Army: Soldiers' morale is down in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much less violence, the Army said Friday.

It was the first time since 2004 that soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase. Self-inflicted deaths in Afghanistan were on track to go up this year.

Though the findings of two new battlefield surveys are similar in several ways to those of the last ones taken in 2007, they come at a time of intense scrutiny on Afghanistan as President Barack Obama struggles to craft a new war strategy and planned troop buildup. There is also new focus on the mental health of troops since a shooting rampage at Fort Hood last week in which an Army psychiatrist is charged.

The new survey on Afghanistan found instances of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress at about the same level as in 2007 — but double the number of cases in 2005. The findings: 21.4 percent in 2009, 23.4 percent in 2007 and 10.4 percent in 2005.

That compares with 13.3 percent in Iraq, down from 18.8 percent in 2007 and 22 percent in 2006. (Surveys have been done every year in Iraq, but were done only in 2005, 2007 and this year in Afghanistan.)

The Afghan report also found a shortage of mental health workers to help soldiers, partly because of the buildup Obama started this year with the dispatch of more than 20,000 extra troops.

Still, officials said at a Pentagon news conference that they expect to meet their goal next month of having one mental health worker for every 700 troops.

Other findings of the Afghanistan survey:

• Junior enlisted soldiers reported significantly more marital problems than noncommissioned officers, stating they intended to get a divorce or that they suspected their spouses back home of infidelity.

• Exposure to combat, long recognized as a strong factor in mental health problems, was significantly higher this year than rates in 2005 and similar to rates in 2007 for the combat units.

• Combat units reported significantly lower unit morale in the last six months of their tours of duty, more evidence of the wearing affect of long deployments.

• Troops in their third or fourth deployments reported significantly more acute stress and other psychological problems, and among those married, reported significantly more marital problems compared to soldiers on their first or second deployments.