U.S. Army: Morale Down in Afghanistan

More Deployments Correlate With More Mental Health Problems; Rise in Marital Problems, Shortage of Health Workers Cited

(AP)  Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday.

Soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase for the first time since 2004, according to a new study.

Though findings of two new battlefield surveys are similar in several ways to the last ones taken in 2007, they come at a time of intense scrutiny on Afghanistan as President Barack Obama struggles to come up with a new war strategy and planned troop buildup.

There is also perhaps equal new attention focused on the mental health of the force since a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, last week in which an Army psychiatrist is charged.

Both surveys showed that soldiers on their third or fourth tours of duty had lower morale and more mental health problems than those with fewer deployments and an ever-increasing number of troops who are having problems with their marriages.

The new survey on Afghanistan found instances of depression, anxiety and other psychological problems are about the same as they were in 2007. But it also said there is a shortage of mental health workers to help soldiers who need it, partly because of the buildup Mr. Obama already started this year with the dispatch of more than 20,000 extra troops.

Efforts already under way to get more health workers to the Afghan war could be hampered somewhat by last week's shooting. The psychiatrist charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder was slated to go to Afghanistan. Some of the dead and wounded also were to deploy there to bolster psychological services for soldiers.

The new Afghanistan survey found that individual soldier morale was about the same as previous studies, but that "unit morale rates ... were significantly lower than in 2005 or 2007," said an executive summary of the report that was to be explained in a news conference Friday. The units referred to were mostly platoons of roughly a couple dozen people each.

In Iraq, some 2,400 soldiers in randomly selected platoons filled out surveys from December 2008 through March 2009 and a mental health assessment team went to the warfront for a month starting in late February to analyze the results and hold interviews and focus groups.

In Afghanistan, more than 1,500 troops in more than 50 platoons filled out the surveys from April to June, and the assessment team when through the same process from May through June.

Mental health providers also were interviewed in each country.

It is the sixth such survey, a program that was groundbreaking when started in 2003 in that it was the biggest effort ever made to measure the health of troops - and the services they receive - right at the warfront.

[underdogus2009]

AFGHANISTAN WHERE EMPIRES GO TO DIE........
Genghis Khan could not hold onto Afghanistan. Neither will the United States...*sniff*

[50BMS13]

underdogus2009
The US could if they should and wanted to. Wholeheartedly the US can do anything. Half-heartedly it will fail. You have to be willing to die for the cause. The other side is. Why put America down?

[YourVeryWrong]

The Mongols ruled Afghanistan for almost 300 years. So it appears that CBS News board agit-prop is where logic goes to die.

[50BMS13]

I guess morale is down! The troops know their Commander in Chief doesn't know what to do or if they should or shouldn't be there. He apologizes for America everyday. How can they have pride when they are being apologized for? They are pawns at the expense of "politically correct".

[Charly440]

Yes WE Can!!!!!

[Charly440]

It is time for Prez O to step UP TO THE Plate and do as his 2008
campaign advertised "A Change We Need"...
Giving away our taxpayer treasury wealth to wall street scammers is no
Change.
Caving in on a national healthcare system is no change.
Sending 40,000 more young American men and women to afghanistan for israeli security convenience is no change.
Prez O we believed in you and it is time for "The Change We NEED"

[seaniekaye]

too bad about low morale. they should have theme days. i know it sound sstupid but, like 'pirate tuesday' and 'backwards wednesday' etc. people grumble about those kinds of theme days but they all end up having a good time with it in the end

[lmartink]

Are you insane, seaniekaye?

[Charly440]

NO!!!!!! Seaniekaye knows what he is talking about!!!!
For instance, there can be "Pick a poppie" day as our combat troops walk
through the dope fields cultivated for taliban profit.
Ooorrrr...Musical IED day to guess which side of the road the explosives are on!!!!
Ooorrrr...Officers patrol day, as this time the officers go out on sitting duck patrol and the enlisted hangout back at camp betting on who comes back!!!!
Ooorrr...Pin the flak jacket donkey day to guess and see what vender vests don't stop an AK bullet, then WE shoot the manufacturer who made the faulty flak vest back here in the states!!!!
Ooorrr...Water surf board day when our troops can sand surf down a mountain side while the taliban takes pot shots at them AND Vice Versa
to see who sand surfs the best...California - Hawaii are gonna win!!!!
Yes, Seaniekaye Yes!!!!!!!!!!

[babooph]

A military designed to fight a high tech war against a major power ,sent to chase a bunch of goatherders around some useless dry mountains for 8 years.. why would that lower moral?

[Ms_enza]

Well so what? So, morel is down, portobello mushrooms are just as good.... 'specially grilled.

