Percentage who later regret each choice. Bars and full ledger render below.
Lifestyle
Last reviewed 2026-05-09
Evidence quality 3.75/5
Eight-dimension review score against the
quality rubric
. Each dimension scored 1–5.
D1 Source verification
4/5
D2 Source authority & independence
4/5
D3 Regret-rate accuracy
1/5
D4 Source comparability
2/5
D5 Gilovich pattern
5/5
D6 Prose quality
5/5
D7 Caveat completeness
5/5
D8 Sample quality
4/5
Average3.75/5
Proxy data — no direct regret survey exists for this decision. Rates are derived from satisfaction scores and access-barrier data rather than questions that directly asked about regret. See caveats below.
Action regret
Joining the military
21%
21% of veterans say they would not repeat their military service (i.e., implicit regret rate from DAV 2015 survey)
US veterans across all generations, WWII through post-9/11 era
retrospective, no fixed timeframe
Inaction regret
Not serving in the military
21%
No reliable estimate — no survey measures regret among non-veterans who considered but did not serve; shown level with the action side rather than as a measured rate
US civilian adults who considered but did not join military service (no direct survey available)
retrospective, no fixed timeframe
% who regret this choice
Joining the militaryNot serving in the military
21%21%
balanced — Roughly balanced — both choices carry similar regret.
Related decisions
Semantically similar decisions — same territory, different trade-offs.
The DAV Veterans Pulse Survey of 2015, the largest multi-generational survey of US veterans (n = 1,701, nationally representative of approximately 22 million veterans from WWII through post-9/11 eras), found that 79% would, if they had to do it over, repeat their military service. The implied action-side rate of approximately 21% (those who would not or are uncertain whether they would repeat) is the primary metric for this entry. Pew Research’s 2011 survey of 1,853 veterans, including 712 post-9/11 veterans, found that 96% were proud of their service, 82% said their service helped them appreciate life more, 93% said it helped them mature, and 90% said it taught them to work with others. The two surveys converge on a picture of low to moderate action regret, with pride nearly universal and the “would serve again” rate consistently above 75%.
The inaction side has no direct survey data, so it carries no reliable regret estimate. No national survey was identified that asks non-veteran civilians whether they regret not serving in the military, and this gap in the literature is notable. An earlier version of this entry filled that gap with a manufactured 25% figure: it applied the Gilovich-Medvec principle that foregone career and life-path decisions with bounded windows of opportunity generate persistent inaction regret, calibrated against the career domain’s 22.3% share of top lifetime regrets in Roese and Summerville’s 2005 meta-analysis, and set the result modestly above the action side to produce an inaction-dominance gap. That number was a theory composite, not an empirical measurement, so it has been removed. Roese and Summerville show that career and identity choices are a leading regret domain in general, and the RAND survey shows most Americans would discourage enlisted service — but neither measures how often non-veterans actually regret not serving. The inaction rate is therefore shown level with the action side (21%) only to mark it as unmeasured, not to claim the two are equal.
Only the action side carries a measured rate, and even it carries substantial uncertainty. The action side benefits from two large nationally representative samples with near-direct “would serve again” questions, but survivorship bias is significant: veterans who developed severe PTSD or service-related disabilities are under-represented in voluntary panels, and active-duty satisfaction has declined sharply since 2019 (Blue Star Families found only 32% of active-duty families would recommend service in 2023, down from 55% in 2016), suggesting the 21% action regret may understate more recent cohorts. This entry documents the state of the evidence rather than a resolved bilateral comparison: strong action-side data, no inaction-side survey, and therefore no honest basis for declaring which side regrets more. The earlier inaction-dominance verdict rested on a manufactured number and has been withdrawn.
Sources: action
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Veterans Pulse Survey via PR Newswire — Landmark Survey Finds Veterans of All Generations Would Repeat their Military Service, But Don't Feel Supported by Government and the American Public
Primary study
79% of veterans across all generations (WWII through post-9/11) said they would, if they had to do it all over again, repeat their military service.
Excerpt
“"Nearly eight in 10 would, if they had to do it all over again, repeat their service. Almost 8 out of 10 veterans say they would repeat their military service, but only half would encourage their sons and one-third would encourage their daughters to serve."
”
Source data from
2015-11-10
Accessed
2026-05-09
Calculation
DAV Veterans Pulse Survey, conducted by global research firm GfK using KnowledgePanel. The survey was completed by 1,701 veterans, nationally representative of America's then approximately 22 million veterans, spanning WWII through post-9/11 eras. The 79% "would repeat" figure implies an action regret rate of approximately 21% (the share who would not or are uncertain whether they would repeat their service). The survey asked directly about whether veterans would make the same choice again, making it a near-direct regret measure. Note: "would not repeat" is not identical to "regrets joining" — some who would not repeat may still view the service as valuable but would not recommend it to others, or are uncertain. The 21% is therefore a plausible upper bound on the action regret rate, not a confirmed regret prevalence.
[2]Pew Research Center — Chapter 1: Overview — War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era
Primary study
96% of post-9/11 veterans say they are proud of their service; 82% say their military service helped them appreciate life more; 74% say it helped them get ahead in life.
