Oh come off it, we're not "dissing" the military, we're simply stating fact. I don't know about you, but I've been in the military and in the civilian world. We don't get together in my current non-military job with everyone from work in a work-sanctioned event multiple times per year to get stone-drunk, with kegs, beer-bongs, and all sorts of other bing-drinking contraptions. We also don't get together with the lower workers and go out for bing-drinking parties and campfires. I don't head to a bar that's 500' from my barracks and find a LTC stone drunk buying drinks. Although these things do happen in the civilian world (duh), many of these are, or at least were, expected and tolerated by the command. In the civilian world, these are generally seen as unprofessional and while they may fly at some low-end manual labor or menial job, it's not the mark of professionals and anyone who should be flying an airline. I could go into greater detail about other alcohol situations and events that were tolerated, but you've got to be kidding claiming the military and alcohol haven't been intertwined in the past.

Maybe you were completely sheltered in the military, IDK, but I was there, I know what I saw and experienced. It "seemed normal" at the time to me, but looking back on it more than 10 years later, I know better. Don't get me wrong, it's not that people didn't get in trouble for showing up drunk or for DUIs, it's that it was expected by the command and IMO they were the inevitable outcome of policies and attitudes that were passed down to the soldiers.

Those attitudes often stay with the individuals in my experience.

 

Um. Yeah. Guess I was sheltered. Never experienced that outside of graduation night at UPT. My unit was, for the most part, a fairly docile bunch of reservist airline pilots.
Sorry to disappoint -
Enjoyed Herking around some of the world's garden spots, but acting like a drunk idiot wasn't the norm.
I guess whatever form of military you were in may have been different.

 

Jug- your avatar wiggs me out. I keep thinking he's photoshopped then I zoom in and think damn he could just be freaky.

 

Maybe they hold prohibit any alcohol consumption for all pilots unless they register and get a background check first.

 

Dang right. Us civilian guys can keep up at the game of drinking too!

 

Then why say anything at all, when this thread is about a guy who did compromise safety and did show up under the influence?

Good grief, you step on your schwantz an awful lot!

 

If this guy had been behind the wheel of a car, he would have been arrested, lost his license, faced massive fines and possibly gone to jail, depending on his previous record. If anything, flying a plane should have stricter consequences. Sorry, it doesn't matter if you have a disease, you shouldn't see the inside of a cockpit again.

 

This brings up a good point. So one gets pulled over for drinking - is the "I'm an alcoholic" excuse valid? At the trial, could you plead that to the judge and possibly be acquitted and given your license back? Doubtful.

Regardless of intent or sickness, guilty is guilty. You did it, and got caught. Why is flying somehow different?

 

Alcoholism is a disease as much as my desire to have a threesome with two Victoria Secrect models is a disease.

 

Well, in TODAY's Air Force, you will get a Drunk in Public citation for exiting the O-club and WALKING to your Q...seriously (True story, Altus AFB, OK). Squadron Bars are becoming "Heritage Rooms," and there is almost a zero tolerance attitude not just for drunkeness, but alcohol in general on base. The Officer's/Enlisted Clubs as we knew them have been dead for several years now. Any gate entry after 10 pm is a de-facto DUI checkpoint.