Majority of soldiers say morale is low, report says
Army officials said the overall mental health of U.S. soldiers in Iraq has improved
from the early months of the insurgency, with a significant drop in suicides,
but a majority still say morale is low.
It has been found in studies done with soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait that depression, anxiety or acute stress was more prevalent among National Guard and Reserve soldiers, as well as regular Army soldiers in transportation units, than among soldiers in combat units.
This report said mental health services have improved, with a higher ratio of
behavioral health personnel to soldiers than in 2003.
The number of suicides has declined from 24 in 2003 to 9 in 2004
The most recent reports state that the percentage of soldiers reporting low or very low unit morale in the most recent assessment was 54, with nine percent reporting high or very high morale and the remainder describing it as medium. A year earlier, 72 percent of soldiers in Iraq told Army interviewers that unit morale was low or very low.
