Low morale reportedly growing among U.S. troops in Iraq

WASHINGTON, October 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - At least 28 U.S. soldiers have failed to report for flights back to Iraq after two weeks of leave back home or to call ahead with an explanation, a U.S. military spokesmen admitted Tuesday, October 21.

The military sought to play down the no-shows, arguing they represented only a tiny fraction of the more than 1,300 Iraq-based soldiers who have been given two weeks leave since the program began September 25, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I don't think anybody here at this level is in a panic over the situation," said Major Pete Mitchell, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. Army Human Resources Command has reported that 28 soldiers have not shown up for their flights back to Iraq and have failed to call to give a reason for their absence, said Joe Burlas, an army spokesman.

A small number of those people have been given emergency extensions of their leave because of family problems or other reasons, he said.

"In all cases, the circumstances will be investigated," Mitchell said, adding: "We're not seeing this as a chronic, overwhelming problem here."

Soldiers based in Iraq are flying out of the country at a rate of 279 a day under the program, which was designed to ease the pressure of year-long deployments in a combat zone on soldiers and their families.

Those arriving in the U.S. come through Baltimore/Washington International Airport, where they are given instructions on the time and date of their return flight.

They are also told to notify army officials ahead of time if for some reason they cannot make the flight.

No soldiers have been declared absent without leave (AWOL) yet, a decision which must be taken by their commanders in Iraq, Burlas said.

"As of yesterday (Monday), no commander had done that," he said.

When soldiers fail to report for duty, the army will typically try to contact them at their leave address, he said.

A soldier will be carried on the roster as AWOL for 30 days before he or she is classified as a deserter, added the spokesman.

The no-shows were declared only a week after U.S. army had sent mental health specialists to Iraq to determine why so many soldiers are committing suicide there.

On Monday, October 13, the USA Today newspaper said that eleven U.S. soldiers and three Marines reportedly killed themselves in the past seven months in Iraq - an annualized rate of 17 suicide per 100,000 soldiers. The usual rate of army suicides is 13 per 100,000 soldiers.

"The number of suicides has caused the Army to be concerned," said Lieutenant Colonel Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, an army psychiatrist helping to investigate the deaths.

"Is there something different going on in Iraq that we really need to pay attention to?"

Most of the suicides have occurred since May 1, when major combat operations were declared ended.

Depression, harsh and dangerous living conditions, a long deployment and the accessibility of weapons could contribute to the problem, according to U.S. experts quoted by the paper.

The Army has sent 478 soldiers home from Iraq for mental-health reasons, the daily added then.