Excerpt
“"Post-9/11 veterans are proud of their service (96%), appreciate life more (82%) and believe that their military service has helped them get ahead in life (74%). Large majorities say that serving in the military has been either very or fairly useful in helping them become more mature (93%); gain self-confidence (90%); learn to work with other people (90%); and prepare for a job or career (72%)."
”
Source data from
2011-10-05
Accessed
2026-07-07
Calculation
Pew Research Center "War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era" survey of 1,853 veterans (including 712 who served after 9/11), Chapter 1: Overview (corrected from Chapter 2, previously mis-cited here -- Chapter 2 covers war-policy attitudes and does not contain these figures). The 96% pride rate is not a regret rate; it measures emotional response to service, not whether veterans would make the same choice again. Used here as corroborating evidence that the action-regret rate is low: near-universal pride combined with 79% "would repeat" (DAV) and 82% who say service helped them appreciate life more establish a consistent picture of low service regret among US veterans. (A prior version of this note instead cited "82% who would advise a young person to join" -- that claim does not appear anywhere in the Pew report; the report's actual 82% figure is the "appreciate life more" statistic quoted above, now corrected.) The 4% who are not proud provides a directional lower bound on regret.
Sources: inaction
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]RAND Corporation — What Americans Think About Veterans and Military Service: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey
Reference source
54% of Americans would discourage a young person from enlisting as an enlisted service member, but 61% would encourage service via ROTC or a service academy. The split suggests the path to service matters more than service itself.
Excerpt
“"A majority (54.4 percent) would discourage a young person close to them from enlisting in the military. A majority (61.2 percent) would encourage a young person to join via ROTC or a service academy. The pattern suggests barriers to enlisted service rather than to the concept of service itself."
”
Source data from
2023-12-14
Accessed
2026-05-09
Calculation
RAND RRA1363-7, nationally representative American Life Panel surveys (February and June 2022). The 54.4% discouragement rate is used here only as context on public perception of enlisted service. It is NOT a regret rate for non-veterans: it measures what adults would advise a young person, not whether they themselves regret not serving. No published survey directly asks non-veterans "do you regret not joining the military?" Because no direct measurement exists, the inaction side carries no reliable regret estimate. We do not manufacture one: an earlier version of this entry blended the Gilovich-Medvec inaction-regret principle with Roese and Summerville's (2005) 22.3% career-domain regret share to engineer a 25% inaction rate and a 4-point dominance gap. That composite was not a measured value and has been removed. The inaction rate is now shown level with the action side (0.21) to signal "unmeasured," and the pattern is recorded as balanced rather than inaction-dominant.
[2]Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (APA) — What We Regret Most ... and Why↗ 13 other entries
Peer-reviewed
Career accounts for 22.3% of top lifetime regrets in a meta-analysis of 11 regret-ranking datasets; people most regret decisions in domains where they see the largest missed opportunities for change and growth.
Excerpt
“"Life regrets are a reflection of where in life people see opportunity, that is, where they see the most tangible prospects for change, growth, and renewal."
”
Source data from
2005-09-01
Accessed
2026-05-09
Calculation
Roese and Summerville (2005) meta-analysis of 11 regret-ranking studies. Career ranks second among lifetime regret domains (22.3%), after education (32.2%). This share describes the relative ranking of regret DOMAINS in the general population; it does not measure how many non-veterans regret not serving, and Roese and Summerville never study military service. It is cited here only to show that career/identity choices are a leading regret domain in theory — not as a basis for any specific inaction-regret percentage. The prior version of this entry mis-used the 22.3% figure (plus the Gilovich-Medvec inaction-dominance principle) to back-derive a 25% inaction rate; that derivation was unsupported and has been removed. The inaction side now carries no reliable estimate.
Caveats
THE INACTION SIDE HAS NO DIRECT SURVEY. The action-side 21% is derived as the complement of the DAV Veterans Pulse Survey 2015 "would repeat service" figure (79% would repeat, implying ~21% would not or are uncertain). "Would not repeat" is not identical to "regrets joining" — it includes those who are uncertain or who view the choice as context- dependent. The Pew 2011 finding that 96% of post-9/11 veterans are proud of their service converges with the DAV figure to establish a low-to- moderate action regret profile. Both surveys are subject to survivorship bias: veterans who developed severe PTSD or declined participation are under-represented in voluntary panels. Active-duty satisfaction has been declining since 2019 (Blue Star Families MFLS: 55% recommend service in 2016 vs. 32% in 2023), so the 21% action regret may underestimate regret in more recent cohorts. THE INACTION SIDE HAS NO RELIABLE ESTIMATE: no national survey was found that directly asks non-veterans whether they regret not serving. An earlier version of this entry presented a 25% inaction rate and a 4-point inaction-dominance gap; that number was manufactured by blending the Gilovich-Medvec inaction-regret principle with Roese and Summerville's career-domain regret share, and it has been removed because it was never measured. The inaction rate is now shown level with the action side (0.21) purely to signal that it is unmeasured, not to assert the two are actually equal; readers should treat the inaction side as unknown. This entry cannot be considered a bilateral regret pair in the usual sense: only the action side is measured; the inaction side is not. The cultural context of military service varies enormously: the analysis applies to the US voluntary military, not to conscript armies or wartime service where the choice set is not voluntary.
