US Army plagued by desertion and plunging morale
US Army plagued by desertion and plunging morale
TimesOnLine - December 10, 2004
From Elaine Monaghan in Washington
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1397131,00.html
While insurgents draw on deep wells of fury to expand
their ranks in Iraq, the US military is fighting
desertion, recruitment shortfalls and legal challenges
from its own troops.
The irritation among the rank and file became all too
clear this week when a soldier stood up in a televised
session with Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary,
to ask why the world's richest army was having to hunt
for scrap metal to protect its vehicles.
The same night, interviews with three soldiers who are
seeking refugee status in Canada, where they have
become minor celebrities, dominated prime time
television. They are among more the than 5,000 troops
that CBS's 60 Minutes reported on Wednesday had
deserted since the war began.
Many experts say that America's 1.4 million active-duty
troops and 865,000 part-timers are stretched to the
point where President Bush may see other foreign policy
goals blunted.
The bleed from the US military is heaviest among
parttimers, who have been dragged en masse out of
civilian life to serve their country with unprecedented
sacrifice. For the first time in a decade, the Army
National Guard missed its recruitment target this year.
Instead of signing up 56,000 people, it found 51,000.
"This is something that the President and the country
should be worried about," said Lawrence Korb, an
assistant secretary of defence under Ronald Reagan and
now a military analyst who opposes the war.
A further sign of strain can be seen in the Army's
decision this year to mobilise 5,600 members of a pool
of former soldiers that can be mobilised only in a
national emergency.
More than 183,000 National Guard and reserve troops are
on active duty, compared with 79,000 before the
invasion of Iraq. Forty per cent of the 138,000 troops
in Iraq are part-timers who never expected to be sent
to the front line.
Instead, as a woman soldier pointedly reminded Mr
Rumsfeld on Wednesday, they face "stop loss" orders
that delay their return to civilian life.
Another soldier lost his court battle this week to stop
the Army extending his one-year contract by at least
two years. At least eight soldiers have turned to the
courts, accusing the military of tricking them into
enlisting for a fixed term without warning them that
they could be forced to stay longer. Once they get out,
soldiers are increasingly resisting hefty bonuses to
re-enlist, an incentive that had helped to meet
recruitment targets in the past.
The crisis may be even deeper than the statistics
suggest. Active-duty Army recruiters exceeded their
target of 77,000 by 587 this year only by dipping into
a pool of recruits who had not planned to report until
next year, and by dropping educational standards, Mr
Korb said.
At 10 per cent, the death rate among war casualties is
the lowest in history. But maimed men and women are
flocking home with horror stories about the war, which
is claiming more and more casualties. Between June,
when the Iraqi interim Government took over, and
September, the average monthly casualty rate among US
forces was 747 a month, compared with 482 during the
invasion and 415 before the coalition government was
disbanded. With elections looming next month, the toll
is expected to mount.
Most soldiers keep their anger under wraps, partly out
of patriotism but also out of loyalty to their units.
"There's a thin green line that you don't cross," said
a veteran with the 4th Infantry, who deployed to Iraq
last year to help to plan counterinsurgency operations
and train Iraqi forces.
But at his home base in Fort Carson, Colorado, he has
resisted a $10,000 re-enlistment incentive and plans to
get out as soon as he can.
He illustrates the long-term problem the Army faces. He
served for five years, first in Korea, then in Iraq,
where he was a combat soldier for almost a year. The
Americans received little training for the
counterinsurgency they face. "Every day you wake up
alive, is a gift from above," the soldier said.
Few experts are surprised to hear that a recent army
survey discovered that half the soldiers were not
planning to re-enlist.
Experts are divided over how stretched America's
military really is. But they agree that another
conflict would put the military in overdrive. Another
war would require a shift to a "no-kidding wartime
posture in which everybody who could shoot was given a
rifle and sent to the front," according to John Pike,
of GlobalSecurity.org.
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Pharmaceutical companies have deliberately deceived the public
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ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)
Promoting Openness and Full Disclosure
www.ahrp.org
FYI
At least 100 children have committed suicide while on an SSRI
antidepressant, hundreds more have attempted suicide.
Tonight at 10:00 PM, ABC Prime Time Live will reveal internal company
documents that show how pharmaceutical companies have deliberately deceived
the public, prescribing physicians, and parents by concealing. For example,
documents demonstrate how GlaxoSmithKline instructed their "detail" (sales)
staff to misrepresent the risks of suicide and severe withdrawal symptoms.
Documents such as the ones that will be shown by ABC help us understand why
prescribing doctors, patients, and families have known so little about
antidepressant drug withdrawal and dependence in children, adolescents, and
adults.
The internal company documents to be shown by ABC date as far back as a 1997
safety review of Paxil / Seroxat, and include evidence of the company's
knowledge that the drugs don't demonstrate a benefit for children while
their sales representatives told doctors th edrugs were "remarkably
effective."
Company concealment of adverse drug effects-and FDA's silence about false
claims and deceptive advertising, which has resulted in additional
preventable human casualties--has been hugely profitable; which is why drug
manufacturers continue the practice. See:
http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/09/30.php.
Prime Time Live will let children who became suicidal after being prescribed
antidepressant, and parents whose children committed suicide on the drugs
tell their harrowing experience.
Dr. Joseph Glenmullen,* a national authority on antidepressants, who
teaches at Harvard Medical School and has a private practice at Harvard
Square, will be featured as well. Dr. Glenmullen's latest book has just been
released: The Antidepressant Solution: A Step by Step Guide to Safely
Overcome Antidepressant Withdrawal, Dependency, and "Addiction."
