Troop Morale
TROOP MORALE
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, today two news articles came to my attention regarding the recent survey conducted by the Stars and Stripes newspaper on the level of troop morale in Iraq. I ask unanimous consent that they be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
[From the Stars and Stripes, Oct. 16, 2003]
GROUND TRUTH, DAY 2: IN SURVEY, MANY IN IRAQ CALL MORALE LOW; LEADERS SAY JOB IS GETTING DONE
(By Ward Sanderson)
What is the morale of U.S. troops in Iraq?
Answers vary. High-ranking visitors to the country, including Department of Defense and congressional officials, have said it is outstanding.
Some troops on the ground have begged to differ, writing to Stars and Stripes and to others about what they call low morale on their part and on the part of their units.
There was a correlation between such things as local services and release dates on the one hand, and morale on the other.
Stars and Stripes sent a team of reporters to Iraq to try to ascertain the states of both conditions and morale. Troops were asked about morale, among many other issues, in a 17-point questionnaire, which was filled out and returned by nearly 2,000 persons.
The results varied; sometimes dramatically:
Among the largest group surveyed, Army troops, the results looked much like a bell curve. Twenty-seven percent said their personal moral was "high" or "very high." Thirty-three percent said it was "low" or "very low." The largest percentage fell in the middle, saying it was "average."
Among the second largest group, reservists and National Guard members, the differences were much starker. Only 15 percent said their own morale was "high" or "very high," while 48 percent said it was "low" or "very low."
Among the Marines, the next largest group 44 percent said their morale was "high" or "very high," and only 14 percent said it was "low" or "very low."
Among airmen, the smallest of the four major groups surveyed because fewer questionnaires were allowed to be circulated to them, the results were also very positive. Thirty-nine percent said their morale was "high" or "very high," and only 6 percent said it was "low" or "very low."
Very few Navy servicemembers could be found to question in Iraq.
The questionnaire findings can't be projected to all the servicemembers in Iraq. Still, the reporting of "lows" among the two largest groups surveyed, Army and Reserve/National Guard, seemed significant. The views of these troops, at least, appeared to contrast sharply with those of the visiting VIPs.
Respondents to the survey were not given a definition of morale. They responded according to what they interpreted the word to mean. Some believe morale reflects the degree of well-being felt by the servicemember. On the other hand, commanders say that in measuring morale, they want to know if the servicemember is following orders and getting the job done.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. officer in Iraq, said that low morale isn't an issue because troops are fulfilling the mission.
"Morale is . . . not necessarily giving them Baskin-Robbins," he said in a Stars and Stripes interview. "Sometimes it's being able to train them hard and keep them focused in a combat environment so they can survive.
"So at its most fundamental level within our Army, taking care of soldiers and their morale could have very few worldly comforts. But the morale of the soldier is good. He's being taken care of, he's accomplishing his mission, he's being successful in the warfighting."
Other military leaders say they are always looking at ways to improve the morale of their troops. "Morale begins with caring leaders looking their soldiers in the eye," said Lt. Col. Jim Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman. "When senior leaders visit the troops in Iraq, they relate that the troops tell them that morale is good, a fact that's backed up by re-enlistment and retention rates."
(These rates have been acceptable or good for the services overall. Figures for re-enlistments in Iraq are not available yet, officials said. In the Stripes survey, half or more respondents from the Army, Marines and Reserves said they were unlikely to stay in the service. Officials say re-enlistments normally drop after conflicts.)
Cassella said that leaders visiting Iraq seek out the opinions of troops. Some say the views expressed may be distorted as a result of the nature of the get-togethers, "dog and pony shows," in the words of combat engineer Pfc. Roger Hunsaker.
"When congressional delegations came through," said one 36-year-old artillery master sergeant who asked not to be identified, commanders "hand-picked the soldiers who would go. They stacked the deck."
Others on the ground in Iraq think top leaders are right more times than they are given credit for.
"I heard that reporters/politicians were trying to say morale was down out here," Petty Officer Matthew W. Early wrote on his questionnaire at Camp Get Some in southern Iraq. "What do people back home expect us to feel after a war? Are we supposed to be as happy here as we are with our friends and families back home? Hell no.
"Of course, when confronted by reporters, we're going to voice out opinions about our situation. Unfortunately, some people like to complain about how they live or what they don't have. The complaint concerning morale is the voice of the minority, not the majority."
In the Stripes survey, troops consistently rated their unit's morale as lower than their own. John Kay, marketing director for the Army Research Institute, said, "Soldiers always rate self [personal] morale higher than unit moral. This is nothing new."
Troops may wish to report what they perceive as the true morale situation without getting themselves into trouble, a way of saying, "I'm OK, but the unit's not."
Some of the gap can also be the result of hearing other troops complain, compounding the impression that unit morale is low, even if each complainer believes his or her own morale is better.
"Both are true," said Charles Moskos, a military sociologist with Northwestern University.
The military studies morale regularly, but "the further you go up the chain in the officer corps, the reality of day-to-day morale cannot register completely," said Lt. Col. Daniel Smith, retired chief of research for the Center for Defense Information. "Whereas when you talk to the platoon sergeants, platoon leaders and even company commanders, you get a better sense of the true state of affairs. Do the weapons work? Are they getting hot meals? Are they getting enough rest?
