Drinking alcohol while on a field exercise. What would you do?

SSG Thomas Brousseau — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 14:22:25 -0400

When I first joined the army in 1981 it was common to see Soldiers drinking alcohol while on a field exercise. Now with General Order # 1 being strictly enforced drinking on field problems is almost non-existing. If you come across some soldiers in the middle of the woods on a field exercise drinking alcohol what would you Do? Would you join in? Would you report it? Or would not say anything?

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jun 10 at 2015 2:26 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 14:26:56 -0400

I would report it to their unit leadership.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jun 10 at 2015 2:49 PM

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 14:49:29 -0400

Silence creates Complicity.

As a counter example. You have a troop on 30 day leave. It's day 2, and you realize he forgot something on his desk, so you run it over to his house, where you know he's at. The door opens, and you see illegal drugs. You know when he gets back, the junk will be out of his system, and no one will know except the two of you.

You have to report it. The issue has to be dealt with.

It may be as simple as "1SG, I ran into a situation that needs to be resolved with a couple of the troops. I'd like a long leash on this one." or it may have to go much farther up the flagpole. The problem is being to close to the incident which necessitates an outside opinion at least one step above you.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 10 at 2015 3:18 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:18:45 -0400

Ah, the good old days!

The enforcement of GO#1 in the field or on deployment would actually be a detractor from operations in some cases. It's such a touchy subject because damned if you do and damned if you don't. Like gun laws, the people who want to get around them are going to do so. Iraq was a "dry" country, RIGHT. You'd have to do Health and Welfare inspections on the hour to truly stop it not to mention smelling every bottle everywhere like you were in a Yankee Candle store. Mouthwash, Kool-Aid, guess again.

If you made a good example out of the first person you caught then hopefully that would deter others but unfortunately as long as it isn't interfering with things (the spirit of the law IMHO) we tend to look the other way. Are we wrong, in the letter of the law, yes by condoning the disobeying of a lawful order. GO#1 draws a fine line between maintaining good order and discipline and maintaining troop morale. "Terrain dictates"

BTW I have photographic proof of me violating the letter of the law. Basra was run by the British is all I will say in my own defense.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Jun 10 at 2015 3:41 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 15:41:27 -0400

There is a time and place for alcohol consumption. In the middle of a field problem or an active combat operation is not only poor discipline but dangerous. What we do is dangerous enough without mixing perception altering drugs into it. I would absolutely squash it.

As far as downrange, IMHO GO#1 was a bit too draconcian. Iraq, even being majority Muslim, was far from being a dry country, so that excuse doesn't fly for me. Fact of the matter, Iraqis like porn and booze as much as the next guy. All GO#1 did was cause soldiers to go apeshit crazy when they went on R&R or when they finally redeployed home. For long deployments, responsible alcohol usage can be done. It's just a matter of leaders doing their job and supervising their troops so that they don't get stupid.

Response by PFC Robert Falk made Sep 3 at 2015 9:50 PM

PFC Robert Falk — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 21:50:35 -0400

I never trust a person who has been seen drinking or illegal drugs. I will not have them watch my back and I let others know why. If word gets to command then it does.

Response by TSgt Denise Moody made Nov 20 at 2016 5:20 PM

TSgt Denise Moody — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 17:20:59 -0500

Out it the field where a little alcohol in the system might impair their reactions? No I wouldn't join in and would report it, or handle it myself if I was in the position to.

Understand I come from a time when a drink at lunch wasn't frowned on. Out on field exercises would be a bit different matter.

Response by SPC(P) Carlos Santini made Nov 21 at 2016 12:03 AM

SPC(P) Carlos Santini — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 00:03:01 -0500

I have a good story for you all. When I was in Iraq 2003 we had NCOs drinking all the time. They would fill up their Gatorade bottles and put them in their fridge. These same NCOs decided to do a shake down of the whole company. They took all of the liquor, nude magazines, CDs and who know what they did with it all. But the fucked up thing they reported it to the LTC of our battalion and all of the lower enlisted soldiers that got caught got article 15. Also to add our 1st SGT, Commander and XO all got relieve of duty once we took over Baghdad because of war crimes. Our company was so fucked up that it drove 99% of us to drinking whenever we could get away with it. Was is wrong sure, did we care fuck no.

Response by SSG John Jensen made Nov 22 at 2016 3:48 AM

SSG John Jensen — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 03:48:13 -0500

Iraq in '03, they sold on the side of the road, once got a case of Grolsch for 20 bucks (the deal of the century), watching for the MPs the whole time, but come Aug '03 when everybody got word that their deployments was a Year-in-Country, not Year-on-orders, we saw the MPs pull over to by beer.
Back in Cp Bob during train-up, our cmd being old school from 20 and 30 years ago were still into the group punishment thing, and no drinking in barracks for months on end (just think like you're in the field, who drank in the field??, and a whole bunch of hands went up, and the command is replying "IN The Field??, and soldiers screamed out "Europe, Korea, Vietnam!!"), the finally let us drink in the barracks, but they never gave up on group punishment.