Who has been in multiple branches of the military? What is the real difference in your experience?

Marine first, then National Guard. The big thing I noticed is that there's a different attitude. There's a level of maturity in the USMC that isn't present in the Army. The National Guard is a bit different, because there are many people that have MOS related jobs on the civilian side and bring their experience with them, which can be very valuable.

If I were to put numbers on it, I'd say that an 18 year old in the Marines acts like a 20 year old and an 18 year old in the Army acts like a 16 year old.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Marines seem to focus more on military stuff. The people that get promoted are the shitty people that can run fast. This happens in the Army/NG, and there are plenty of awful leaders in both services, but at least in the Army, it seems like being good at your job is much more respected.

As far as pride goes, the Marines can't be beat. You ask anyone who has ever served in the Marines what the USMC birthday is, they'll know even 40 years after they got out. You ask a new PFC in the the Army what the Army bday is, you might hear "I don't know, June something I think?"

When I write it out, it really appears that I favor the Marine Corps... But I just came back in and decided to go with the National Guard again. I'm very grateful for the skills I learned in the National Guard. For my career, NG completely changed my life. I'm making 6 figures now, and that was made possible completely by my NG experience.

This is becoming quite the rant... but the bottom line is that if he wants pure military, moto, tradition, pride, etc, Marines is the way to go. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if he wants to basically have no military stuff, but focus on civilian side skills, Air Force is probably the best bet. Army/Navy would be somewhere in between.

I served in the Army Reserve for 4 years then transferred to Air Force. Definitely treated better and food was so much better. Air Force was more mentally challenging.

I was in the air force for 5 years and my husband retired after 24. It really depends on what you want. I've worked with the army and my sister and her husband were army. I had a friend in the marines and another in the navy. If you want technical, go into the air force. Also, the air force treats their people the best. When we go TDY, we stay in hotels. When the army goes TDY, they stay in tents. There were these guys that were on the same TDY we were and they were in tents right next to the flight line. We were in hotels. They were eating MREs. We got per diem for meals. They traveled via the hoof it express. We got rental cars. We felt sorry for them because it hotter than hell so we doubled up in our hotel rooms and let them stay, too. We fed them with our per diem, too. The air force looks at the quality of the housing available and pays a "substandard housing" allowance if it's not up to air force standards. The army in the same housing just feels lucky to not be sleeping in tents.
On the flip side, in the air force, you're not going to make higher than e-4 in your first 4 years. Everything is based on time in rank and you're not allowed to test for e-5 until you've been in for something stupid like 3.5 years. I talked to my sister when she was in and she had on e-5 in less than 4. Promotions come much faster in the army than air force. The air force teaches you 1 system. For example, my husband started as an offensive avionics technician. Defensive avionics technician was a totally different career field. Then there was crew chief. If either technician needed to get into certain panels to troubleshoot, they had to wait for the crew chief to open them. I was in fuels and we weren't allowed to connect the hose to the air craft. The crew chief did it. In the army, you're taught the entire system. If you're a technician and you're sent out to troubleshoot a radar and navigation system, you do both. I knew some guys who were at gunnery in Hohenfels Germany. One of the Bradley's went down so they were all out there fixing it. In the air force, if a vehicle goes down, you call the special/general purpose vehicle shop. They come out, get it, fix it at their convenience, then call when it's ready.
The army has cooks, the air force has one in charge of the contractors. The army has soldiers rotate duty in the gym. The air force has contractors.
If I had it to do all over again, I would've went into the army or marines. I wanted MILITARY. The army still has exercise as punishment ("drop and give me 50"). The air force says you can't use exercise as punishment. For females, the army has a PT program for pregnant women. The air force doesn't. We're expected to do it on our own. Another observation, the army has PT at 5:00 or so every morning. The air force doesn't.
The air force is a job you wear a uniform for. I don't know a whole lot about the navy from my friend...she was a medic in the reserves, but eventually went active duty marines. Also, the army does everything as a platoon or squad. They're together most of the time and in a lot of cases, they even hang out together. There's a camaraderie there that you don't see in the air force. In the air force, a lot of times you go to work, and when you're off you're by yourself. The air force has had programs to try to force camaraderie like the army has (the Wingman program is one), but it never takes.

All in all, it really depends on what you want. The air force operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The army is pretty much 7:00am to 6:00pm. If you're on an army base at 8:00pm, there is absolutely nothing open. If you know what job you want, talk to each branch about it and see what they have to say.

I did 6 years navy and 16.5 army. Differences are I never got sea sick in the army, but in the navy, I traveled to more countries.

Spent one your in AF 71-74, one tour in Army 76-78, one more tour in Army 87-89

Was in the Army first then went to the Air Force. Huge mistake... 2 different mentalities. Took me a couple of years to adjust. Realistically I would have done better have I stayed in the Army

Basic training for the Army was more physical than mental, USAF was more mental than physical...I could have been because I was listed as prior service....this makes me bilingual.

The way I will answer this is If he wants to earn everything that he gets then there is no better way to go than my beloved Marine Corps. If he wants to serve but get things given to them or think they owed something just for joining. Then anyone of the services if the place for them. But I will repeat something that I read already no matter what service you join you better be ready to lay your life down for this country because it is a very serious thing to join.

I joined the USAF. After my MSO was done i joined the Army National Guard. Asked to be transferred to the Army for Desert Storm. After the dust settled and it was over i realized i should have just been a Marine the whole time.
The Air Force was boring, the National Guard was interesting and the Army was rude and abusive. Meanwhile, a childhood friend of mine just retired from the USMC after a very long career.

I served in the US Air Force in the early 80's. Reagan cutbacks made me decide to exit the military. 10 years later, I took my son to the recruiter. We left with him undecided about the military and myself with a departure date to the US Army. So, I served in both the Air Force and Army. The Army did not recognize my Air force basic training, so I had to redo 8 weeks of basic. The time I came into the Army was a time of pocket protectors. The basic I did in the AF was more strict, mental and physical than it was for the Army of the time. The politics went from mental stress to kid gloves. Overall, the AF put forth more stress on you, mental and physical, that the Army did. I was shocked that the Army allowed "time out" for those that had a problem during basic. After basic, they were very similar, just another job. But, the main thing different about these two branches, is that the Air Force supported the family. The Army thought if you needed a family, they would issue you one.