Army finds morale woes among U.S. soldiers in Iraq
Wed Jul 20, 2005 04:50 PM ET
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of U.S. soldiers in the Iraq war reported morale problems in their units, with particular concern over long deployments, but suicide rates have dropped, an Army report said on Wednesday.
Fifty-four percent of soldiers questioned as part of an Army survey stated that morale in their individual units was either low or very low, the report said. Nine percent reported high or very high unit morale.
The report, completed in January but only now being released, provided a snapshot of the morale and mental health of soldiers serving in Iraq and Kuwait from August to October last year.
While morale remained a problem, the Army said it had improved over the previous year, when a similar survey in fall 2003 found 72 percent of soldiers reporting low or very low unit morale at a time when the Iraq insurgency was first gaining traction.
Thirty-six percent of soldiers stated their personal morale was low, down from 52 percent reported a year earlier.
The leading source of stress for the soldiers, aside from actual combat, was the long deployment in Iraq, the report said. Army personnel generally serve a full year on the ground in Iraq, and many have had their duty extended for additional weeks or months shortly before their scheduled return home.
Fifty-two percent of soldiers reported high or very high concern and another 16 percent reported moderate concern about the long deployments, the report stated.
Army officials said last year they were considering shortening the yearlong combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan amid concerns that the long and perilous duty was making it harder to attract new soldiers and keep current ones.
'DOWN THE ROAD'
"I've tried to get the Army to look at the length of the tours and I think at some point down the road they will," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a briefing.
"At the present time, the combination of attempting to reset their force from the deployments and reorganize down to the brigade level is sufficiently complex that they do not want to interrupt it by changing the length of (deployment) time." Continued ...
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

I deleted the rest of this billsh*t article because I was too pissed off to continue.The headline reads morale is low,yet when you read the actual article,it shows troops have BETTER morale then a year ago.And how many troops were surveyed for this piece of sh*t article?1-10-20?I'll bet not even twenty.What a piece of irresponsible crap!!!I can't even call it journalism.I've got to log off now and take my blood pressure meds.I HATE reporters like this.

The NEWS Media don't care about the truth or how we feel as soldiers, airmen, sailors, or marines. They only care about the ratings and a good lie sells, they are our worst enemy.

Now, lets look at morale, if I'm in the combat zone fighting for my life and my fellow military conrads. I'm dealing with hostile fire, improvised explosive devices (IED), and suicide bomber, hell yes my morale would be low.

They could have interviewed them on a bad food day.

OK. How about some suggestions from the crew here on what the CO's should do to increase thier troops morale?

I know what I did back in the day to take care of my troops, even if it was against regulations. I got em fed, drunk and laid. Try accomplishing that feat for 100 plus men in a Muslim country! (the wives and women of the oil company ARAMACO played a pivotal role)

Or CO filled a quarter-ton trailer with ice and our beer ration. We drank and played softball which was interesting for a company that was at least 250 strong.

Somehow, mom and freshly baked apple pie does not work for members of our armed forces!

Yes Harry had a lot of great Beer partys kinda hard to have swim call in the desert .They already have softball games according to my Grandson but kinda hard with someone shooting at you.One thing for sure it would be nice if these activist and Media would support them more. I remember how I felt once upon a time.God Bless our Troops.

Sully, being in a combat aviation battalion insures safe days and interesting nights.

Harry knew a little bit about the night I was on a (PTF Nasty Class in late 65) I Corp.Also knew a few people in 212th at Marble Mountain.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sully,

Sully, how do you know about the 212th? I was in the 62nd Avn Co (corps) at Marble Mountain in 70.

They called us the Royal Coachmen

Coach I knew you were I went to your web site before it closed down.When I first went to Vietnam I was part of MACV-SOG in support of Seal 2 & 5th Special Forces took POWs up to camp also had cousin in 5th Special Forces Marble Mountain also had a cousin in MAG 16 so I knew that place pretty good easy to catch a Red-Eye to PhuBi to hard to get a ride back to causway where the boats were that I had to work on.PS Coach that was why I knew about some of the photos in the Royal Coachman Web site

Ok sully just wondered NP

Coachman;I have heard of the Coachmen and their exploits in VietNam.
They were prominent in a couple of books I have read,and I think one was written by a Coachman.
Can you remember,or do you know, of the book title?
I just can't remember.

firstborn, I do not know of any books by a coachman, but I will research it now that I know ty for telling me.

Coachman;
Don't take it as gospel.I might be remembering a call sign of Coachman.
I've lost all my helo,FAC,RVN books,so it's only my memory working.
Does the name "Wild Bill" Meecham (sp?) ring a bell??

I remember a guy that sounds like his name, what year if you remember. Our call sign was coachman.

Coachman,I'm sorry but I don't remember anything more.
I've done a search for the name "Meecham"but came up with nothing,and when I searched books got nada yet again.
If I remember anything I'll let you know.

The typical method of these morale surveys is to lump in all responses, from the reserve bulk fuel units as well as the more high speed types. And of course, many of the high speed types are not usually available when the pogues come around, so the other opinions wind up being weighed more heavily.

So when even reservist mechanics and such are feeling better, then the whole enchilada is looking much, much better. A lot of the dead weight in the non-elite units has probably bailed out by now, one way or another also.

Airwinger;
Good to see you back.

I second that, good to see you back Airwinger!