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Army Morale Low Despite $287 Million “Optimism” Program

Army Morale Low Despite $287 Million “Optimism” Program

Your tax dollars at work

Army morale is at an all-time low, according to USA Today, and the Army is left scratching its head:

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.

[snip]

The Army offered contradictory responses to the findings obtained by USA TODAY. Sharyn Saunders, chief of the Army Resiliency Directorate that produced the data, initially disavowed the results. “I’ve sat and looked at your numbers for quite some time and our team can’t figure out how your numbers came about,” she said in an interview in March.

However, when USA TODAY provided her the supporting Army documents this week, her office acknowledged the data but said the formulas used to produce them were obsolete. “We stand by our previous responses,” it said in a statement.

So over the past six years, the time that Obama has been in office, the taxpayer has forked out $287 million in an “optimism” program for the army.  This is the same army that ignored dangerous warning signs that Nidal Hasan was a terrorist-in-waiting, the same army that then declared the Fort Hood terror attack “workplace violence,” and the same army that also refused–for six years–to pay benefits to those injured or to the families of those lost?

There have been numerous reports of top army commanders being “culled” from the military for everything from being “too cautious and conventionally minded” to “being too hawkish about Iran.

The army has sadly become famous for its attacks on Christianity and its Christian soldiers.  For example, the army labeled Christian Ministries “domestic hate groups,” Bibles were banned from Walter Reed Army Medical Center (a decision that was later rescinded), chaplains have been ordered not to quote the Bible or pray in Jesus’ name.

And then there’s the Bergdahl travesty and the fact that our veterans are dying due to VA corruption, incompetence, and deception and are repeatedly put on hold when they call the VA suicide prevention hotline.  Veterans’ deaths were lied about and covered up by the VA, and whistle-blowers are still being unlawfully targeted for retribution.

It’s been a year since the VA scandal, but nothing has changed:

Lives were lost and forever changed to make strides in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and our military sees their commander in chief not only preside over the loss of those hard-won gains but brag about it and announce plans to “shrink” the army to “pre-World War II levels.”

To improve morale not only in the army but in all branches of our military we don’t need an “optimism” program; we need a competent commander in chief who won’t insist on putting ideology, politics, and his “legacy” above the lives and well-being of our nation’s armed forces.

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Comments

If the government had just issued $287 million worth of vouchers to sick veterans, so that they could get the medical treatment they need in private hospitals instead of waiting for the corrupt bureaucrats at the VA, that money would have been more wisely spent and probably also done a lot more to help increase optimism among soldiers than the idiotic “optimism” campaign ever did.

How many pictures of GWB and the troops together did you see when he was president? Too many to count. If you have two hands then you have enough fingers to count the times obama has been seen AMONG the troops, not lecturing them from a teleprompted podium. Under obama’s watch the US military has had their benefits cut, their pay cut and their lives made less secure in dangerous areas because of obama’s ROE. It is no wonder that they feel slighted and ignored. obama treats them like he does white policemen.

    Anonamom in reply to inspectorudy. | April 19, 2015 at 11:47 am

    Well, in the President’s defense, the photographs would lose their value with troops tied up and their mouths duct-taped shut.

“Lives were lost and forever changed to make strides in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, and our military sees their commander in chief not only preside over the loss of those hard-won gains but brag about it and announce plans to “shrink” the army to “pre-World War II levels.” ”

This is it.

Our military can tolerate nearly anything, except the waste of its sacrifices and the lives of its people. Contrary to the self-appointed intelligentsia of this country, these people are not stupid, and once the military gets hold of them they get educated. They also learn both history and foresight. They can see what’s coming, and it does not look good: continued dissipation of their resources, followed by catastrophic need which is going to result, again, in the US pouring out their blood.

I remember when an acquaintance told me that military people have a rigid attitude. I chewed on that a while, because I knew the observation was wrong: Our military goes to great lengths to avoid rigid thinking. Then, I realized what it was, and tested it on my kid, who was in ROTC at the time. I told him what I’d heard, and said “actually, it looks to me like a low tolerance for stupidity.” He laughed, and said there was a lot of that going around.

So, yeah, I believe that military morale is low right now, because they know they are being led by people whose character does not suit the times, and seem destined for failure.

Cognitive dissonance is a very bad thing. It leaves one confused, irritated, disoriented, even angry and frightened.

“The delusional BS from the top will continue until morale improves”.

“…You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool — you bet that Tommy sees!”

Rudyard Kipling

    Ragspierre in reply to NavyMustang. | April 19, 2015 at 10:53 am

    I’ve got a link on the Tip Line to a speech you’d like, I think.

