ABSTRACT
Severe poverty had a devastating effect upon the morale of US forces at all levels, although hardest hit were the younger, married, enlisted personnel who were not entitled to the benefits of command-sponsored status. The highly negative effects that the outmoded facilities have upon morale at all levels can scarcely be exaggerated. If there is a recurrent theme that seems to be woven into all the morale factors, separately and collectively, it is the phenomenon of increasing distance that has characterized the relationship between the US military and the German civilian population in the last decade and a half. A careful review of morale factors among US forces in West Germany leads to the conclusion that the everyday needs of soldiers and air force personnel stationed abroad is a subject for which Congress has very little time or interest indeed. The morale of the troops displays a certain resiliency despite congressional neglect.
