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Army morale low despite 6-year, $287M optimism program

Max R.

On the road
Supporting Member
Although the report is disputed by some Army officials, I think there's a major political component to avoiding defending a $287M mistake. As the article notes, there are multiple reasons on why morale is low in today's Army (and I have to wonder about the other services too). It's not unusual for the military brass to defend a program once they invested heavily into it, although I often wonder how much of that can be attributed to "just following orders" due to the fact their CiC is the President and their funding comes from Congress.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/16/army-survey-morale/24897455/
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.

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.

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 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.

The Army began a program of positive psychology in 2009 in the midst of two wars and as suicide and mental illness were on the rise. To measure resiliency the Army created a confidential, online questionnaire that all soldiers, including the National Guard and Reserve, must fill out once a year.

 

Caroljo

Senator
Our Military needs to know their country is behind them....that we support them. When their own President doesn't show them the respect they've earned, what do they have to feel good about?
 

Max R.

On the road
Supporting Member
Our Military needs to know their country is behind them....that we support them. When their own President doesn't show them the respect they've earned, what do they have to feel good about?
Nothing.

Remember when Bill Clinton wanted to remove all lifetime benefits from veterans? Then, when too many complained, he wanted to only remove the benefits of Vietnam vets?

Yes, it hurts when the Commander in Chief hates the members of his/her command.
 

freyasman

Senator
What you need to understand, is that the lack of respect, is at all levels. The people that soldiers work for, simply don't respect them, or really give a shit about them, at all (except in cases of cronyism). A regular joe, who isn't part of the clique, will work late, and get constantly called in on weekends over trivial bullshit that has nothing to do with them, they will be overtasked and then viciously and publicly berated for not accomplishing every task to standard, and they will be strong-armed by senior NCOs into making charitable donations (doesn't matter if the joe needs that money to pay his own bills; 1SG wants a bullet on his NCOER). And then, if they are late on a bill, the creditor calls the 1SG, who first screams at the soldier, and then demands to see his entire budget, and where every dime he has is spent (so much for boundaries, and respecting folks' financial privacy).
They will demand access to a soldier's living area to "inspect" (see; search) it, even when that joe is renting or owns a house off-base..... and no matter how many times they are shown the law that says they have no authority, of any kind, once off the military base, they will continue to threaten, harass, and intimidate these young soldiers into allowing them access. (Until some spouse calls the cops or sticks a gun in their faces, anyway.... I used to love it when that happened :p).
Some supervisors will demand passwords to all of the joe's social media accounts (facebook, instagram, twitter, etc.) in order to snoop on their activity. Some will demand to monitor their banking information. All will flip shit, and scream at and smoke the shit out of joe, if he objects to any of this intrusive behavior, and the joe will face charges under the UCMJ for disrespecting his seniors.
It's no wonder morale is low.... it's a wonder that anyone is willing to serve at all. :cool:
 
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