Army,Navy, etc...
I heard the boot camp was brutal in the corps. Not that I don't think I can handle the physical part, but I think mentally I might freak out.
Well, the way the Military works is there are two groups. A good analogy is the AFC and the NFC in football.
Everyone, or at least most people know that the Marine Corps is a department of the Navy. They basically took on a lot of the courtesies and customs the Navy had and modified it to their own specifications. Most if not all of the termonology in the Navy and Marine Corps is the same (bulkhead, deck, starboard, port, they both say Aye Aye sir and all that jazz), and both branches work interchangably a lot of the time. There wasn't a single day I didn't see a Navy enlisted member or officer when I was running around on the Marine Corps base, or out in the field. It's just the way it is.
This is my own bias speaking here, but you can almost look at the Army and Air Force as the shitbag branches honestly. The Army is a wanabe Marine Corps, except everything about them is easier and there is less of sense of urgency for some reason. The Marine Corps is training you for war 24/7, or at least that's how you should look at it. The Army is just kind like "yeah we might go to war meh." And then of course the Air Force shouldn't even be considered a branch of the military. It's just like another 9-5 job. No excitement, no pride, no nothing. Just a bunch of people trying to milk the government for all of the benefits.
If I were to do it all over again and enlist, I would enlist in the Navy. You can select a rating (their term for job, MOS for Marines) that will get you on a ship and take you just about anywhere in the world while be relatively safe in the process. If you join the Marine Corps, no matter your MOS, you are going to see combat of some sort.
However, if I were you or anyone thinking about joining the military at all, I highy recommend joining as an officer, no matter what the branch.
About Marine Corps boot camp, yeah it sucks. It doesn't matter if your platoon is the best ever, or the worst ever, you're going to be treated like crap for 13 straight weeks regardless. That's just the way it is. Like I said before, the Marine Corps is around to train people to be killers, because that's what they do. Though I will say, the modern day Marine Corps is turning into a pussified bunch. I had a friend who recently went to boot camp in the Marines and he said they aren't allowed to say fuck anymore. They have to say "freak, freaken, friggin" and all that shit. All because a bunch of stupid moms who don't know what the fuck they are letting their kid get into complained and said that the drill instructors were "too mean to my child." HA! Hello you stupid fucks, war is mean, death is mean, people shooting rounds at you is mean, Marine Corps boot camp, is not mean.
Here's some videos if you are interested:
The first one is my favorite.
The Navy boot camp is pretty cake really. It's only 9 weeks long compared to the Marine Corps' 13. Army is 9 weeks long, Air Force is only 6. I honestly don't know what you could learn in only six weeks but whatever.
I hear the Navy is pretty intense but nowhere near as intense as Marine Corps boot camp.