Troop Morale in Iraq? "It Sucks," Reporter Discovers

[Jon8503]

By E&P Staff
Published: July 26, 2006 12:15 AM ET

NEW YORK We often hear from President Bush, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld or various generals about the high order of troop morale in Iraq --but we rarely hear directly from the troops themselves. Joshua Partlow of The Washington Post spent four days recently, on and off patrol, with members of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, in and around Baghad. The battalion of more than 750 arrived in Baghdad in March, and since then, six soldiers have been killed and 21 wounded.

Here are some of the reactions he got, as he chronicled in a story for his paper on Thursday.

--Staff Sgt. Jose Sixtos: "Think of what you hate most about your job. Then think of doing what you hate most for five straight hours, every single day, sometimes twice a day, in 120-degree heat," he said. "Then ask how morale is." Frustrated? "You have no idea," he said.

--"It sucks," said Spec. Tim Ivey, 28, of San Antonio. "Honestly, it just feels like we're driving around waiting to get blown up, that's the most honest answer I could give you....You lose a couple friends and it gets hard."

--"No one wants to be here, you know, no one is truly enthused about what we do," said Sgt. Christopher Dugger, the squad leader. "We were excited, but then it just wears on you -- there's only so much you can take. Like me, personally, I want to fight in a war like World War II. I want to fight an enemy. And this, out here, there is no enemy, it's a faceless enemy. He's out there, but he's hiding....

"We're trained as an Army to fight and destroy the enemy and then take over," added Dugger, 26, of Reno, Nev. "But I don't think we're trained enough to push along a country, and that's what we're actually doing out here."

More at link:


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002913305
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EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
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SOURCE PER DU RULES.

[rock]

1. "but we rarely hear directly from the troops themselves"

I.e. those whom would know.

[Drum]

2. Kick & Rec.

:kick:

[JAYJDF]

3. So, like, why are they only interviewing those with negative

attitudes? Just kidding. It's because this represents the majority there.

BRING THEM HOME NOW!

[w8liftinglady]

4. you think morale is bad NOW...wait until they can't come home.

That's what pushed my son over the edge-they cancelled his leave-and kept him over there 18 months(with a month break in Germany so it wouldn't count more than a year)He and his buds went from these energetic gung-ho grunts to burned out,PTSD-riddled drug and alcohol abusing soldiers.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Cannon fodder are not supposed to have opinions.

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
and the women come out to cut up what remains,
jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
and go to your gawd like a soldier."

Rudyard Kipling

My grandfather's favorite poem. He was a Brit soldier that fought in Afghanistan against the same sort of folks the Americans and Brits are fighting now...and for as little reason.

[w8liftinglady]

6. wow-that's intense!Rumsfeld just announced 3700 wont be coming home.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. And, if they know what's good for them, they better not squawk about it.

Except among themselves.

Unless, things in the military have changed dramatically since I put in my time.

[genie_weenie]

7. Unfortunately, I think unless you have a

very close friend or family member over there most people could care less, although IMO this is partially due to the AWESOME job the Bush Regime has done at sanitizing news coming from in country, even with bloggers and the Internets...

Of course, I have to admit that the Bush Regime located and correctly identified the US populace as the key Center of Gravity, reluctance to get involved in a War under false pretenses and worked tirelessly to neutralize that threat. Belittle the pacifists, control information coming from theater, Wave the Bloody shirt of 9/11 to rally the folks round the Dictator...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1746414&mesg_id=1746686

Edit: As with the other post on this topic, quite a lack of comments, however if this was a story concerning another atrocity I'm sure we'd be on 100 posts at this point.

[NNN0LHI]

9. Re-enlistment is way up though. I don't understand this?

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,104170,00.html

101st Airborne Division Sets Re-enlistment Record

Army News Service | Jeanine Kinville | July 05, 2006

Tikrit, Iraq - Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky., currently deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, have exceeded the retention goal for the 2006 fiscal year three months before its end. They have achieved the highest number of reenlistments for any active-duty division in the Army.

More than $60 million in reenlistment bonuses have been awarded to approximately 4,600 Soldiers, said Sgt. Maj. Steven Sabinash, 101st command career counselor. The fiscal year goals for initial-term, mid-career and career-level Soldiers continue to surpass the mission goal each day.

“One out of every four Soldiers deployed have reenlisted so far,” Sabinash said. “Approximately 61.5 percent of those Soldiers have chosen to stabilize with the 101st, which exceeds the average 30 percent a division usually retains.”

The division’s Screaming Eagles are still reenlisting at a steady rate while deployed, and have helped the division reach an important milestone set forth by the Army.

[w8liftinglady]

10. this might explain some of it

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1979792.php
Young vets joining unemployment lines


WASHINGTON — Young veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are having a harder time finding a job than their peers who didn’t serve in the military.

Last year, about one in six veterans between 20 and 24 was jobless, nearly double the rate for nonveterans their age. It was brighter in the second quarter of this year, when young vets had an 11.2 percent jobless rate, but that was still higher than the 8 percent for nonvets their age and more than twice the overall unemployment rate.

Labor and veterans officials are surveying young vets to try to find out why. But experts have some theories:

•Some veterans are entering the work force for the first time and aren’t adept at explaining their military skills to civilian employers.

•Some who saw combat in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, which makes it difficult for them to work and makes employers leery of hiring them.

•Permanent jobs that offer middle-class wages and benefits are scarcer these days in some regions.

“With the prestige of a combat veteran, I thought I’d hold a little more weight than the average high school or college graduate,” said Jason Seidel of Battle Creek, Mich., 25, who served one year in Iraq during his four-year Army stint. He has spent two fruitless months searching for a decent-paying job that doesn’t require a college degree.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Reporters shouldn't report bad morale.

It's bad for morale.