Joint Chiefs Chairman Worried by Morale Poll

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers expressed concern Thursday over a survey suggesting major morale problems among U.S. troops in Iraq, saying he was worried that he and other top officers were sometimes allowed to talk only to "all the happy folks" when they visited service members.

"I want to see the folks that have complaints. And sometimes they won't let them near me," Myers said when asked about the Stars and Stripes newspaper survey in which half of 1,939 troops responding said morale in their units was low or very low and that they did not plan to reenlist.

The newspaper, which receives funding from the Pentagon, also said that a third of the respondents complained that their mission lacked clear definition and that they would characterize the war in Iraq as having little or no value.

Four in 10 respondents said their jobs had little or nothing to do with their training. Some called their tasks "make-work."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-morale17oct17,1,838495.story?coll=la-headlines-world

[Spazito]

1. Wow! Does the first paragraph say alot!

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard B. Myers expressed concern Thursday over a survey suggesting major morale problems among U.S. troops in Iraq, saying he was worried that he and other top officers were sometimes allowed to talk only to "all the happy folks" when they visited service members.


Allowed???? Who the hell is doing the "allowing"?????

Geez!

[random]

2. Higher Ups...

Why would you expect anything different? Here in the civilian world, chimpy is only allowed to see handpicked audiences.

[ender]

3. but this guy is in charge...

there is no "allowing" of the joint chief od staff - he should be able to talk to who he wants to.

[Beetwasher]

4. Bush's Response

"Tell that man to shut up and do what he's told! He'll talk to who we tell him to talk to and he'll say whatever we damn well want him to say. If he doesn't retract those statements I want him and his whole family killed immediately! Got that!"

[Maine-i-acs]

5. Damn straight!

The Chairman shouldn't be letting people hand-pick who he speaks to in Iraq! Send him on a Humvee patrol through Baghdad and let him sit in the crosshairs for a bit!

[htuttle]

6. R.A. Wilson called it the 'burden of Omnipotence'

...as part of his explanation of the 'Snafu Principle'.

The Snafu Principle states that those in power are fed a constant stream of happy-happy bullshit by their subordinates in order to keep them happy (and to keep them from firing their subordinates). This occurs all up and down the 'chain of command', whether it's the military, or a big corporation. It's part of the nature of 'chains of command'. As Wilson noted, "What do you tell a man with a gun to your head? Anything they want to hear..."

The other side of it is that those who REALLY know what's going on (ie., the supply clerks, et al) have no power to do anything about it.

And THAT is why things are the way they are in this world...sometimes.
Other times, it's just massive greed and ignorance.

[Bandit]

10. We used to call it the "Cover Your Ass" syndrone

It doesn't matter what you have to do to "pass muster." Lie, Steal, Forge Documents, it doesn't matter. That is why I find it very difficult to believe any Office of the United States Militery. I watched this "up close and personal" time and time again and it didn't matter what unit I was in. They all do it.

[Don_G]

7. Wait Until The Rotations Home

The troops will come back and recount their stories to their families and the media. Dimbo won't look good and he'll be scratching for every vote his dollars can beg, buy or steal.

[Maine-i-acs]

9. That's happening already -

Listen to the story of the soldiers on their 15-day leave home ... at least while they are still allowed to be heard. Soon they will be buried on Page E-15 by the "free" Press.

[RamboLiberal]

11. Nightline is covering some soldiers on their R&R tonight

Wonder how they will spin it.

I'm dreaming of a day AWOL won't be able to show his ass at a military base cause the soldiers won't give a shit if they get sent to the brig and he'll be booed!

[Don_G]

12. I'm Thinking Of Rotations Home And Out Of The Military

Until then, the CO's can control what is being said to a large degree to the 50% and more that are bailing out of Chimpy's war.

[goforit]

8. Hello???.....What planet are you on Mr. Myers???

If you haven't noticed these boys and gals are sick and tired
of going to war to fill the wallets of FAT CATS!!!!


They know they are just fighting for King George and all his
buddies. The worst leaders in the history of the world!!!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

15. Here's how it works...

...officers at every level are trying hard to make their command level look good. Let's use "readiness" as an example:

Platoon Lieutenant A reports that his unit's readiness is at 50%.

That gets passed to Captain B who reports that his Company's readiness is at 60%.

That gets passed up to the Battalion Commander who reports that his Battlion is 70% ready.

That gets passed to the Brigade level where the readiness is reported at 80%.

I think you can see where this is going...by the time it gets to the top guy, readiness of the command is being reported at 95-100%. It's the same way with bad news...by the time it reaches certain upper levels it becomes good news. I've personally seen this kind of crap take place, and it was one of the major reasons I left the service.

Myers may not really know what's going on at the lowest levels of his command because his junior officers are trying to cast their commands in the best possible light. Sad, but entirely possible.

[goforit]

16. Did this hierarchy also affect the Catholic church?

Is this why the Pope never understood the
enormous dilemna at hand with the priests?

All I can say,Media-dies-daily,...I am sure glad you
are out now!

[neuvocat]

13. They do have a good reason for being concerned.

Whenever morale is that bad the troops start losing their minds. That's going to be a big, big problem.

[dbt]

14. IRAQ NAM

Pass it on.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[teryang]

17. FUBAR

Don't worry another 87 billion will fix it! Right?

How can democratic reps in the Congress be so f.....g stupid?