And every soldier is a mushroom. Kept in the dark and fed BS.

[YourVeryWrong]

Tokyo Rose wasn't a flower.

[lakota2012]

What a mess, with casualties up, moral down, and President Obama handed an unwinable WAR by the bushies and their poor strategy over the past 8 years. Seems as if our Afghani Ambassador, a general with over 2 years experience on the ground in Afghanistan, knows what is best over the knee-jerk GOP chickenhawks calling for tens of thousands more troops and tens of thousands more "private contractors."

What did hundreds of thousands of troops give us in Vietnam, but just another unwinable WAR for the military/industrial complex of WAR profiteer multi-millionaires?

With multiple extended tours, low moral and huge mental problems causing suicides and marriage problems among soldiers, why does America want to throw more gasoline on the fire called Afghanistan, by sending even more troops to an unwinable WAR?

[Charly440]

for israeli security convenience of course don't you know????????

[YourVeryWrong]

Oh, those supernaturally crafty Jews. Or is it that they're of average intelligence, but their enemies are morons...?

[bubbadubba]

Our troops are not stupid, they know we are not wanted in Afghanistan and their mission is a lost cause.
Afghanistan-Nam.
Bring our troops home.

[lmartink]

Of course morale is low. Our troops aren't stupid. I think they are weary, do not see any progress happening, and they recognize a losing cause.

In the face of enemy fire, their officers have them stand up and move around a lot. Something we did not do in Vietnam.

When taking fire, enemy positions do not disappear with the intense blaze of napalm, or the smoke and dust of an artillery barrage. Things we did do in Nam, and WW II.

Instead they are trying to win over the hearts and minds of the people, and taking excessive casualties. They are soldiers and Marines, not missionaries.

They move through poppy fields that raise money for the Taliban.

They're not stupid. It is time to bring them home.

[sh81842]

So, the morale problem in Afghanistan is the result of not having enough mental health professionals? Why didn't I think of that? It's not about the multiple tours, the separation from family, the constant threat of attack, the frustration of not being able to identify good guys from bad guys, or the lack of support we are getting from the very people we are there to help. It's about not having enough shrinks to explain to our troops why it might be necessary for them to die in an ill-conceived, ill-executed, and unnecessary war with no end in sight?
All we need is a bunch of Dr. Phil's and our troubles are over.

[Charly440]

Did you say "third or fourth tour of duty"? So what we have here is
a recycling system of Our young men and women. YES, it IS TRUE, they
Volunteered for this debacle. And because these young and Very Naive
American soldiers are in afghanistan of their own volition, they are
to be processed like so much meat going thru a processing plant?
This whole middle east nightmare is for the benefit of israeli security and convenience. So how many young israeli men and women are serving in our armed forces to protect their home country?
Morale is low because Our young soldiers are being commanded corporate
style. They are paraded along the same patrol routes to show presence
and they are sitting ducks for pre-planted IEDs, ducks in a row for the taliban....it's easy and fun.
No respect as "officers" hangout back at the camp and send these kids
out for slaughter, corporate pecking order in it's military form.
Is Prez O going for More of our young men and women being sent to this
sick situation? Well, one thing for sure, this whole sickening mess is
going to resonate the viet nam demonstrations all over again as WE
Americans want this ruinous israeli commanded fiasco to STOP

[BeckieBest]

After 8 years of not committing enough troops and resources in Afghanistan, the country is totally FUBAR.

I'm glad that Obama is taking the time to determine whether this is worth the sacrifice of more troops. I'm glad that he's not blindly backing the incredibly corrupt and weak Afghan government. I'm glad that he's not bowing to the pressure of the right wing nuts who are responsible for creating this mess in the first place.

[bobbyduck1]

by BeckieBest November 13, 2009 12:05 PM EST

I agree with you mostly, but it was Al Qaeda that made the mess to begin with.

Bush and the GOP fermented the initial relatively small mess into the huge catastrophe that faces us now because of their criminal neglect of Afghanaistan so they could criminally invade Iraq for no justifiable reason.

Had we focused all of our resources on Afghanistan instead of inventing bogus reasons to conquer Iraq, we would be in good shape most likely.

As it is now, we should probably cut and run but that just doesn't sit well.

The debt that Busheny incurred for us financially is small compared to the credibility deficit from 8 years of utter mismanglement and acting like the worst of the worst.

Hopefully we will remember Busheny and McCarthy and will never ever agin let the GOP have the Hill and the House at the same time again. Look at the COST of letting rightie drive the train!

[YourVeryWrong]

Baby talk? That's so cute.