As a former enlisted marine that later earned two STEM degrees and has been a practicing technologist for over 25 years, will have to disagree, but will concede

As a former enlisted marine that later earned two STEM degrees and has been a practicing technologist for over 25 years, will have to disagree, but will concede that a four-year enlistment in some branches of the American military will have an effect on your behavior and perception for remainder of your life, regardless of your speacilty. And the military experience is not, in fact, "really alien and uncomfortable" to the 'intellectual' (whatever that genre may be defined as...), but the military culture can be 'uncomfortable' to the general society that the military is serving. The USMC has an extensive book-reading and continuing education requirments for both enlisted and officer. The MOS schoolhouse, wether combat arms or technical, is not a narrow, delimited curricula, and does not discuss only tactical considerations, but requires strategic thinking and emphasizes an ethical philospy not seen in anything outside of seminary school. While the previous 14 years have seen some very bad behavior by the military in SW Asia and Africa, the daily performance of the marine rifleman on combat patrol has been the best of any generation of marines that preceeded them, including WWII. The downside to a tour in the military is that of distrust and isolationism. Your most trusted life-long friends will probably be those that were developed during a short four-year stint. You will have difficulty relating to those that did not share this experience. Finally, few people are suited emotionally, intellectually, or physically for some military branches;and those branches having a less onerous lifestyle seem to have increased entrance requirments. And of those that do enlist but fail to complete initial training (43 graduated boot camp out of my 78 member platoon, and this was before today's more difficult training requirements), many are broken mentally and/or physically. A suggestion to start in the military is profoundly serious and should not be issued with any element of whimsy.