Overall, veterans report that their military experience has helped them get ahead in life. Two-thirds say it has helped them a lot, and 14% say it has helped a little. An additional 16% say their military experience hasn’t made a difference in terms of getting ahead in life. Only 3% say the experience was detrimental.

Within the veteran community, this sense of being helped by virtue of serving in the military is nearly universal. Among men and women, young and old, blacks, whites and Hispanics, strong majorities say their military experience has helped them get ahead in life. Additionally, veterans across military eras agree that their service was beneficial. Whether they served in a prior war, during the relative peacetime after Vietnam and before 9/11, or during the past decade, veterans are likely to say having served in the military gave them an advantage in life.

Among post-9/11 veterans, those who served five or more years in the military are more likely to see a benefit from their service. Two-thirds of those who served at least five years say the experience helped them a lot in terms of getting ahead in life. This compares with only half (52%) of those who served for less than five years.

Officers—both commissioned and noncommissioned—are much more likely than enlisted personnel to say that their military service helped them get ahead. Roughly two-thirds of officers say their military experience helped them a lot, versus only 49% of veterans who were among the rank-and-file enlisted personnel.

Not only do veterans feel the military helped them get ahead in life, but they also see specific benefits from their service. Among all post-9/11 veterans, 71% say their military experience was very useful in helping them grow and mature as a person; an additional 21% say it was fairly useful. Nearly as many (65%) say their time in the military was very useful in teaching them how to work together with other people (25% say fairly useful). And 61% say it was very useful in giving them self-confidence (29% fairly useful).

Veterans are less likely to report that their time in the military helped them get a job in the civilian world. Only 41% of post-9/11 veterans say their military experience was very useful in preparing them for a job or career. An additional 31% say it was fairly useful, and 27% say their military experience was not useful in this regard.