harry hope

"The way we have been treated and the continuous lies told to our

Security threats, heat, harsh living conditions, and, for some
soldiers, waiting and boredom have gradually eroded spirits.

An estimated 9,000 troops from the 3rd Infantry Division - most
deployed for at least six months and some for more than a year - have
been waiting for several weeks, without a mission, to return to the
United States, officers say.

In one Army unit, an officer described the mentality of troops.

"They vent to anyone who will listen. They write letters, they cry,
they yell. Many of them walk around looking visibly tired and
depressed.... We feel like pawns in a game that we have no voice
[in]."

From The Christian Science Monitor, 7/7/03:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0707/p02s01-woiq.html

Troop morale in Iraq hits 'rock bottom'

Soldiers stress is a key concern as the Army ponders whether to send
more forces.

By Ann Scott Tyson | Special to The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON --

US troops facing extended deployments amid the danger, heat, and
uncertainty of an Iraq occupation are suffering from low morale that
has in some cases hit "rock bottom."

Even as President Bush speaks of a "massive and long-term" undertaking
in rebuilding Iraq, that effort, as well as the high tempo of US
military operations around the globe, is taking its toll on individual
troops.

Some frustrated troops stationed in Iraq are writing letters to
representatives in Congress to request their units be repatriated.

"Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket
home," said one recent Congressional letter written by an Army soldier
now based in Iraq.

The soldier requested anonymity.

In some units, there has been an increase in letters from the Red
Cross stating soldiers are needed at home, as well as daily instances
of female troops being sent home due to pregnancy.

"Make no mistake, the level of morale for most soldiers that I've seen
has hit rock bottom," said another soldier, an officer from the Army's
3rd Infantry Division in Iraq.

Such open grumbling among troops comes as US commanders reevaluate the
size and composition of the US-led coalition force needed to occupy
Iraq.

US Central Command, which is leading the occupation, is expected by
mid-July to send a proposal to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on
how many and what kind of troops are required, as well as on the
rotation of forces there.

For soldiers, a life on the road

The rethink about troop levels comes as senior military leaders voice
concern that multiple deployments around the world are already taxing
the endurance of US forces, the Army in particular.

Some 370,000 soldiers are now deployed overseas from an Army
active-duty, guard, and reserve force of just over 1 million people,
according to Army figures.

Experts warn that long, frequent deployments could lead to a rash of
departures from the military.

"Hordes of active-duty troops and reservists may soon leave the
service rather than subject themselves to a life continually on the
road," writes Michael O'Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings
Institution here.

__________________________________________________ ___

Bring our troops home NOW!

Harry

tabernacle2002

Man Harry from what I hear it is really going to get bad in about a
years time when a lot of those soldiers are going to remember how
Dubya and Doctor Strangelove left them to twist in the wind and make
good on their promise and are going to quit the service, which is
especially bad at this time as the number of new volunteers (which
would be expected to take their place) is dropping!

So much so in fact that I hear the Army is dropping the standards to
the point that if the man or woman has a heart beat and that they can
make an X on the papers they get into the army! And yet even then they
are not making their quotas.

And so guess where they are going to get the men and women to fill the
gaps in Iraq boys and girls? Yep you guessed it, here come the Draft!

lawson english

Interesting. When I enlisted, my roommate in the "titless WAF" squadron
(Accounting and Finance) was taking special classes to learn to read, and
this was for working in Admin in the USAF!

A few years later, good ole Ronnie took office, deliberately mismanaged the
economy of the country and sent hords of well-educated young people
scurrying to join the military. We even had a young woman show up at our
Computer Operations center with a double degree in French and Spanish (the
CO wanted her to go to OCS). About that time, we computer operaters were
instructed to run a "corrective program" to address a "bug" that had just
been "discovered" in the grading system for USAF entrance and tech-school
placement tests.

Suddenly, just as we were getting a slew of people with 2-year and 4-year
degrees enlisting, it was "discovered" that everyone who had enlisted over
the last 8 or so years had test scores which had been inflated by about 20
percent. A lot of people who were by then mid-level noncoms wouldn't qualify
for their jobs if they had tested at that point, but the NEW enlistees were
making the grade no problem.

Expect to see similar shenanigans played as the economy tanks and the
military can start picking who they want, rather than accepted the
bottom-of-the-barrel, as is normally the case in an all-volunteer army
during good economic times.

BTW, that is likely one reason why we are HAVING such shitty times: the need
to get qualified volunteers into the military.

--
New definition of irony:

'Today's liberal Democrats are like the supporters of the Third Reich of the
'30's and '40's
- they absolutely trusted the government to "make things right". '
-Comment made on the internet by an ardent GW Bush supporter.

eltanin

Your on to something and I'll add,,,

With all of the white collar jobs moving overseas, college grads will
join the ranks of High school grads in a military career. It's either
that or walmart.