If being a Marine is so awesome, why is it that there are so many Marines that join the Army and Air Force?

My experience with this question goes back to my Freshman year in college 1973. Campi were filled with Vietnam vets. I was 18 sitting in class in my Army ROTC uniform when a 20 something guy leans over and says, “pretty brave to wear that uniform to class.” I said I had ROTC Lab/Drill 20 minutes after this class ends and had no time to go back to my room and change. He smiled and said that although a career in the military was totally not cool in ‘73 I had at least picked the right Service. He said that he was a multiple Vietnam tour Marine discharged and going to school on the GI Bill and that as a communications specialist he found himself out in the bush as an RTO with US Army, ARVN, even ROK. He said before working with the Army he only knew one way of taking a hill, the Marine way, everybody up and on line assulting. He said until he was an RTO for his first Army Infantry Company he never knew you could hide behind things and shoot at the enemy while the rest of the unit maneuvered to get the best of the enemy. He said The concept of Fire and Maneuver was alien to the Corps in Vietnam. He said that was when he realized being a Marine bad ass charging straight into enemy fire was not the best way to take a hill or get back to the States alive. I smiled and thanked him for his service and confirming that I had made the right Service choice. I earned my Ranger Tab 2 summers later as a Cadet and never gave a second thought to who was a bad ass.

Cause you get promoted faster. Duh.

I learned early on its there's almost as many marines in the army as the corps rofl most of my senior leadership when I was a young dumb private in the army were marines.
If the corps won't take u back you got plenty of company in the army.

It was pretty simple for me. After leaving active duty Marine Corps coming back to my home state all the Marine Reserves had was a bulk fuel company in which I was uninterested. So following suit of some of my Marine Brothers I talked to the ARNG and had several options as to MOS's.

I had a platoon sergeant in my army unit that came over from the Marines. He told me the reason was career advancement. It was tough to get rank in the Marines.

More Specialties and duty stations to choose from.

Once a Marine; one is enough

I went from the RA to the ARNG. I found if you wanted to shoot, the NG was the place. If you were willing to put in the effort you could shoot. You got support, every thing you needed. I worked my way up to being the OIC of the states marksmanship unit and coach of the rifle team. In our travels to Matches we ran across members of several branches who envied out support. For the most part they were shooting on their own dime with restrictions on what the could and could not do with their privat weapons and ammo. Although the Marines are suppose to be the riflemen, this is the reason they and other branches cannot compete with the army in the Interservice, National Matches and the International Sniper Competitions.

I know we aren’t allowed to join the Air Force. 3 of my buddies were turned away from the Air Force after being prior service marines

More choice of duty stations.