US military morale is reportedly at 'rock bottom' again

[mfcorey1]

Since 2009, $287 million has been spent on programs aimed at improving morale within the US military, which has shouldered two major overseas combat deployments over the past decade.

But these efforts may have been largely fruitless, as 52% of soldiers across all branches remain "pessimistic about their future in the military," according to an April USA Today report.

For decades, analysts have consistently reported on supposedly declining US military morale, even before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Brookings Institution report notes: "Observers regularly fretted over low morale during the defense drawdown of the 1990s, during the start of the Iraq War, during the Iraq Surge, during the Afghanistan Surge; and at practically all the points in between ... After each report of troop morale hitting 'rock bottom,' troop morale seems to slip lower yet and, still, the military soldiers on."

In the past, flagging morale may have been attributable to factors like repeated Iraq or Afghanistan deployments.

But a 2014 Military Times study suggests a financial cause for flagging morale: "In 2009, 87 percent of active-duty troops who participated in Military Times' survey rated their pay and allowances 'good' or 'excellent,'" the newspaper reported. "This year, the figure was just 44 percent."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-military-morale-is-reportedly-at-rock-bottom-again/ar-AAcqMeD?ocid=mailsignout

[SunSeeker]

1. I'm sure the GOP will agree to give troops a raise.

[Aerows]

2. All of this shock and surprise

about morale, and not just in the military but over all, comes down to that.

Like the old USSR saying "As long as they pretend to pay us, we'll pretend that we are working."

You don't get something for nothing, and as much as corporate types like to smear that in the faces of the workers, they forget that themselves.

[tabasco]

3. The Brookings Institute is a joke

They don't know jack about the military or soldiers.

They just make this shit up to push a right-wing agenda.

http://firedoglake.com/2012/08/05/the-conservative-brookings-institute/

[MADem]

4. Morale always sucks after a drawdown. It's normal.

Standards go up--being overweight is grounds for dismissal; drug testing gets more rigorous, everyone is forced to exercise and pass PT tests, promotion testing gets more difficult, advancements are more selective, and slow down, and small infractions can end careers.

People are sad when they see their friends cut from the rolls. They hate the enforcement of rules that they were able to ignore during times of high optempo, they don't like being inspected, second guessed, challenged, etc. Some people do better in a wartime military. The servicemembers who can adapt between a wartime tempo and a peacetime one do best.