Dirt dets to a combat zone for Marines are now a thing of the past for the near future, or at minimum will be few and far between. MEUs, Crisis Response dets, and UDPs are pretty much the only game in town right now, but it is likely that you can go an entire career with out ever flying off of an amphib or carrier. Flying for the MAGTF is a bit more ground centric, and it's not just because we all went to TBS (although that lays a foundation). I don't for once think that I'm an infantryman in the cockpit, and I sure as hell don't try to take their place, but I do understand that decision making and execution in the aircraft will have an impact on what end state that a Marine ground unit is trying to achieve, and potentially save some young Marines lives. Yes, there have been moments where you recognize voices on the radio and it gives a better feeling knowing that the dude on the deck trust you more and vice versa. I've also seen that go the opposite direction because the trust can lead to sloppiness and people not QA'ing each other's work. You're involved in a lot of the in depth face-to-face planning with other Marine officers and units than the typical Air Force or Navy squadron. You'll actually sit on staffs and planners that will seek out Marine air capabilities and work that planning into their operational picture. Marines tend to get irritated when other commanders start to use the MAGTF as a lunchbox full of goodies and rip apart the unit to plug and play elsewhere. Mainly because other services don't realize how that has second and third order effects on MAGTF capabilities, and as a Marine aviator it's our job to ensure that is communicated and the risk if that does happen. 90% of your tasking and support will be geared to ensuring success of the GCE and LCE, and the other 10% will be joint ISO whatever task force your supporting depending on the phase of the operation/exercise and TMS. Vice the Navy where they fly ISO of their particular ready group and it seems like they have far greater joint tasking than most Marine units (VMAQ aside, Navy guys feel free to chime in on that).
B-billet wise, you can expect to spend some time either as a FAC, Air Officer, wing support unit, or in the supporting establishment making MOS qualified Marines in they're particular area or at a TECOM unit training/evaluating individuals or units getting ready to deploy. The Navy and Marines share a lot of same educational, training, inter-service, and exchange billet opportunities (TPS, VTs/HTs, EWTGPAC/LANT, FAO, NPS, Topgun, Blue Angels, VX/HX test squadrons....and insert your scholar program of choice here). There are however a few things post-fleet tour Marines can do that Navy guys can not (HMX-1 comes to mind). Culturally, Marine air units still expect you to be a Marine officer and hold pretty high standards, and tend to be a little more up-tight than what I have seen from the Navy units I've worked, but we all still speak pilot, and execute based off the same joint doctrine, with smaller differences in service TTPs. So there are some similarities. If you're looking for a challenge, and to be a card carrying member of America's favorite gun club, then go Marines... and If you can't handle being called out, thrown in the deep end with lots of uncertainty, and nit-picked on every single thing you do because it's not good enough - don't.
Hope that helps.
