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Has alcohol drinking while on the job gotten this bad that the military would impliment this policy? Would this policy also apply to officers all the way up to the generals and admirals who regularly have drinks even in areas where it's normally not allowed,...like on a ship while at sea. Though I never drank while on duty, I did see some guys brew bilge wine in the engineroom. Our ship also had some guys kicked out the Navy for being drunk on a flight deck security watch while on route to Bosnia in 1992. They were caught because one of them decided to go for a swim. The amphib fleet commodore and ship's captain were not happy to have been awoken at 2am for man overboard because a drunk wanted to go swimming. One of the four had less than a year left till an honorable discharge.
This is what happens when one dui under an officers command can make or break his career. The way officers do promotions is completely screwed up to the point where they have to micromanage 500 adults 24x7 and this is what it's leading to.
I showed up a few times for duty with the previous nights spirits on my breath. My chief told me privately during my indoc meeting with him that I better never go to sick call for a hangover, his policy was if you drank you paid the consequences the following day at work with a hangover. The biggest thing was if you drank you worked the next day.
I would bet anything this would not occur during the 2004+ years when the military was stop lossing everyone and pleading for volunteers.
Since the forces are RIFing many people, they also increase and adhere to standards to the level of being absurd, I saw this during the beginning of the Clinton years; then I saw basically a reversal after 9/11 where someone would have to basically commit a felony to get booted out.
It is not clear to me what they call "duty". Official duty when I was in was meaning you stood watch and were armed, or had the potential to be; or some other level of responsibity as a watch standard. A normal work day was not considered duty, and we would even have a drink during lunch sometimes. Being drunk of course was forbidden, but I never heard of someone actually being drunk at work, though I am sure it has happened.
But how will they deal with false positive readings from things like alcohol based mouthwash? Also, will this rule be equally enforced or will the usual exemptions be made for birds and stars (Navy captain & admirals)? I was on the Sixth Fleet Flag ship homeported in Gaeta, Italy. Virtually every port we pulled into, the Admiral threw a diplomatic party in which very expensive high quality wine, champagne, and other forms of alcohol were freely served (in 1995, some were about $500 a bottle and many cases were used per port and unfinished open bottles were poured over the side of the ship).
But how will they deal with false positive readings from things like alcohol based mouthwash? Also, will this rule be equally enforced or will the usual exemptions be made for birds and stars (Navy captain & admirals)? I was on the Sixth Fleet Flag ship homeported in Gaeta, Italy. Virtually every port we pulled into, the Admiral threw a diplomatic party in which very expensive high quality wine, champagne, and other forms of alcohol were freely served (in 1995, some were about $500 a bottle and many cases were used per port and unfinished open bottles were poured over the side of the ship).
They will not care about false readings, depending of course on goals of the command and how liked the person is. Violations will be NJP, the burden of evidence is much lower, to non-existent for NJP.
The fact is, the U.S. Army had an alcohol problem identified several times over the past 40 years. We recently had an Air Force member kill a civilian while driving DUI in here Albuquerque. We had a Warrant Officer take a GOV and drove drunk in Korea and crashed while trying to evade local law enforcement in 1984. A good friend of mine, an Army Sergeant Major turned himself in for alcohol treatment in the late 70's when he was an E-7, completed the program, and made it to E-9 and retired. He pulled himself out of a bad situation. Another close friend got stopped for DUI on a post in CONUS in the early 90's and because he had over 20 years service, the Commanding General (yes, another officer), made him a deal, apply for retirement within 10 days and commit to community service for an unrecalled period. Almost 20 years later he still does some community work with young people.
Please quit bashing officers because you apparently did not like them. And if an officer has a large amount of DUI's he has every right to attempt to fix the situation.
This is a discussion forum not a soap opera.
Your tales may be different than mine. We do not need a bunch of drunks in the military. I encountered to many in my 22 active years. Yes, I do drink, about three beers a month... I am available almost 24/7 to cart drunk military around if need be. But if you puke in my BFWAV (Big Fat White Air-Conditioned Van), you pay me what it cost to clean to mess...
The article is about:
"The Marine Corps’ new on-duty standard for drinking alcohol is so strict that less than one drink at lunch would trigger a “positive” and get a warrior in hot water. The Washington Times reported earlier this week that the Corps sent a Dec. 12 message to commanders officially beginning mandatory breath tests for all 197,000 Marines twice each year."
Rich
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 12-27-2012 at 07:57 AM..
It's just another excuse to kick people out. They've already reduced the time period until you reach tenure, re-enlistments and promotions are already being denied for DUI and other UCMJ violations OUTSIDE of grade. They are already taking away BAH and Com rats of single Marines with prior approved BAH own right.
Also this isn't just soley dealing with RIF, but also the projected cut in money from sequestration. Being in my MOS and at the level I am I'm seeing that talk all over place of people preparing for the worst when it comes to that. The tax cuts aren't the only thing disappearing on the first if a deal isn't reached.
I served from mid-70s to mid-90s and saw the policies change with every change of command. Usually, it's just a personal agenda by the new commandant. Change of command is more than a new body in the chair. It will change again. Improvise, overcome, adapt!
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