It’s a shame to see a career flame-out due to by heavy drinking as recently has happened happened in recent days to one of the Navy’s top supply officers.
ButSadly, however, it’s an all-too-common sailor’s tale.
Drinking to excess fuels more than half of all Navy misconduct cases and reported sexual assaults. It also is behind many, many accidents, injuries and deaths.
Beyond the effects of alcohol itself, an enabling aspect in the root cause behind Rear Adm. David Baucom’s conduct incident and so many others is a Navy culture that continues to glorify celebrate irresponsible and even dangerous levels of alcohol abuse, the Navy’s latest anti-booze campaign be damned.
The hard-drinking culture will only be broken when those at the deckplates — chiefs, first- and second-class petty officers — first classes and second classes— stop romanticizing alcohol abuse. Yes, many enlisted leaders are working to keep young sailors from equating liberty and port calls with booze-fueled adventure. But too many Navy newbies are quickly regaled in their living and working spaces by seniors with fondly recalled tales of long bouts of drinking and other indulgences. To many new sailors, it reinforces what they have heard is the Navy way and they become eager to be part of that club.
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Rather than conducting even more programs warning of the risks of drinking to excess, Navy brass would be wise to do more to reward responsible behavior. For example, The next step is to reward the kind of behavior that makes sailors better ambassadors when abroad. The Navy should give an advancement edge to petty officers who spend their liberty participating in good works in the community, with charitable or religious organizations, for example, or through religious projects aimed at participate in community relations projects like building homes and for going on sponsored Morale, Welfare and Recreation activities and tours.
Ending a long-established culture of hard drinking won’t be done overnight, but its allure can be diminished if the Navy provides alternative activities and new incentives to spend time in ways that sailors can help themselves and help others.
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