No matter what branch of the military you are interested in joining, you're essentially going to follow the same process. Before sending in your application, you'll have to decide what branch you want to join.

You can choose to join the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard or the newest addition, Space Force. You can also decide to enlist in the National Guard.

You need to have a high school or general equivalency diploma (GED) to join the military. You can also decide to apply for one of the five military academies if you want to earn a college degree.

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Here are the basic steps you'll need to take in order to enlist in the military and further information on military academies. 

The first step of the process is to send in your application through the military branch's website that you wish to join. You'll get connected with a recruiter who will help you get the process started. During these initial steps, you'll gain more information on the branch you are interested in, talk about your goals and make sure that you meet all the eligibility requirements needed to join, which may slightly differ depending on the branch.

The next step in joining the military is taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). This is a test that the military uses to help determine the right job for you.

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There is also a physical exam needed to join the military, which includes both a medical evaluation and a physical evaluation. The fitness test differs slightly depending on the branch of the military you are joining. They typically include a variety of exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, planks and a run.

If you are joining the Navy or the Coast Guard, you'll also need to do a swim test as part of the fitness exam.

Once you've completed your exams, all recruits will have to complete basic training before beginning their job in the service.

Military basic training lasts between seven and 13 weeks, depending on the branch, and includes rigorous training for recruits.

For those who want to earn a college degree, possibly play a sport, become an officer and gain the core values of the military, applying to one of the five military academies in the country may be a good option.

The five are: the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) or West Point in West Point, New York; the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, Maryland; the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado; the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) in New London, Connecticut; and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Kings Point, New York.

Getting into a military school is a highly competitive process. The United States Naval Academy has the most competitive program with just around an 8% acceptance rate. West Point is also extremely competitive with a 10.7% acceptance rate. The Air Force Academy has a 12.4% acceptance rate, Coast Guard Academy has a 19.3% and Merchant Marine Academy has 25.2%, making all of these colleges very selective.

Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Ne-Yo is being praised by some after he retracted his "publicist's" apology for recent comments he made that were critical of gender-affirming care for children. 

Former Mumford & Sons band member Winston Marshall, who is no stranger to cancel culture, touted the R&B singer for his "encouraging" effort to stand by his beliefs during "Fox & Friends."

"He's speaking common sense," Marshall told Brian Kilmeade Wednesday. 

"He said in the rest of that video that he didn't show, ‘I will never be okay with a child making a decision that detrimental to their life.’ He is speaking common sense. This is what all of us are thinking and what's captured the music industry, the creative industries, and much of the discourse is an ideology based in falsity, that men can be women and women can be men. It's not true."

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"As a consequence, our children are being significantly psychologically and biologically harmed and sacrificed, I think, to this ideology," he continued. "So Ne-Yo has come out and stood by its principles and it's so encouraging."

Marshall, who used to be the rock group's guitarist, was "canceled" and left the band to start his own podcast after he was ridiculed over his support for conservative journalist Andy Ngo's anti-Antifa book, "Unmasked."

He called Ne-Yo's effort to double down on his own principles "exciting."

"What's very encouraging about this example of Ne-Yo is that he's he said, ‘screw you’ to the publicist that seemed to have issued this apology on his behalf, and he said, 'no, I'm going to stand by my principles,'" Marshall said. 

"And that's really exciting because in life you either pursue the truth or you pursue being liked. And I think publicists… they want to make… everyone liked, regardless of whether it's consistent with the truth," he continued. "And Ne-Yo is a man of consistency and principle, and he's pursued the truth. And it certainly I think it should be an encouragement to artists and people across your country and mine that actually we can stand up to this nonsense."

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Ne-Yo originally went viral on Sunday after he spoke out against child gender transitions during a conversation on VladTV with Gloria Velez. 

"I feel like parents have almost, almost forgotten what the role of a parent is," he said. "If your little boy comes to you and says, 'Daddy, I want to be a girl,' and you just let him rock with that? Like, when did it become a good idea to let a five-year-old and a six-year-old and a 12-year-old make a life-changing decision for they self?"

He issued a written apology shortly thereafter on social media, but hours later, posted an Instagram video retracting what he called his "publicist's" comments. 

"Listen, I normally don’t give too much of a d--- about what y’all think about what I do, what you have to say about what I say, whatever. I normally don’t care because, like I said, opinions ain’t special. Everybody got one. However, this is something I feel very strongly on, and I need y’all to hear it from the horse’s mouth, not the publicist’s computer," Ne-Yo began.

He said, "First and foremost, I did not apologize for having an opinion on this matter. I am a 43-year-old heterosexual man raising five boys and two girls, okay? That’s my reality. If my opinion offended somebody, yeah, sure, I apologize for you being offended because that wasn’t my intention. My intention is never to offend anybody."

"However, I’m entitled to feel how I feel. I am absolutely entitled to feel how I feel the same way you are entitled to feel how you feel," he continued.

"The Five" co-host Dana Perino spoke out on the retraction, noting that his publicist's job is to advise him, as opposed to speak on his behalf without his consent. 

"You're a publicist and not the artist for a reason," Perino said Tuesday. "Now you could give advice, and maybe they're not going to take it. Then your job is to help them defend themselves. So thankfully for him, he's got the power to directly talk to his fans so that he can say 'No, actually that I didn't say that,' and I would say that publicists need to trust your artist."

Greg Gutfeld argued the incident shows how celebrities and high-profile people are being "pressured into conformity." 

"Ne-Yo, however, pulled back the curtain, and he shows you how most celebrities' opinions are not their own," he said. "They are usually pressured into a form of conformity that keeps them out of trouble with activists."

Fox News' Taylor Penley and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

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