Misawa officials urge drinking airmen to use free ride program less

[unhappycamper]

Misawa officials urge drinking airmen to use free ride program less
By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, December 8, 2009

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Base leaders say they want fewer airmen to use a volunteer program offering free rides home after they’ve been drinking alcohol, as counterintuitive as it may seem.

Instead, community members should develop a plan for "responsible drinking" and stick to it, said 35th Fighter Wing Command Chief Master Sgt. Russell Hastings, who assumed his post in June. Instead of relying on volunteers to get them home, they should use designated drivers, take taxis or even walk, he said.

To emphasize the major shift in philosophy, the Misawa Community and Services Against Drunk Driving organization, called McSADD, is being replaced by what volunteers voted to call Americans Against Drunk Driving, or A2D2.

While the volunteers will still provide free, anonymous rides to help keep drunken drivers off the roads, they want to do it as a last resort and hope to see a substantial decrease in customers.

The shift is part of a bigger push to curb drinking problems at the remote base, on the northern tip of the main island of Japan. A series of drinking-related incidents earlier this year prompted base commander Col. David Stilwell to enforce stricter liberty standards and begin doling out punishment to offenders personally.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66514



unhappycamper comments: This sounds just like Nancy Raygun's "Just Say No" campaign.