# Do you regret not having served? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 1, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727 "2005-02-01T03:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/1 "2005-02-01T03:29:21Z")
Over in [this GQ thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=299705), **Slithy Tove** quoted Samuel Johnson, > [@](#): > > Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier. So how about it? Is this true about you? I have to say yes for myself. ---
**Author:** ![ninetypercent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@ninetypercent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninetypercent)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/2 "2005-02-01T03:35:24Z")
No. America’s militaristic obsession is a disease. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/3 "2005-02-01T03:37:37Z")
I came of age during Vietnam, so no. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/4 "2005-02-01T03:39:57Z")
Fuck no; I’m 23 and might’ve been in Iraq or Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![ninetypercent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@ninetypercent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninetypercent)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/5 "2005-02-01T03:40:49Z")
militaristic patriotism, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/6 "2005-02-01T03:50:10Z")
No, Samuel Johnson’s sentiments have never crossed my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/7 "2005-02-01T03:56:49Z")
I do a little. I was in Air Force ROTC in college for two years before I decided to change directions. I really liked it but I didn’t want to commit to 4 years service after school. If I were single, I would gladly go now. However, I have a wife a child so I can’t really do that. I don’t feel guilty at all for not serving. Not everyone needs to serve and I have more powerful obligations at home. However, if I had an extra life or two to throw away, I would do it. Some people are sacrificing most of what they have in order to serve. I am not on that level at all but I am 1/4 of the way up the ladder. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/8 "2005-02-01T04:02:36Z")
Of course not, I am a Marine. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/9 "2005-02-01T04:08:43Z")
I do in the general sense. I do believe that we have a duty to our society and community, and enlisting is a good way to provide a service to your country. Also, I would have been a better man for having spent time in the military. That said, I came of age during the '80s, and I didn’t trust that Reagan would make wise use of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/10 "2005-02-01T04:14:52Z")
I was going to go into the Air Force. Had a recruiter, took the ASVAB and the physical. Failed the eye test. I could have gotten a waiver, but then I spotted something shiny… I got distracted and my life took a different direction. I do look back on it with a tinge of regret. Not out of any sense of duty, but because my life would have turned out way differently, I’m sure. It would have been very good for me, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/11 "2005-02-01T04:19:39Z")
Eh, kinda/sorta. I will be the first man from my family not to serve in a branch of the armed forces in over half a century. My paternal grandfather was in the Army during WWII and fought in Africa, my maternal grandfather was in the Navy during WWII and was one of the first Americans to visit Nagasaki (IIRC) after the atom bomb was dropped. Finally, my father was in the Air Force for something like 10+ years. And then there’s me… I thought about enlisting in one of the branches for a while, but I never actually checked out a recruiter. Then, the Iraq war appeared, I didn’t exactly agree with it, and that was pretty much the end of my military musings. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/12 "2005-02-01T04:21:13Z")
I have a ton of respect for the people who have, but I don’t regret it for myself. I never wanted to serve in the military, never felt a duty to the military. And fortunately, there’s never been a military conflict involving the US in my lifetime that I felt was legitimate and that I could help by serving. Now community service – I regret not doing more of that. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/13 "2005-02-01T04:24:00Z")
They didn’t want me. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/14 "2005-02-01T05:28:25Z")
Never for a second. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/15 "2005-02-01T05:49:09Z")
Yes. Rather than being drafted, I went through the enlistment process and was simply awaiting a school confirmation date to ship out and do a 6 year hitch in the Navy. They kept trying to make me change my school choice from Photography to Nuclear or Electronics Tech, and after 6 months, I gave up. Hindsight being what it is, I wish I had served. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/16 "2005-02-01T06:15:35Z")
No. I would probably have gotten my ass shot off. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/17 "2005-02-01T06:52:39Z")
Yes. My life would be vastly different now if I had. I’ve got quite a few friends who were in the service. All of them said they disliked or even hated it, but that they were glad they did it. Curious how that works. I talked to a Navy recruiter about the time I graduated from high school. I got as far as taking the ASVAB. I got good math and science scores and decent mechanical aptitude so they wanted me to go into a nuclear engineering program. The problem was that I wanted a written guarantee that after boot camp I would be given a shot at OCS. No way did I want to be a glorified plumber soaking up a “safe” amount of radiation while confined to a sub (my most likely posting, I thought) for six months at a time with a bunch of other guys without the chance to at least be an officer if I worked for it. No guarantee, so no recruit. I don’t regret that decision, but I kind of do regret not going into ROTC, or enlisting after college, or even enlisting for the purpose of going to college. The latter would have saved me lots of money and I would have had an incentive for going for a more technical degree. Considering the tremendous goat orgies I’ve seen from the US lately, it may be for the best that I didn’t go in, but that’s in retrospect. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/18 "2005-02-01T07:32:22Z")
There’s something very attractive about physically fighting for something I think is right, or against something I think is evil (the American Revolution and WWII immediately spring to mind), but I don’t see that anywhere today. War is too easy now. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/19 "2005-02-01T07:41:36Z")
Yes. No major skirmishes when I was of age so there was no motivation to join. Many family members and friends are vets. Wish I’d given of myself. ---
**Author:** ![TonyF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@TonyF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonyF)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727/20 "2005-02-01T09:45:49Z")
Yes. If things end up poorly, I probably will serve. Having my best friend in Basic when the planes hit the towers led me to serious rethink the college course; I knew he’d get sent somewhere - he ended up in Iraq - and that I’m not there with him really, really irritates me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-regret-not-having-served/287727.md?page=2)