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American Morning

Troop Morale

Aired July 18, 2003 - 09:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon announced this week that several thousand troops in Iraq will not be able to leave Iraq. Tired troops are looking at longer deployments, and there has been grumbling, especially as attacks continue daily in Iraq. Could U.S. troops be suffering from low morale? To help us look at that retired General Don Shepherd joins us live from San Antonio this morning.
Good morning. Thanks for joining us.

GEN. DON SHEPHERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: My pleasure, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Difficult circumstances, a long deployment, uncertainty. Do all of these things in your mind add up to serious morale problems for the military there?

SHEPHERD: Yes and no. There's a serious morale problem with the 3rd Infantry Division right now. You've had 16,500 of those troops been deployed since late in 2002, and they've been yo-yoed. They were told they were going home. Now they're not going home. What we need is a rotation policy for those troops, so they know when they're coming and know where they're going, and it's a very tough morale situation for them right now, no we question about.

O'BRIEN: What do you think is more difficult for the troops, the daily attacks, or the reverse in plans, emotionally speaking?

SHEPHERD: Well, I think both of them go together. When you're going out on patrols and you know you're simply a target, and you don't have any end in sight, it's just one day after the other, it's definitely going to get to your sense of humor and going to get to your psyche. And the switch from combat to the patrolling and peacekeeping is a very, very difficult switch. In one, you're in control. And in the other, the enemy is in control in guerrilla-style attacks. So it's just a very, very tough situation for the soldiers involved.

O'BRIEN: Some military commanders said it's unfortunate that we're hearing some of these comments that have aired, but it doesn't affect the performance in the field. Do you agree with that?

SHEPHERD: I do agree with that. The soldiers are going to do what they're told and ordered to do and they are going to do it magnificently.

On the other hand, the comments that we've been hearing should stay in the chain of command. This is not the right thing to do for soldiers to be talking to the press and making the comments that we have heard reported.

So hopefully, we can get it under control, but the soldiers need have this rotation schedule so they know when they're coming and going, and they need to see some progress, as do the American people.

O'BRIEN: There's been a rotation schedule in past conflicts. Why not one now?

SHEPHERD: Well, it's because it's developing. It's early in this particular conflict. Remember, in the situation in Vietnam, we in that war many, many years, and we had a one-year policy. You could start counting the day you left the United States and know you would be back one year later. Germany, we stayed seven years after World War II. I can't remember the length of time in Japan, but it was a long time. So this is very, very early in this conflict, and I'm sure you're going to see a rotation policy soon; it's just not in place yet.

O'BRIEN: You talked about Vietnam, and what's changed since then, as well, of course, is Internet access, which many of the soldiers have. What kind of a role do you think that plays in the morale when you can get e-mail from your wife or spouse, saying the kid is sick, the car payment hasn't been made, things like that?

SHEPHERD: Yes, it's good and bad. It's good to be able to contact with home. We've never been able to do that before. But also, it lends to this griping that soldiers do. Soldiers gripe everywhere. The Internet is a great, great tool for the soldiers, but it's got the other side as well. You're going to hear all of their gripes, and they're going to be played out through America over the Internet, which spreads quickly and widely.

O'BRIEN: Retired General Don Shepherd, thank you for your time this morning. Nice to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 18, 2003 - 09:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Pentagon announced this week that several thousand troops in Iraq will not be able to leave Iraq. Tired troops are looking at longer deployments, and there has been grumbling, especially as attacks continue daily in Iraq. Could U.S. troops be suffering from low morale? To help us look at that retired General Don Shepherd joins us live from San Antonio this morning.
Good morning. Thanks for joining us.

GEN. DON SHEPHERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: My pleasure, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Difficult circumstances, a long deployment, uncertainty. Do all of these things in your mind add up to serious morale problems for the military there?

SHEPHERD: Yes and no. There's a serious morale problem with the 3rd Infantry Division right now. You've had 16,500 of those troops been deployed since late in 2002, and they've been yo-yoed. They were told they were going home. Now they're not going home. What we need is a rotation policy for those troops, so they know when they're coming and know where they're going, and it's a very tough morale situation for them right now, no we question about.

O'BRIEN: What do you think is more difficult for the troops, the daily attacks, or the reverse in plans, emotionally speaking?

SHEPHERD: Well, I think both of them go together. When you're going out on patrols and you know you're simply a target, and you don't have any end in sight, it's just one day after the other, it's definitely going to get to your sense of humor and going to get to your psyche. And the switch from combat to the patrolling and peacekeeping is a very, very difficult switch. In one, you're in control. And in the other, the enemy is in control in guerrilla-style attacks. So it's just a very, very tough situation for the soldiers involved.

O'BRIEN: Some military commanders said it's unfortunate that we're hearing some of these comments that have aired, but it doesn't affect the performance in the field. Do you agree with that?

SHEPHERD: I do agree with that. The soldiers are going to do what they're told and ordered to do and they are going to do it magnificently.

On the other hand, the comments that we've been hearing should stay in the chain of command. This is not the right thing to do for soldiers to be talking to the press and making the comments that we have heard reported.

So hopefully, we can get it under control, but the soldiers need have this rotation schedule so they know when they're coming and going, and they need to see some progress, as do the American people.

O'BRIEN: There's been a rotation schedule in past conflicts. Why not one now?

SHEPHERD: Well, it's because it's developing. It's early in this particular conflict. Remember, in the situation in Vietnam, we in that war many, many years, and we had a one-year policy. You could start counting the day you left the United States and know you would be back one year later. Germany, we stayed seven years after World War II. I can't remember the length of time in Japan, but it was a long time. So this is very, very early in this conflict, and I'm sure you're going to see a rotation policy soon; it's just not in place yet.

O'BRIEN: You talked about Vietnam, and what's changed since then, as well, of course, is Internet access, which many of the soldiers have. What kind of a role do you think that plays in the morale when you can get e-mail from your wife or spouse, saying the kid is sick, the car payment hasn't been made, things like that?

SHEPHERD: Yes, it's good and bad. It's good to be able to contact with home. We've never been able to do that before. But also, it lends to this griping that soldiers do. Soldiers gripe everywhere. The Internet is a great, great tool for the soldiers, but it's got the other side as well. You're going to hear all of their gripes, and they're going to be played out through America over the Internet, which spreads quickly and widely.

O'BRIEN: Retired General Don Shepherd, thank you for your time this morning. Nice to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com