An Army report says that the majority of the American soldiers in Iraq reported morale problems, with psychological stress weighing heavily specially among National Guard and Reserve troops.
Fifty-four per cent of the U.S. occupying soldiers in Iraq, questioned as part of an Army survey, stated that morale in their individual units was either "low" or "very low".
The report, dated January 30, 2005, provides a snapshot of the morale and mental health of soldiers serving in Iraq and Kuwait from August to October last year.
However, the mental health of the soldiers in Iraq has improved, the report said, adding that substantially fewer soldiers need to be evacuated from Iraq for mental health problems than last year. But it didn’t clarify what was the reason behind such improvement.
13 percent of soldiers in the most recent study screened positive for a mental health problem, compared with 18 percent a year earlier.
But acute or post-traumatic stress is still the top mental health problem, affecting at least 10 percent of all soldiers checked in the latest survey.
The initial inquiry was triggered in July 2003, following an unusual surge in suicides among the U.S. forces in Iraq.
At the recommendation of the 2003 assessment team, the Army launched a suicide prevention program for its soldiers in Iraq.
The main source of stress for the soldiers, according to the report, aside from actual combat, was the long deployment in Iraq.
At the beginning of the invasion, U.S. military personnel were deployed for six months, but now they go for 12 months.
Last year Army officials said they were considering shortening the year-long combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan amid concerns that the long and perilous duty was making it harder to recruit new soldiers.
"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," Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a briefing.
"At the present time, the combination of attempting to reset their force from the deployments and reorganise down to the brigade level is sufficiently complex that they do not want to interrupt it by changing the length of (deployment) time."
Fifty-two per cent of the soldiers surveyed reported “high” or “very high” concern and another 16 per cent reported moderate concern about the long deployments.
National Guard and Reserve soldiers, serving in transportation and support units, suffer depression, anxiety and other indications of acute psychological stress, more than others, the report stated.
The report also questioned whether National Guard and Reserve support troops are getting the needed training in combat skills.
Only 55 percent of National Guard support soldiers have "real confidence" in their unit's ability to fight, compared with 63 percent of active-duty Army support soldiers, the report added.
Also only 28 percent of the Guard troops rated their level of training as high, compared with 50 percent of their active-duty counterparts.
Fifty-four per cent of the U.S. occupying soldiers in Iraq, questioned as part of an Army survey, stated that morale in their individual units was either "low" or "very low".
The report, dated January 30, 2005, provides a snapshot of the morale and mental health of soldiers serving in Iraq and Kuwait from August to October last year.
However, the mental health of the soldiers in Iraq has improved, the report said, adding that substantially fewer soldiers need to be evacuated from Iraq for mental health problems than last year. But it didn’t clarify what was the reason behind such improvement.
13 percent of soldiers in the most recent study screened positive for a mental health problem, compared with 18 percent a year earlier.
But acute or post-traumatic stress is still the top mental health problem, affecting at least 10 percent of all soldiers checked in the latest survey.
The initial inquiry was triggered in July 2003, following an unusual surge in suicides among the U.S. forces in Iraq.
At the recommendation of the 2003 assessment team, the Army launched a suicide prevention program for its soldiers in Iraq.
The main source of stress for the soldiers, according to the report, aside from actual combat, was the long deployment in Iraq.
At the beginning of the invasion, U.S. military personnel were deployed for six months, but now they go for 12 months.
Last year Army officials said they were considering shortening the year-long combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan amid concerns that the long and perilous duty was making it harder to recruit new soldiers.
"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," Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a briefing.
"At the present time, the combination of attempting to reset their force from the deployments and reorganise down to the brigade level is sufficiently complex that they do not want to interrupt it by changing the length of (deployment) time."
Fifty-two per cent of the soldiers surveyed reported “high” or “very high” concern and another 16 per cent reported moderate concern about the long deployments.
National Guard and Reserve soldiers, serving in transportation and support units, suffer depression, anxiety and other indications of acute psychological stress, more than others, the report stated.
The report also questioned whether National Guard and Reserve support troops are getting the needed training in combat skills.
Only 55 percent of National Guard support soldiers have "real confidence" in their unit's ability to fight, compared with 63 percent of active-duty Army support soldiers, the report added.
Also only 28 percent of the Guard troops rated their level of training as high, compared with 50 percent of their active-duty counterparts.
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