Are you planning on joining the United States military? If your answer is yes, there’s a chance that you are aware of the different military branches and have already made a decision on which branch you would like to join. However, it’s important to ask yourself whether you believe joining that branch is the best fit for you and to consider what your role will be in that branch.  Overall, the Armed Forces is made up of 5 branches: The United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guard.

After I have asked people what branch they would be interested in joining, most responses I received have been “The Marines,” even with no knowledge about that actual branch.  Maybe it’s because the Marine Corps seems like the coolest branch in their eyes?

As a side note, the Marines are “The Few. The Proud.” When people say, “the few,” they literally mean a few. Compared to the 1,000,000+ active duty soldiers of the Army and the 500,000+ active duty sailors of the Navy, the Marine Corps has only about 174,000+ active duty Marines as of 2015. The difference in numbers gives you a picture of how many people actually planned on joining the Marines and didn’t actually join it and either ended up joining a different branch or not join the military at all because of how hard boot camp for the Marines is.

Here’s the question: is the Marine Corps, or any particular branch for this matter, the right branch for those people? I’m not saying that people shouldn’t join the Marine Corps because it’s hard. I’m saying that most people are not well informed on why they want to join it.

It’s important to choose the branch that suits your general interests. If you like the sound of naval warfare (fighting in water environments), join the Navy and be a Sailor; if you like the sound of being a part of the naval infantry, join the Marine Corps and be a Marine; if your focus is on flying or bringing the fight from the air, join the Air Force and be an Airman; if your interest is in maritime law enforcement, join the Coast Guard and be a Guardian; and if you want to keep it simple and be the United States’ primary fighting force on land, join the Army and be a Soldier.

A common mistake people make after enlisting  right after high school is that they don’t know what to do once they’ve finished basic training or boot camp. For example, after finishing boot camp/ basic training,  you may feel like you have done all the hard work over the span of many intense weeks to obtain the job you want, right? Wrong. A common misconception that many think is that there is only one specialty in the military: infantry.

The MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) that most people seem to be familiar in the military with is Infantry; servicemen who fight on foot. I’m sure many people have seen at least one military movie or have played war games like Call of Duty and Halo. A major focus of movies or first-person/ third-person shooter games is to portray the experience of the actual fight from the ground. Infantry isn’t the only job as a matter of fact. There are many different jobs, or MOS’s as they are formally called.

The job list in the U.S military ranges from Aircraft Maintenance to Food Service, Financial Management to Intelligence, Military Police to Music, Aviation Logistics to Communications, Nuclear Power to Healthcare, Cavalry Scout to Public Affairs Broadcast Specialist and many more. If you don’t carefully choose what you want to do when you actually finish boot camp or basic training (the initial period of training for new personnel, involving intense physical activity and behavioral discipline), you’d probably end up with a job that you don’t want. Don’t sign up just because you want to, or you think it’s cool, or that you feel you have to; make sure you know what you’ll be doing if and when you actually join.

When talking to military recruiters, they will tell you why you should join their particular branch. In my opinion, each of the branch are great in their own ways. A word of advice: think hard about which branch you want to join, why you want to join that particular branch, what your MOS will be and what you’re going to do once you get out of the military. Remember to do your research to lead a successful and happy career as a member of the U.S military.