Retirement Plan Hurting US Military: Study

Stress levels rise as fighting intensifies

(AP) - As fighting and casualties in Afghanistan's war reached an all-time high, US soldiers and Marines there reported plunging morale and the highest rates of mental health problems in five years. Only 46.5% of soldiers said their morale was medium, high, or very high last year, compared with 65.7% in 2005. For Marines, it was only 58.6% last year compared with 70.4% when they were surveyed in 2006 in Iraq. (The report compares numbers of the Marines to their time in Iraq because they were not in Afghanistan in significant numbers before the surge.) More»

Kunar province among Afghanistan's most violent

(NEWSER) - Six US soldiers were killed during an attack on an insurgent hideout near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, the Washington Post reports. The deaths that resulted from the helicopter-driven assault are the latest reminder of the US struggle in the isolated Kunar province. The US has lately shifted its attention away from the region—one of Afghanistan’s most violent since 2005—concentrating instead on population centers. More»

(NEWSER) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is temporarily boosting the Army's ranks with 22,000 new soldiers, reports the Army Times. The increase, which follows a permanent increase of 65,000, will reduce the strain on the forces over the next three years, according to Gates. The hike "will be used to ensure that our deploying units are properly manned and not to create new combat formations," Gates said at the Pentagon yesterday. More»

115 Army suicides last year

(NEWSER) - The Army recorded it highest ever number of suicides last year, with 115 soldiers killing themselves, Reuters reports. The rate is staying high this year, with 38 soldier suicides so far. The military said the statistics showed no direct link between the increase in suicides and repeated deployments to combat zones—but admitted the stresses of war were taking their toll. More»

Rate was much higher even in peacetime

(NEWSER) - Female troops divorce at nearly twice the rate of their male comrades, Divorce360 reports, and the military is stumped as to why. Data from 2006 show male soldiers divorce at a rate of 2.7%—lower than the general population's 3.6%—but that leaps to 7% among women. The rate was high even in peacetime and has risen further during the Iraq war. More»