Scotty.

[Specialboy]

Knowing everything you know now, given the choice, would you have chosen to join the Marines?

[T-Rok]

I wanted to be the cool kid with all the bad-ass stories.

After reading all of this, you got what you wanted. All your future grandchildren+cousins+nephews ect will all crowd around after dinner to hear them. At least I would.

Would??? We already are.

Yes, but I'm quite sure he has many more, of which there are probably some he will only ever share with family.

[Scotty]

Knowing everything you know now, given the choice, would you have chosen to join the Marines?

I definitely would join the armed services, that much I know.  It taught me a lot and gave me a lot of humbling experiences that otherwise I would have had to have slowly learned on my own in the civilian world.  As for whether or not I would choose Marines?  Now that I am out and done with it (hopefully... pending something squirrely happening before my inactive reserve status ends), I would say yes.  While I was in though, something about it made me wish I had gone Coast Guard.  I don't know why, other than the fact that I enjoy the open water, and the Navy doesn't quite do it for me on their craptastically large ships with little berthing room (seriously, you can't sleep on your side when the bunk above leaves you less than eighteen inches of space.  I love the rolling waves, and I can only imagine the true rewarding feeling they get when they have to rescue folks out of the water.

One thing I would love to do now that I have had the experience, is go back to boot camp.  I would love to have my Drill Instructors demand I get on the quarterdeck and do push-ups, and all I respond with is "Nah, I'm good here, thanks for the consideration!"  It would make for an awful lot of fun.

[NotoriousM4^]

What are the benefits like from after your service? (Pay, Schooling etc.)