    One of the things…a few things…that gives me hope is the quality of our young service men and women. But mostly the men.

DDsModernLife | April 19, 2015 at 11:06 am

Most recently, JCS Chairman Dempsey said the pending loss of Ramadi is “not symbolic in any way,..”

Really? Tell that to the families of the 75 U.S. Servicemen who lost their lives securing it in 2006.

Everyone who loves this country is demoralized these days and it’s no wonder.

    NavyMustang in reply to DDsModernLife. | April 19, 2015 at 11:15 am

    As someone who defended this country as a Cold Warrior and naval officer for 25 years, I can tell you I am damn sure demoralized.

    This is NOT the country I was defending. And more and more I feel that the tipping point has been reached, that we can’t come back from this.

    Just look at the insanity that is our universities. They are not institutes of higher learning. They are institutes of indoctrination.

    I look at the nut jobs that pass for professors and students at those schools and I see our country in 30 years. Think about it, the kooks in our colleges now are the “leaders” of tomorrow. Scary thought, isn’t it?

    Just like ole Vladimir Ilych said:

    “Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.”

    Vladimir Lenin

    Many times I think that we “won” the Cold War, but the communists still won the hearts and minds of an entire generation by being the hand that rocked the cradle.

      Your comment about our universities can be extended to at least some public secondary and high schools. Latest example: Yesterday, granddaughter #2 told me about how her 8th grade history teacher explained at length to the class how outrageous it is that “some Republicans” want to build a wall and stop Mexicans from coming to America.

      Anonamom in reply to NavyMustang. | April 19, 2015 at 11:59 am

      Spot on, NavyMustang. And it is the state of the academia that leaves me skeptical about our future.

      On the other hand, the rise of homeschooling may be a ray of hope. Rigorously and classically educated homeschoolers are taught to value learning and are adept at self-education. In the setting of a typical university, they are less likely to swallow the Kool-Aid and more likely to push back (and are WAY more likely to be smarter and better educated than their professors.) They are less likely to pursue a degree mindlessly; seeking a career that will provide support does not necessarily entail college. It will be interesting to see what develops.

      davod in reply to NavyMustang. | April 19, 2015 at 1:34 pm

      “Give me a boy until he is 8 years and he will be a Muslim forever”

      Told to me by a member of the Ataturk Society during a discussion about Erdogan’s re-islamization of Turkey’s institutions.

Bitterlyclinging | April 19, 2015 at 12:01 pm

Hussein Obama, were he to read the article, would pronounce it ‘Good’, for his intent was always to build a Tower Of Babble out of the American military. Why else would he seek to infuse the ranks with females, queer, trans gendered, cross dressers, and every other shape, form and variety of perv, making it impossible to give a command or carry out a mission without offending someone. The attempt to have three females enter the Marine Corps officer fitness program, which apparently recently failed, was to make sure the Corps would never present another Flag Raising On Suribachi, never field another Chandler Johnson or Holland M Smith.

PersonFromPorlock | April 19, 2015 at 12:25 pm

Not to make excuses for Obama, but the military has always been run by people who made rank by truckling to their superiors. Obama is simply a more pernicious superior than most. How you fix a ‘get ahead by going along’ culture is the real problem.

Oh, dear. I spent over 14 years in the Army and suffered under a routine application of these “the beatings will stop when morale improves” programs. Glad I got out before we went totally PC under GEN Dempsey.

buckeyeminuteman | April 20, 2015 at 1:41 pm

The Air Force calls its morale program “Comprehensive Airman Fitness”. We take time off work and have entire days devoted to it, just like our sexual assault down-days. I’ll tell you exactly why the morale is low though. We’re constantly leaving our families for 6 to 12 months at a time to go to some back-woods part of the world and risk our necks to do a mission that our CINC doesn’t believe in and doesn’t want us doing anyway. All that blood-spilled in Iraq and he “pulled-out prematurely”. Now look at all the blood-shed that is continuing as a result of that. We work 10-12 hour days doing special pet-projects for our commanders and supervisors that are not evenly remotely related to the profession of arms. And our budgets for O&M dwindle every year. When you do get a break from the job to take your morning glory, you’re lucky if there is enough half-ply paper to finish the job. Often times for months on end, there’s none at all…you have to bring it from home. Instead of spending $287M on an optimism program, put those funds back into the daily budget for operating a federal workplace; things like TP, paper towels, modern HVAC, and proper training tools.

Good, because nothing bad happened the last time we cut our military to pre-WWII levels. If you enlist now, you’re signing up for the next Bataan Death March. Let the feminists, gays, and trannies have that honor!