Today’s defence news is a new survey showing that British soldiers – and the British army – are operating at breaking point. In the Army, 59 per cent of those questioned rated the level of morale as “low” or “very low”. In the Royal Navy it was 64 per cent and the Royal Marines 38 per cent. The worst perception of morale was in the RAF, where 72 per cent of those asked thought that morale was low.
Yesterday, I discussed the British army’s operation in Afghanistan with James Fergusson – whose fast-paced book A Million Bullets about British operations in Helmand is a must-read – and he backed up the survey with real-life anecdotes of poor morale among the frontline troops.
But how do the survey results compare to the experience of other allies, for example the U.S military?
Two months ago, findings showed that US troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression and lower morale. Eleven percent of U.S soldiers surveyed in Iraq said their unit’s morale was “high” or “very high”, compared with 7 percent the previous year. Individual morale was reported “high” or “very high” among 20.6 percent, compared with 18.3 percent the previous year.
But more than 27 percent of troops on their third or fourth combat tour suffered anxiety, depression, post-combat stress and other problems. That compared with 12 percent among those on their first tour. (Extensive suvreys of the U.S military’s mental health can be found here)
When U.S officers were asked in a recent survey to grade the health of each military service on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 meaning the officers have no concern about the health of the service and 10 meaning they are extremely concerned, the officers reported an average score of 7.9 for the Army and 7.0 for the Marine Corps. In a fascinating contrast to the RAF, the health of the Air Force fared the best, with a score of 5.7.
On the question of the morale of the U.S. military today, U.S officers responded:
17% Very high
47% Somewhat high
22% Somewhat low
4% Very low
10% Don’t know
Conclusion: winning wars – like the U.S Army is in Iraq today – makes a difference on how troops feel. But – no surprise here either – long tours, poor equipment, continued stress and a seemingly endless war effort hurt morale.
In 1941, U.S. Army’s morale chief, James A. Ulio explained what morale was:
I’ll tell you what morale is. It is when a soldier thinks his army is the best in the world, his regiment the best in the army, his company the best in the regiment, his squad the best in the company, and that he himself is the best damn soldier-man in the outfit.
Not a bad definition, and something the MoD should hard about how best to achieve.
