What actions would you take if you found underage soldiers drinking on social media?

I see a lot of UCMJ action being recommended for this. I am going to be the dissenting opinion here.

I personally think that a counseling statement and a frank discussion would be the appropriate avenue. Yes, they violated the law. Yes, you can argue that it violates Article 92. However, there are many other factors which may be prevelant here.

For a first offense of this nature, I think it is more appropriate to guide the young Soldier into making the right decisions. Let them see what impact their actions can have. Let them learn a lesson, however do not do something that could stunt their career growth or place a permanent black mark on their record when it could be handled in a different manner. If we were talking about an illegal substance or more egregeous behavior, then the situation would dictate something more strict.

Things that would have to be looked at in conjunction with this:

-Where did the Soldier get the alcohol? Are they at a fellow Soldier's house? Is there something epidemic with underage drinking and contributing to this behavior?

-Was this time-out with his team/squad? Is there pressure to "be one of the guys?"

-Is this a common theme for the Soldier or unit?

If it seems to be reasonably isolated (we know that most underage drinking is not an isolated event), then it seems that it could be dealt with at a very low level. Some Soldiers have not been broken of the habits they may have developed as civilians and we know that most junior Soldiers are not as fully Soldierized as we would like to see coming about of IET. The issue comes if you see repeat offenses or issues that could be stemming from alcohol use/abuse. That is when I feel a Soldier needs to be pushed to a higher level of accountability.

Also, I think it is an abuse of resources to send a Soldier to ASAP for one drinking incident which does not indicate an actual issue with dependency or exceptionally poor decision making. An example: would an underage Soldier who had a couple of drinks, did not drive, did not perform any acts which would endanger themselves or others, did not perform any acts which violated any further laws, maintained a level of responsibility for their actions, and was fully ready for duty come Monday morning. Would this Soldier really be a good candidate for ASAP, even though they have a Facebook picture of them drinking from a bottle of beer? To me, that seems like an extreme reaction for someone who is otherwise being responsible. Now, if you have a picture of them hitting a 30-foot beer bong, doing shots, and then demonstrating other wreckless behavior, then they may need an assessment for dependency or otherwise damaging behavior.