US Army soldiers in AfghanistanA U.S. military survey says morale among American troops in Afghanistanhas dropped sharply because of increased fighting and multipledeployments.

The army survey says the number of soldiers whoreported their unit's morale as being high or very high dropped bynearly half (to 5.7 percent) in 2009, compared to 10.2 percent in thelast study in 2007.

Army Surgeon General Lieutenant General EricSchoomaker says soldiers continue to face stress from multipledeployments into combat.

One in five soldiers in Afghanistanreported psychological problems such as anxiety, depression or acutestress. It also found that a greater number of troops serving thereare reporting problems at home, including marriage difficulties.

Separately,the NATO-led alliance in Afghanistan reported Saturday that two U.S.troops and one U.S. civilian were killed in separate bomb attacks insouthern and eastern Afghanistan Friday.

The army survey also polled troops in Iraq who reported a boost in morale after a drop in fighting in that country.

Thearmy survey was released Friday, a little more than a week after anarmy psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, allegedly went on ashooting rampage at an army base in the southern state of Texas,killing 13 people. Hasan's relatives say the psychiatrist had wantedto get out of the military.

Authorities have not determined a motive for the shooting.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.