What do you think: Is life good in the military?
Published: July 15, 2010
A new poll finds active duty personnel who have deployed to either war report nearly the same “wellbeing levels” as those who have not. And those in military are "thriving" better than the general population.
But veterans tell a different story.
“Active duty military personnel who have ever been deployed to a foreign war have strikingly similar wellbeing levels as active duty personnel who have never been deployed," Gallup writes. There is a slight dip for those who went overseas, but Gallup stresses the nearly identical score, not the difference.
Furthermore, the firm says, “In both cases, these levels exceed the wellbeing scores found among U.S. workers in general.”
Take that, high school guidance counselors. The polling firm bills its Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index as "the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to measure what people believe constitutes a good life." Those surveyed answer to their current and future emotional and physical health, work satisfaction and such. Respondents then are labled "thriving," "struggling," or "suffering."
Scores get even better with age. Gallup says after age 30, life quality scores tend to drop, but those military folk who have deployed return better scores than general workers in the U.S. and match the younger whippersnappers.
“Bottom line,” Gallup says:
“While life evaluation clearly holds up regardless of age, the drop in overall wellbeing among those aged 18 to 29 indicates that foreign war deployment is having an impact on wellbeing overall.”
One hitch....once you're out, expect a drop. Veterans polled lower wellbeing rates than the general population and higher rates of clinical depression.
UPDATE: I've updated this post with a new title and new purpose, asking readers for their personal comments to these poll results. It's a simple question: What do you think, is life good in the military? Add your comment below.
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