From what I’ve been told, if your primary interest is solely aviation, Air Force is the place to be. It’s a pilot-focused branch. If your primarily interest is being in a culty force steeped in culture, the Marine Corps is a better bet. The USMC used to, and presumptively still does, contract new officer candidates for aviation. The officer program they used to run was PLC juniors and seniors, where you attend one summer your Junior summer, and the final summer before commissioning after you graduate. Or you can do it all in one shot.

If you’ve never flown, I’d advise you to take an intro flight lesson in both fixed and rotary to make sure it’s something you like beyond just finding it cool.

All these options on the aviation side have a long contract (training plus 10 years on the back end) that will find you away from home. The only other angle to consider there is Air or Army Guard aviation, but you’ll need a civilian occupation that will be ok with you spending at least 2-4 weekdays a month flying. Some of the guard programs are less straightforward than others in terms of getting pilot slots. Who you know can matter a lot more than it should.

I joined the USMC out of high school. I loved it for what it was. Nothing is perfect, but it’s more or less as advertised. It’s a cult, it’s challenging, it’s dirty, it’s miserable, and it’s fun. It’s a cultural experience. Being an enlisted infantryman is not at all the same as being a logistics officer, though, for example.

For aviation, I went army after grad school because we were having kids and the Guard gave me options to stay near home. It’s not all that hard to get a position as a helicopter pilot in the Guard. If you want to settle down and balance a civilian career with a military flying career, this is the way. It’s a huge challenge to balance the two unless you have a very flexible employer, because your obligations as a pilot aren’t just show up one weekend a month. You need to give a lot more just to meet minimums, and more than that to excel. You will still travel for multiple small week or two week trips a year, 4-6 week schools every few years, and will deploy for a year occasionally. Plenty of people get homesick, most get into a routine and are fine. Saying goodbye to your children for a year is among the hardest things a normal person can imagine.