US army bids to build up mental 'resilience' in Iraq

[sabra]

Source: AFP

<snip>

The frank account draws a sudden burst of applause and laughter from several hundred soldiers listening to the bespectacled, portly man clad in cargo pants and a polo shirt, speaking outside "Resiliency Campus."

Opened last month at Contingency Operating Base Basra in Iraq's south, the campus is one of two in the country with a chaplain and dietician along with massage chairs -- all designed to help soldiers cope with the stress of war.

The US army has dramatically reduced its number of soldiers in Iraq to less than 50,000 at present, less than a third of the peak figure during "the surge" of 2007, ahead of a complete withdrawal due by the end of next year.

Asked why, seven and a half years following the US-led invasion of 2003 and after the declaration of an official end to combat operations here a month ago, the army has taken these recent steps, Major General Vincent Brooks is brief.

"We are constantly learning and adapting on how to best lead and that's what we are talking about -- how to lead the soldiers, how to lead our families," the commander of US troops in Iraq's south says.

"We are 235 years old, and if we said things were (being done) late then we would never change."

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iae9B2h7gPnxPjdvEx4kzsHPBWhQ?docId=CNG.206598fb22f92e16a410b484f1166d90.01

[bemildred]

1. Bullshit will only take you so far. nt

[pasto76]

2. kinda like now that there are so few troops there, now we can spend some money

bullshit.

[MilesColtrane]

3. It would be interesting to sit in on one of Mr. Roever's speeches.

I wonder how much of the content involves evangelical exhortation.

And, I wonder if he is being paid by the U.S. government for these speeches.