A new survey of US Navy servicemembers reveals significant culture and morale problems within the institution.
Sailors reported experiencing high levels of stress in the Navy’s 2023 Health of the Force survey, with 37% of respondents reporting they were “severely” or “extremely” stressed. The number is an increase of more than 10% since 2019.
High stress was revealed to be a higher concern for lower ranking Navy members.
Additionally, high levels of burnout – defined in the report as a combination of exhaustion and disengagement from daily work – were reported by more than a quarter of sailors. The figure also represents a significant increase from 2019, with low staffing levels implicated as a primary cause.
The dissatisfaction with culture extended to other areas as well, with the report admitting that servicemembers’ satisfaction with work-life balance remains “suboptimal.”
The Navy and other branches of the US armed forces have faced challenges in meeting recruiting targets for several years, falling short by thousands of recruits. The shortfall has forced the Navy and other armed forces branches to repeatedly lower their standards in terms of fitness, education, and criminal history.
The Army has offered significant cash bonuses to attempt to lure back former troops who have left the service.
Prejudice is observed as a major problem that may discourage women and racial minorities from enlisting or remaining in the US military. Only 17% of Black servicemembers interviewed agreed that “racism is not a problem in the Navy.” Only 13% of women agreed that sexism is not a problem.
The military has been forced to take steps to confront both problems in recent years, with sexual assault recognized as a major issue in the US armed forces. The Army finished a multi-year process of renaming bases last year that for decades carried the names of leaders of the Confederacy.
It was recently revealed that Americans’ confidence in the US military is at its lowest point in two decades with widespread dissatisfaction over the country’s decades-long engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. Confidence among Republicans has fallen sharply as adherents of Donald Trump’s “America First” philosophy have questioned the prioritization of military spending over domestic concerns.
The United States has led campaigns of regime change and political subversion in numerous countries, including Haiti, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bulgaria, Panama, Nicaragua, Libya, Morocco, Grenada, Angola, Australia, Guatemala, Bolivia, Greece, Chile, Uruguay, Ghana, Indonesia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Brazil, the Congo, Ecuador, France, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Italy, Syria, Costa Rica, Iran, Albania, Korea, the Philippines, and China, according to numerous records, including such authors as William Blum and Phillip Agee.