Because antidepressants can make patients violent as well as suicidal, Dr.
Glenmullen says that it is very important for patients and physicians to be
aware that withdrawal symptoms may occur. The Antidepressant Solution offers
physicians guidelines on how to monitor patients and ensure their safety.
Dr. Glenmullen has devised a 5-Step tapering program that is tailored to
individual needs.
1) evaluating whether a patient is ready to try tapering off an
antidepressant; 2) making the initial dosage reduction; 3) monitoring
withdrawal symptoms after a dosage reduction; 4) making additional dosage
reductions; and 5) finishing the taper. One of the most difficult aspects
of tapering antidepressants, according to Dr. Glenmullen, is how widely
patients vary in their susceptibility to withdrawal symptoms.
Like his earlier book, Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac,
Zoloft, Paxil, and Other Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives,
the Antidepressant Solution provides authoritative, balanced information
about these drugs' hazards, explaining to patients and clinicians how the
drugs react chemically in the body, and what choices are available. Whereas
the earlier book informs readers of the many safe, effective alternatives to
using such drugs, the new book provides easy-to-follow instructions on how
patients can safely change doses or taper off antidepressants and still be
able to go about their daily lives.
Of note: When Prozac Backlash was published, Eli Lilly had its public
relations firm orchestrate a covert media campaign in an effort to discredit
Dr. Glenmullen. Academic psychiatrists who sent negative comments concealed
their financial ties to Lilly-just as they have helped conceal clinical
trial evidence. However, despite those underhanded tactics, Prozac Backlash
was a best-selling book that helped hundreds of thousands of patients-Dr.
Glenmullen's truth telling has been vindicated by the suppressed evidence
that continues to come to public light.
Dr. Glenmullen has recently joined the board of directors of The Alliance
for Human Research Protection.
Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
212-595-8974
veracare@ahrp.org
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - - Margaret Mead
Hero Edward Lee Pitts breaks the press fear _ Armor Rumsfeld
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Hero Edward Lee Pitts breaks the press fear_Armor Rumsfeld
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/09/rumsfeld.reporter/
Never mind the troupes Just save Rummy
http://news.google.com/news?q=Reporter+Planted+Question+to+Rumsfeld&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=nn&oi=newsr
"Fascism should more appropriately be called CORPORATISM because it is a merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini (from Encyclopedia Italiana, Giovanni Gentile, editor). http://raenergy.igc.org/republicanfascistparty.html
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Raleigh Myers
Worksheet bio
http://raenergy.igc.org/bio.html
Blog
http://raenergy.blogspot.com/
Call to Action blog a virtual seminar for change
http://www.google.com/search?q=Global+Vote+raenergy&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=02Eigc%2Eorg%2Faction%2Ehtml
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - - Margaret Mead
Let the Suppressed VOTERS VOTE open polls allow absentee
ballots.
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Raleigh Myers
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CODE ORANGE: LET SUPPRESSED VOTERS VOTE open polls allow absentee ballots.
Wear orange to protest GOP Vote Fraud Put orange ribbons everywhere
Officially, the US government spent $41m (£21.7m) organising and funding the year-long operation to
get rid of Milosevic from October 1999. In Ukraine, the figure is said to be around $14m.
http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/12/code-orange.html
Opening the polls and absentee ballots is a way to allow the world to see fairness rather than the GOP election theft demonstrated in the USA.
http://raenergy.igc.org/gopelectiontricks.html
http://raenergy.igc.org/goptheft.html
Beyond that we need to make it happen by leverage if need be. We can stop the world http://raenergy.igc.org/joehill07.gif
if we just get organized _ the third world is going Bolivian http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=Bolivian+General+Strikes
The Unions want to go global here is a way of showing it.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=Unions+Globalization
Let's get started
http://raenergy.igc.org/action.html
The people of the world are with the people of the US (not the GOP Administration) since the election rip.
http://raenergy.igc.org/worldlight.html
We the NGO population need to stress Global Truth and Reconciliation.
http://www.igc.org/raenergy/TruthReconciliation.html
Join the Arundi Roy Boycott Movement.
http://www.boycott-now.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi
We need to get behind the Renaissance strategy to demonstrate peace through fairness
http://raenergy.igc.org/renaissance.html
Vote fraud plain and simple see videos of the hearings as well as a great presentation
http://raenergy.igc.org/votefraud.html
"Fascism should more appropriately be called CORPORATISM because it is a merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini (from Encyclopedia Italiana, Giovanni Gentile, editor). http://raenergy.igc.org/republicanfascistparty.html
Ra Energy Fdn.
Raleigh Myers
Worksheet bio
http://raenergy.igc.org/bio.html
Blog
http://raenergy.blogspot.com/
Call to Action blog a virtual seminar for change
http://www.google.com/search?q=Global+Vote+raenergy&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=02Eigc%2Eorg%2Faction%2Ehtml
Newsgroups beginning in the eighties click on date and web
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - - Margaret Mead
Votegate Video presentation
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Votegate Video presentation
http://raenergy.igc.org/votefraud.html
"Fascism should more appropriately be called CORPORATISM because it is a merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini (from Encyclopedia Italiana, Giovanni Gentile, editor). http://raenergy.igc.org/republicanfascistparty.html
Ra Energy Fdn.
Raleigh Myers
Worksheet bio
http://raenergy.igc.org/bio.html
Blog
http://raenergy.blogspot.com/
Call to Action blog a virtual seminar for change
http://www.google.com/search?q=Global+Vote+raenergy&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=02Eigc%2Eorg%2Faction%2Ehtml
Newsgroups beginning in the eighties click on date and web
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - - Margaret Mead
