Contemporary Leadership Challenges Facing the US Army - Assignment Example

Recently, the US army has been faced with several challenges ranging from the budget cuts to a high level of suicide among the officers. The US army has been seen as the most organized and capable military resort and in most cases, people tend to believe that they cannot face any significant challenges. The US, since the period of the First World War, has maintained an active role in the world’s activities more so surrounding insecurity issues. In that regard, we see the US attacking Iraq over its unjustified invasion of Kuwait.

The US government, for this reason, has incurred hefty expenses with the military constituting a significant chunk of the total national budget (Tan, n.d). Recently, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq equally made created a dent in their national budget. The congressional budget cut in the army is thus an indication that no more wars are expected or at least the tempo will go down. Due to overwhelming battlefields that the US has been involved in, the army leadership has consistently failed to give advisory services to the officers and to make them appreciate the reason for which the country is going to the war.

This has also been occasioned by the fact that in the military, there is no objection and orders have to be taken as delivered (Martin, 2006). Following this, the US has had a number of suicides from their officers not orchestrated in the combat field, but those that are self-instigated. Plausible sources indicate that the officers have opted to commit suicides given they face frustration in the battlefield that overrides committing suicide. Cases of suicide have been on the rise among the US army most particularly period between 2004 to date (Kouzes and Posner, 2008).

The apex of the activity was experienced during the American attack on Afghanistan and Iraq following the September bombings. Most of the officers who committed suicide were said to have opted so due to frustration and burnout experienced on the battlefield. Based on the suicide reports alone in 2012, about 212 officers were confirmed to have committed suicide (Tan, n.d). On the critical evaluation of what might have led to the situation, it was found that this took place due to what is said to be fighting invisible enemies.

The American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq have a feeling of disillusionment citing that they are fighting a war that they are bound to lose. This belief has jeopardized their efforts to put up a spirited fight in their mission with a significant number of opting to commit suicide. As is the case, the top military commandant has considered every step to avert the emerging trend in which more soldiers are lost due to suicide than on the battlefield. The chief of staff, Gen Ray Odierno has been reported to say that they are reviewing every option to reverse the unfortunate occurrence.

While he says that, he also admits that the problems are yet to be fully established so that amicable solution can be advanced (Tan, n.d). Following the survey that was conducted by the military, some of the emerging trends were established in relation to suicide in the military. It came to the realization that most of those who committed suicides were either noncommissioned or redeployed officers. The other trend is that of the suicide victims, reports show that they were hospitalized in the last 30 days before committing suicide, most of the soldiers who have died are suicide victims as opposed to the expectation that they may be through military combat (Martin, 2006).

The stigma associated with those serving in the military is also suspected to be contributing to the suicide levels. The cut on the congressional army budget in this regard is expected to have a negative impact on the military in two folds; the military readiness to respond to situations that needs swift response will be curtailed. With the reduced budget, the military is expected to be strained in all cadres and this is possibly a precursor to more suicide-related deaths in the military. The interpretation is, there will be increased military deployments, and this will make them lose hope in their roles and degenerate to suicide activities (Kouzes and Posner, 2008).