Air Force base spreads sobering message

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Air Force abuzz over moderation
By Patrick O'Driscoll, USA TODAY

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A nuclear missile base here is using unorthodox tactics to combat an old problem in the military ranks: drinking to excess.

No one at F.E. Warren Air Force Base has been ordered not to drink alcohol. But the base commander, alarmed by the number of booze-related crimes among his troops, has ordered a marketing and education campaign to spread a sobering message: Irresponsible drinking threatens the base's preparedness and will jeopardize careers.

The campaign, which includes alcohol-free activities for underage personnel and other measures, began last spring. It has quickly become so effective that Pentagon brass are taking note. Other Air Force bases might follow Warren's lead.

"It's creating some buzz," says Col. Evan Hoapili, commander of Warren's 90th Space Wing, who set up the program. Alcohol abuse, he says, is "a health crisis. And in the military, it is a readiness issue."

By any measure, Hoapili's campaign is working. In the final three months of 2004, incidents involving alcohol at Warren declined 74% from the start of the year. That includes driving violations, public drunkenness, domestic violence, sexual assault, thefts and other infractions. The base also reported 81% fewer cases of underage drinking and 45% fewer drunken-driving arrests...

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The entire Infantry Battalion that I serve with needs this. They be a bunch of drunk, womanizing and wife/girl friend beating bastards
 
Yeah okay. I can see this workin :roll: Not. Well maybe in the Air Force :lol: .

I always look at these as feel good CG directives or responses to a bad IG report. They don't work. The fact of the matter is that not even the Military can regulate personal responsibility on the part of personel. They can punish lack of it, they can instruct in it but in the end it comes down to the standards being set and enforced at an individual level.

Whats the next step? Close all the E-Clubs, NCO Clubs? Allow only SNCO's and Officers to drink? Restrict off base passes? Stop selling alcohol at the PX and Commissary? How bout beer issue? Two cans a day of Falstaff for all the guy's 21 and older to be drunk in a designated area and supervised by a SNCO of appropriate rank?

What always cracks me up is the fixs they come up with. Pizza Parties, Cartoon Fests, etc. These guys aren't in high school anymore and this isn't project Safe Streets. It's the Military. They are responsibile for the defense of their nation. If they cannot handle the responsibility of drinking then charge them take a stripe. Take two.
 
I want to know what happened to policing your own? In my day if you and your buddies went on a tear you watched out for each other. If Lcpl Smuckatelli was too drunk to drive you took his keys. You had each others back and you got each other back to the barracks.
 
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