Today, November 11, is Veterans Day here in the United States. If the wikileaks reports didn’t stir Americans then maybe the latest report by their own U.S. Army will, but I doubt it.
The United States Army has released a 350 page study (Army health Promotion Risk Reduction Suicide Prevention Report 2010) on suicide, which reveals a much larger problem within the Department of Defense; slack morale and morals enforcement leading to major problems stateside, besides the record breaking suicide rate.
The report states that more service members die in non-combat incidents, mainly suicide, than in combat. Both the USA and USMC reported suicide rates of more than 20,000 in 2009 (USA = United States Army, USMC = United States Marine Corps, U.S.A. = United States of America. Yes the punctuation maters. In American English only abbreviations of country names and personal names get punctuated, organizations like a company, or the UN, do not. Pay attention to most U.S. media sources and you’ll see they are using British/Commonwealth English rules, which is a sign that most ‘U.S.’ media are not really American).
“…Soldiers have become transient tenants…”
On pages 36-37 the report cited the need for speed in getting troops mobilized for tours of duty as overriding the face to face interaction with leadership that “…demand good order and discipline…”, creating an environment of loss of command and control of their own troop’s morals and morale. The process of constant deployment, and problems at home upon returning, has created the sense for the soldier that they are just a number in the system; “They are no longer linked to garrisons by a chain of command or senior commander but are regulated only by Army policies, programs and processes.” This lack of morale leadership by, ironically, predominantly christian officers (that’s from my personal experience) has also led to across the board increases in various crimes committed by service members. By the way, a former Army intelligence officer, Richard A. Gabriel, warned of similar issues in his book that was published in 1985: Military Incompetence: Why the American Military Doesn’t Win.
The U.S. Army report is detailed and surprising with some of the stats. I plan to write more about it as I read it, I doubt the main stream U.S. media will cover it thoroughly. Do not blame Obama for this, this situation was created under the Bush administration, Obama inherited it (but he isn’t helping to end the situation, so far). No, I did not vote for Obama, I voted for Ron Paul!