What are some of the stereotypes that the Military (All Branches) receive/have?

That we all enjoy getting up early in the morning? That we are all have ADD when it comes to cleanliness and neatness?

I have had some of my own too, I thought we all were somehow trained to do a combat arms job? Talking with other service members...other than posers...we are not?

How about we are murderers before war and heroes after the war...

I'm not sure you want to open Pandora's box on this question.

We join because we aren't smart & won't amount to much. Oh, I had someone tell me that all military people are brainwashed & we don't know what is going on in our country or in the world.

That absolutely every second of our lives is controlled. They don't understand that, at least in garrison, our lives and jobs aren't that irregular. Also, most of my colleagues (I'm a reservist) think that we are automata who march and/or run everywhere, and that we only communicate by yelling.

The Military is OK if you can’t get a Job! I was told that from a Civilian... many believe that!

I think that the general public thinks that the mission of the Coast Guard is to protect the lakes and rivers of the United States. I have been thanked for that sort of service. Further, I have often heard reference to the "four branches" of the armed forces, even on RallyPoint. Huh?

I recently had a SeeBee reservist refer to me as a "puddle pirate" and while I can laugh at the those sorts of remarks, a large proportion of the Navy vets in my AMVETS post have never done sea duty.

In my four years of active duty, there was salt water running under my keel for 38 months including two cruises to Antarctica and one the the Arctic. I crossed the equator four times and I've lost track of how many times I've crossed the Antarctic Circle, the International Dateline, the Arctic Circle, or transited the Panama Canal. When I enlisted more than fifty years ago, I expected a career patrolling the Detroit River and the Great Lakes. I held a common stereotype about the Coast Guard.

Another one that I recall hearing is that the Infantry is full of the minorities so they get killed first. I recall telling a guy it is not like that and it is pretty much the other way around. He was convinced he was right.