Further, morale is lowest among junior noncommissioned officers and junior officers and stress is a problem for one-fifth of active duty leaders, according to the survey. Those factors possibly contribute to the Army’s highest ever suicide rates, which suggest a deeper problem related to retention as well.
Three in four (74 percent) active duty U.S. Army leaders perceive their service is not headed in the right direction, according to an independent Army-wide survey. That result is partially due to the Army’s “political correctness” and President Barack Obama’s new, but questionable national security strategy.
America’s battle-proven Army leaders either disagree (38 percent) or neither agree or disagree (36 percent) with the survey statement that their service is “headed in the right direction to prepare for the challenges of the next 10 years.” Leader hesitancy to agree with the statement was undoubtedly influenced by challenges beyond the Army’s control.
Specifically, the survey took place in the midst of ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in late 2011, a very public budget battle to shrink the Army, and a shift in the nation’s security strategy that emphasizes naval and air forces at the expense of ground forces.
The Annual Survey of Army Leadership randomly sampled 16,800 commissioned and non-commissioned officers with a sampling error of +/-0.7 percent, which means there is a high degree of confidence in the results. The pollster was ICF International of Fairfax, Va.
Survey respondents identified the following reasons for not agreeing with the “right direction” statement.
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