What job and branch has a higher chance of being in combat?

When you are talking about what unit goes in combat, there are lots of them. All units that are stationed in the war zone, Controlled by a Division, brigade, battalion, a company, all the way down to a platoon or squad. They can be Armored, Infantry(foot soldier), mechanized Infantry,Artillery, etc.

The Army, with the support of the U.S. Air force, is a complete war machine ready for any war at anyplace, anywhere, at any given time. And can sustain a longer war until the government decided to bring them home.

It can be ignorant to keep telling people here about, special forces,rangers,airborne and all that good stuff. They are all part of the whole Army fighting force, some are augmented/assigned with companies,platoons, etc. But there are also units that are strictly rangers or special forces. A Division of itself. Such as 101 Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division, etc, where the unit are comprice with rangers, special forces,etc.

USMC is a very small part of the Armed Forces (under the United States Navy) . Probably """1/4 size of a PIE or smaller""", CANNOT COMPARED to the (WHOLE PIE, like the United States Army)

As I've mentioned here hundred times. Don't compare the Army into the Marines. The Marines cannot sustain a global war.

Edit: It depends on the terrain, if you cannot use tanks, you have to use foot soldier, helicopter, etc... Heck, I don't think you can use a tank to climb mountains such as Tora Bora in Afghanistan or half as high as the K2 or half the height of mount Everest?...

A lot of the answers you are getting are involving the special operations community. At it's most basic level, the average war fighter is an Infantryman. An 11B in the Army or an 0311 in the Marines. There are other combat centered MOS's as well that work directly with the Infantry enhancing their capabilities. Cavalry Scouts, Tankers, Forward Observers and their Marine equivalents all play direct combat roles. If you are looking for the most action for yourself as quickly as possible, join either the Marine or Army Infantry and if you can get Ranger in your Army contract, even better.

Any of the Special Forces. Although you will never know about the vast majority of their combat action.

They are hands down the most likely to see combat.

Second place would go to BOTH USMC and US Army Infantry. And where you have combat(war), you have MPs, and USAF Security Forces. And Medics will always be present.

None of these forces are much use without Supply, Transportation, etc.....

So, even if you are an Admin Specialist in Ft. Benning, you are contributing to the war making capability of the US. A Cook at Lackland AFB is a national security asset. All duties are the most important.

But in the end, the DOD uses Combined Arms. All work together toward the same objective. No Branch is more, or less, important.

Infantry. Either Army or Marines.

They each play an important role in the overall plan for any combat operation in major combat. The Marines global primary mission is to take real estate and the Army secures and holds the real estate.The Marines are fast moving compared to the Army. The Marines win battles and the Army wins wars. The Marines can be inserted in most places in a timely manor, but the Army moves in mass. (this is all in general speaking terms) It is all subject to exceptions.

In Iraq they are given sections/cities/towns to secure and hold.

Each has their elite special forces with the3ir own bragging rights, but are in effective in major combat operations if not backed up by the grunt.

"Rangers" answer is very biased! The "G*dd*mn*d* Marines also have a special forces called "RECONNAISSANCE or RECON"! They also go in first before us "Regular Marines". But, let's face it by historical facts!

The Marines are shock troops over the Army. The Army is a necessary instrument to remain within a certain area of operations and not to advance as a shock troop. The Army is a static occupying force. That is why hey occupy so many bases in europe from the cold war and in Korea from the Korean War (38th Parallel).

The Marines keep gear (including armored vehicles) on maritime prepositioning ships. Think, Merchant marines (a civil organization).

When Marines are deployed within a 72 hour time span alot of their big guns are already on the ship floating in the middle of an open body of water and that is sent to their destination for immediate deployment after the shock troops (MARINES)!

By the way, it took The Marine Corps to fight the Communist Korean Forces and keep them at bay at the 38th Parallel. WHY? Because the ARMY was in FULL RETREAT! The army left all of their big guns along the roads and beat feet out of there and the Marines had to clean it up and hold it. That is why the Army has MAJOR bases there and why Marines have a few smaller bases there.

You want to get into combat and be respected?! JOIN THE MARINES!

Battle proven by history and judged the best by the rest of the world!

only the Marines and Army have Infantry.

they use different fighting technics.

the marines fight through an objective and continue on to the next mission. (offense only)

Army can fight and hold an objective (offense and defense)

the marines have a small unit (corp size) so they can't sustain a battle, the army can fight and sustain a battle

all the bozos that keep saying that special forces and rangers and seals go in first probably never wore a uniform.

why would a commander send in 3 battalions to attack 8 divisions (there are only 3 ranger battalions)

special forces are area specific, each group has an assigned area of operations. (5th group operations are in South America)

stop watching so much TV and war movies, they are fake.

learn about a unit TO&E (table of organization and equipment)

my opinion is either Infantry or Cavalry, always need troops on the ground and those troops need some sort of protection which LAV's (light armoured vehicles) and IFV's (infantry fighting vehicles) offer.

if ur a yank join the marines, apparently there supposed to be really well trained soldiers. but i reckon thats not true

Australian Army

Anything having to do with the Special Forces. Then after that the main battalion including Tanks, Infantry, Artillery, and everything else that goes along with the main attack force.

Special Forces go in first (Rangers, SEALS) before any goddamn marine infantryman or they wouldnt stand a chance. Rangers are "elite" shock troops. marines are only *basic* shock troops. Their training supplements left overs that Special Forces control, however the army has to come hold the ************ down for a long period. The point is, If it wasn't for Specail Forces marines would get wiped out then the army would get wiped out as well.

"Special Forces go in first (Rangers, SEALS) before any goddamn marine infantryman or they wouldnt stand a chance. Rangers are "elite" shock troops. marines are only *basic* There training supplements left overs that Special Forces control, however the army has to come hold the ************ down for a long period. The point is, If it wasn't for Specail Forces marines would get wiped out then the army would get wiped out as well."

Rangers, look, id love for you to post some kind of proof that you are an army ranger as much as you talk about it. the rangers that I (marine), have met are not cocky a$$holes like yourself. I got along just fine with fallujah ranger vets who were very cool guys who drank up a storm with us, we had a lilttle intraservice rivalry but they were good sports about it and had fun.

To compare the army rangers to basic marine infantry is stupid. of course they are going to be a stronger candidate for the badass award, because you cant compare basic infantry with special forces.

i think any ranger would say that marine corps infantry is a tougher force to reckon with than the army basic infantry.

you really make a bad name for the rangers when you get on here and do this. i would be glad to get my good friend Cpl Chandler, former ranger (1st batallion) to call you out on your lies on here, and prove to all on this board how you are full of crap.

and the slim chance that you actually are a ranger, you really make them look bad with your stupid rants. i doubt you are ranger buddy, if you are, lets see a picture of you with a ranger tab, and a way to prove the person in the picture is you.

go make a picture, with your ranger tab in it, and sign being held up that you write on......saying that you are who you claim to be.

stop disgracing the magnificent rangers......who my corps respects just as much as a fellow marine.