ramadi: Combat Vet's Iraq War Story
I was actually in Ramadi myself during the Anbar Awakening, that place was a massive shithole. I still remember the week on / week off rotations at COP Steel. What a hell of a time.