U.S. soldiers' morale down in Afghanistan
Muslims Always Victorious
By Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Morale has fallen sharply among U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, with repeated
combat deployments taking a toll on their psychological health and
marriages, according to an Army mental health survey released Friday.
The percentage of soldiers who rated their unit's morale as high or very
high fell from 10.2 percent in 2007 to 5.7 percent in 2009, according to the
survey. Individual morale rates remained steady, with about 16 percent
saying their morale was high or very high.
Meanwhile, soldiers in Afghanistan are having greater difficulty getting
help for psychological problems, for a variety of reasons, including a
shortage of psychiatrists and other mental health workers, the survey
showed.
The Army had about 43 behavioral health personnel in Afghanistan when the
survey was conducted from April to June, or about one for every 1,100
soldiers. The Army is working to improve that ratio to one for every 700
soldiers, and to assign more mental health providers to brigades and
battalions.
As part of that effort, the Army has activated some reserve combat stress
units, including one that was preparing to deploy from Fort Hood, Tex, when
Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal M. Hasan allegedly went on the Nov. 5 shooting
rampage there. Hasan was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan before the end
of the year to serve with a combat stress unit.
Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army's surgeon general, said that the Army
is short by about 25 percent of its overall goal for hiring more behavioral
health specialists, but stressed that the service would not cut corners in
order to fill the slots. "We would never compromise quality simply to get a
body out in the field," he said at a Pentagon news conference.
Officials said the obstacles to soldiers receiving mental health care
include being spread out in smaller outposts as part of the
counterinsurgency effort and Afghanistan's rugged landscape, making travel
difficult.
"Even with an optimal ratio" of providers to soldiers, "the terrain and
weather makes it quite difficult for us," Schoomaker said.
About 21 percent of soldiers in Afghanistan reported psychological problems
such as acute stress, depression or anxiety, which is about the same as in
2007. The findings come as soldiers in the country today face greater
exposure to combat than two years ago, the survey showed.
The survey confirmed earlier findings that mental health problems increase
along with the number and length of soldiers' combat zone deployments. About
30 percent of soldiers reported marital problems such as infidelity or
divorce during the third deployment, compared with less than half that
during the first and second deployments.
Similarly, about 30 percent of soldiers who have deployed three times or
more meet the criteria for having a psychological problem, compared with
about 14 percent on the first deployment and 18 percent on the second
deployment, the survey showed. In turn, the usage rates for behavioral
health medications including those for combat stress and sleep "increased
significantly by the third deployment," the report said. Still, those
treating the soldiers complained of a lack of availability of "appropriate
psychiatric medication" at all levels of care facilities in Afghanistan.
There were five confirmed suicides among soldiers in Afghanistan this year
through the end of May, compared with seven for all of 2008, despite the
vast majority of soldiers having undergone suicide prevention training, the
report said.
On Friday, the Army also released monthly suicide data for October, during
which there were 16 possible suicides, not all of which have been confirmed
by medical examiners. There were 133 reported active-duty Army suicides from
January through October this year, compared with 115 for the same period
last year, according to Army data.
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