Are their leaders competent and not taking unnecessary risks?"
Unlike some officials who have visited Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, during a September stop in Iraq, spoke
not about morale per se, but about the importance of the mission and about sacrifice.
"You're people . . . who weren't drafted, you weren't conscripted, you searched your souls and decided that you wanted to step forward and serve your country," he told the 4th Infantry Division, according to a Pentagon transcript.
Another speech to air assault soldiers of the 101st Airborne division echoed the sentiment:
"The important thing I would also add is that every one of you is a volunteer. You all asked to do this, and that is impressive and it's appreciated."
[From the Washington Post, Oct. 16, 2003]
MANY TROOPS DISSATISFIED, IRAQ POLL FINDS
(By Bradley Graham and Dana Milbank)
A broad survey of U.S. troops in Iraq by a Pentagon-funded newspaper found that half of those questioned described their unit's morale as low and their training as insufficient, and said they do not plan to reenlist.
The survey, conducted by the Stars and Stripes newspaper, also recorded about a third of the respondents complaining that their mission lacks clear definition and characterizing the war in Iraq as of little or no value. Fully 40 percent said the jobs they were doing had little or nothing to do with their training.
The findings, drawn from 1,935 questionnaires presented to U.S. service members throughout Iraq, conflict with statements by military commanders and Bush administration officials that portray the deployed troops as high-spirited and generally well-prepared. Though not obtained through scientific methods, the survey results suggest that a combination of difficult conditions, complex missions and prolonged tours in Iraq is wearing down a significant portion of the U.S. force and threatening to provoke a sizable exodus from military service.
In the first of a week-long series of articles, Stars and Stripes said yesterday that it undertook the survey in August after receiving scores of letters from troops who were upset with one aspect or another of the Iraq operation. The newspaper, which receives some funding from the Defense Department but functions without editorial control by the Pentagon, prepared 17 questions and sent three teams of reporters to Iraq to conduct the survey and related interviews at nearly 50 camps.
"We conducted a 'convenience survey,' meaning we gave it to those who happened to be available at the time rather than to a randomly selected cross section, so the results cannot necessarily be projected as representing the whole population," said David Mazzarella, the paper's editorial director in Washington. "But we still think the findings are significant and make clear that the troops have a different idea of things than what their leaders have been saying."
Experts in public opinion and the military concurred that the poll was not necessarily representative, but they characterized it as a useful gauge of troops' sentiment. "The numbers are consistent with what I suspect is going on there," said David
Segal, a military sociologist at the University of Maryland at College Park. "I am getting a sense that there is a high and increasing level of demoralization and a growing sense of being in something they don't understand and aren't sure the American people understand."
The paper quoted Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, saying in a Sept. 9 interview for the series that "there is no morale problem." He said complaints among troops are "expected" and part of "the Army's normal posture," whether the soldiers are deployed or not.
"We haven't had time to study the survey, but we take all indicators of morale seriously," said Bryan Whitman, a senior
Pentagon spokesman. "It's the reason we've instituted several programs to address morale and welfare issues." A White House spokesman had no comment.
Some military experts pointed to good news for the administration in the survey. Military historian Eliot Cohen, who serves on a Pentagon advisory panel, noted that the proportion that said the war was worthwhile67 percentand the proportion of troops that said they have a clearly defined mission64 percentis amazingly high." He added that complaints are typical. "American troops have a God-given right and tradition of grumbling," he said.
In the survey, 34 percent described their morale as low, compared with 27 percent who described it as high and 37 percent who said it was average; 49 percent described their unit's morale as low, while 16 percent called it high.
In recent days, the Bush administration has launched a campaign to blame the news media for portraying the situation in Iraq in a negative light. Last week, Bush described the military spirit as high and said that life in Iraq is "a lot better than you probably think. Just ask people who have been there."
But Stars and Stripes raised questions about what those visiting dignitaries saw in Iraq. "Many soldiers, including several officers, allege that VIP visits from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill are only given hand-picked troops to meet with during their tours of Iraq," the newspaper said in its interview with Sanchez. "The phrase 'Dog and Pony Show' is usually used.
Some troops even go so far as to say they've been ordered not to talk to VIPs because leaders are afraid of what they might say."
The newspaper also noted in that interview that its reporters were told that some soldiers who had complained of morale problems had faced disciplinary actions known as Article 15s, which can result in reprimand, extra duties and forfeiture of pay. Sanchez said he did not know of any such punishments, but he added that they would have been handled at a lower level.
The paper's project recorded significant differences in the morale of various units, but overall found that Army troops tended to sound more dissatisfied than Air Force personnel and Marines, and that reservists were the most troubled.
Uncertainty about when they are returning home was a major factor in dampening morale, according to the newspaper. The interviews were conducted at a time when some reserve and regular Army units were learning that their tours had been extended. The Pentagon has since sought to provide a clearer rotation plan and has begun granting troops two-week home leaves.
Although Pentagon officials say they have seen no sign yet of a rise in the number of troops deciding against reenlisting, the survey suggested that such a surge may be coming soon. A total of 49 percent of those questioned said it was "very unlikely" or "not likely" that they would remain in the military after they complete their current obligations. In the past, enlistment rates tended to drop after conflicts, but many defense experts and noncommissioned officers have warned of the potential for a historically high exodus, particularly of reservists.