Reasons for and Solution to Morale Problems as Seen by Officers from 7 Nations

216 officers from seven nations: Bulgaria, Cameroun, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Philippines, and Spain were asked their perception of the “unit´s morale” during deployment abroad in asymmetric wars. Half of them saw no morale problems. Major national differences appeared here as only 20% of Spanish officers reported morale problems whereas 90% of Danish officers did. The other half of 109 officers did mention 160 reasons for a drop in morale related to either War, leadership, or individual problems. The 109 officers’ views are distributed rather equally on the three categories. Nevertheless, a majority of Danish officers (15 out of 17) reported war factors. In contrast, 10% or less of officers from Spain, Finland, Bulgaria and the Philippines gave the same answer. Over half of the Italian officers saw leadership factors causing morale problems (14 out of 26) while no officer from the Philippines and a few from Spain did so. Almost three out of four officers from the Philippines found that individual problems created morale problems. Only one out of five officers or less from the other nations identified the same cause. Some of the national differences are tentatively explained. Of the 75 solutions suggested, 75% said it was for the military leadership to remedy. The result of the study for the concept of morale and how to handle morale problems in a military unit operating in asymmetric warfare is discussed.