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Home Front: WoT
Army morale low despite 6-year, $287M optimism program
2015-04-17
[USATODAY] More than half of some 770,000 soldiers are pessimistic about their future in the military and nearly as many are unhappy in their jobs, despite a six-year, $287 million campaign to make troops more optimistic and resilient, findings obtained by USA TODAY show.
I see the 1970s are back. Except that they've done away with NCO and Officers' clubs, so there's not even the refuge of disco.
Twelve months of data through early 2015 show that 403,564 soldiers, or 52%, scored badly in the area of optimism, agreeing with statements such as "I rarely count on good things happening to me." Forty-eight percent have little satisfaction in or commitment to their jobs.
In 2000 we had a military that could do anything. Now it's under a commander in chief who'd be tossed out of the service during basic training.
The results stem from resiliency assessments that soldiers are required to take every year. In 2014, for the first time, the Army pulled data from those assessments to help commanders gauge the psychological and physical health of their troops.
The regime is pushing toward Bradley Manning and away from Chris Kyle.
The effort produced startlingly negative results. In addition to low optimism and job satisfaction, more than half reported poor nutrition and sleep, and only 14% said they are eating right and getting enough rest.
Posted by:Fred

#10  Funny, but jumps are deadly serious business no F'ing around allowed. He only has a month left but will leave with an Article 15 from his Commander. (Basically a Military Misdemeanor)Got to nip this stuff in the bud.
Posted by: Herb Angimp9478   2015-04-17 16:23  

#9  Airborne tropical fish. Ya gotta love a soldier.
Posted by: Besoeker   2015-04-17 13:21  

#8  Apparently creating an Army that "looks like America" has succeeded.

Yep Pappy, but why the hell did they have to use Detroit as the "America" to look like?
Posted by: AlanC   2015-04-17 12:56  

#7  After the old barracks inspections stopped, the low-crawl, run-dodge & jump, horizontal ladders were removed from the PT test, and KP ended.....things began to change quite rapidly.
Posted by: Besoeker   2015-04-17 11:33  

#6  ...sort of follows the pattern just before the start of the Korean War (Part I?) resulting in the debacle of the first few months of American action. See - The Forgotten War by Clay Blair. How to take one of the more effective armies in the world by the end of WWII and turn it into a social experiment that folds on first contact with the enemy in the next conflict.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2015-04-17 11:25  

#5  If I were on active duty today rather than 40 years ago, I too would be pessimistic about my future, especially if I had to sit through all the safety training, diversity training, homosexuality sensitivity training, sexual harassment avoidance training, and on and on.

Notice what is missing? Doing my job and training to do my job!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2015-04-17 11:09  

#4  Apparently creating an Army that "looks like America" has succeeded.
Posted by: Pappy   2015-04-17 10:58  

#3  I see the 1970s are back. Except that they've done away with NCO and Officers' clubs, so there's not even the refuge of topless lunchtime disco.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2015-04-17 10:19  

#2  The good news, is that such a organization won't hold together long if the oligarchs attempt to use it against their own people.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2015-04-17 08:55  

#1  "only 14% said they are eating right and getting enough rest."
Is this because of all the assessments they have to sit through?
Posted by: James   2015-04-17 00:39  

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