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'Stressed troops' burning out in Afghanistan
The Australia Defence Association says the Federal Government may have to consider sending more soldiers to Afghanistan to relieve the stress on those serving there now.
The Association says some helicopter crews and special forces are becoming stressed and over-worked because they are having to rotate through too many tours of duty too quickly.
The Association's Neil James says stress levels are high because much of the fighting by Australians in Afghanistan over the last few years has been done by a small part of the Defence Force.
"Small specialised elements such as helicopter crews and special forces have been very, very highly stressed because they have had a high operational tempo," he said.
"It may be that the load will have to be spread more evenly across the whole Defence Force to lower the operational tempo for those parts of the Defence Force that, quite frankly, are getting close to being over-used."
The Defence Association says it believes the increase in the number of deaths of Australian troops in Afghanistan could be due to the increase in Coalition activity because of the United States troop surge.
At the weekend the 17th Australian soldier, Private Nathan Bewes from Kogarah in New South Wales, was killed in Afghanistan in a bomb attack.
Mr James says an increase in US troop numbers means Australians accompanying them are involved in more operations in areas they have not been before.
"It may very well be that the casualties aren't related to any upsurge in the fighting, although in this case they probably are," he said.
"The thing about casualty rates is that you have to look at them in the long term and not take a snapshot at any one time, because you can get quite an artificial picture."
ABC News http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...section=justin
Multiple deployments seem to be here to stay.......they are not only a problem for Australian forces but all those involved in the conflict in Afghanistan
The Australia Defence Association says the Federal Government may have to consider sending more soldiers to Afghanistan to relieve the stress on those serving there now.
The Association says some helicopter crews and special forces are becoming stressed and over-worked because they are having to rotate through too many tours of duty too quickly.
The Association's Neil James says stress levels are high because much of the fighting by Australians in Afghanistan over the last few years has been done by a small part of the Defence Force.
"Small specialised elements such as helicopter crews and special forces have been very, very highly stressed because they have had a high operational tempo," he said.
"It may be that the load will have to be spread more evenly across the whole Defence Force to lower the operational tempo for those parts of the Defence Force that, quite frankly, are getting close to being over-used."
The Defence Association says it believes the increase in the number of deaths of Australian troops in Afghanistan could be due to the increase in Coalition activity because of the United States troop surge.
At the weekend the 17th Australian soldier, Private Nathan Bewes from Kogarah in New South Wales, was killed in Afghanistan in a bomb attack.
Mr James says an increase in US troop numbers means Australians accompanying them are involved in more operations in areas they have not been before.
"It may very well be that the casualties aren't related to any upsurge in the fighting, although in this case they probably are," he said.
"The thing about casualty rates is that you have to look at them in the long term and not take a snapshot at any one time, because you can get quite an artificial picture."
ABC News http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...section=justin
Multiple deployments seem to be here to stay.......they are not only a problem for Australian forces but all those involved in the conflict in Afghanistan