Low morale reported among U.S. soldiers in Iraq

July 20, 2005

A U.S. Army report finds stress is weighing heavily on Iraq War-era troops with 54 percent of soldiers rating their units' morale as low or very low. This is better than the comparable figure in a year-earlier Army survey. Reportedly, most bothersome to the soldiers was the length of their required stay in Iraq, which was at least 1 year.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that the Army's 12-month requirement is linked to reorganization. "I've tried to get the Army to look at the length of tours and I think at some point down the road they will," Rumsfeld said.