My parents raised me the "right way". Didnt help much. I still became a pilot.

I have a hard time calling it a disease as well, but I am not going to knock it. People much smarter than I have come up with that term for it. But like all diseases, alcoholism does not discriminate. It does not matter who it effects. You can raise your kids the right way, teach them the responsible way, but thats all you can do. You cant sit over their shoulder for the rest of their life saying "dont drink." They may get to college, have some really great times drinking and decide on their own they love it. They keep at it hard enough, long enough, guess what happens? Alcoholism.

I read in a big book once that "addicts and alcoholics do not have a normal off switch in their brains. A normal person will put their hand on a hot stove and never touch it again. Addicts and alcoholics will continue to touch the hot stove." For pilots, that means continued drinking despite negative consequences. Get one dui under your belt, or one public intox or one alcohol related arrest and if you continue to drink, you are putting your hand on that hot stove. While they may not be a full blown, cant stop at one drink, alcoholic, they have a drinking problem that needs treatment.