Photo By John Wollaston | The DUI/DWI Free streamer hangs from the guidon of the Headquarters and Headquarters...... read more read more
By Sgt. 1st Class John S. Wollaston
USANATO Brigade PAO
TOMPKINS BARRACKS, Germany – It’s Friday afternoon in the orderly room of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the U.S. Army NATO Brigade and 1st Sgt. Eurika Adams-Beaty is delivering the weekly safety briefing.
“Everyone here knows what I’m about to tell you, do not drink and drive.”
Beaty emphasizes every word of the sentence, driving home the message once again to the soldiers of her company. And at the end of every week when the briefing is given, and those words are spoken, HHC adds another seven days to an impressive streak; over one thousand days without an incident of a soldier or civilian in the unit being charged with driving under the influence.
One thousand days. Break it down and that equals roughly one hundred and forty-two plus weeks without a DUI. Twenty four thousand hours since a Military Police or German Poliezi officer has called the company commander informing him that one of his soldiers had been stopped for being drunk. Nearly one and a half million minutes since the 1st Sgt. has been notified to come to the MP station to pick up a soldier for DUI, and over two and a half years since the Brigade Commander has had to administer non-judicial punishment for a soldier driving under the influence.
“This is well over two and half years. In my eyes it is commendable,” says NATO Brigade Safety Manager Martin Elliott. “I would argue that in Europe, one day without a DWI/DUI is an accomplishment.”
One “commendable” day multiplied by nine hundred and ninety nine more days puts a tremendous pressure on the individual soldiers within the unit not to be “that guy,” the soldier that breaks the streak. That pressure is multiplied if you’re a new company commander who assumes responsibility for maintaining the consecutive days of the company being DUI free.
“Well of course I don’t want to be the Commander that broke the thousand plus DUI free days, but I rarely think about it.” Says Capt. Richard C. Evans III, who took over command of HHC in May, “I may joke about it during the safety brief, but I believe the soldiers and civilians in the organization take pride in the DUI free streak and are making the right decisions out there on the weekends. I have full confidence that this will continue no matter who is in command.”
The soldiers of HHC NATO Brigade are confident as well that the “DUI Free” streamer won’t come off of their guidon for awhile either. Besides knowing the consequences of being charged with a DUI, especially in an era of downsizing in the Army, when the smallest infractions could be a career ender, there is a knowledge among the soldiers that all they have to do is call and another soldier will be there to pick them up, should they find themselves in a situation where they’ve had too much to drink.
“I enjoy when my soldiers know what right looks like and what it truly means,” Beaty says. “They take their lives and the lives of others seriously and it means more to me because we do not have selfish individuals in our unit. We look out for each other well being and that what means the most.”
“I have never been in a unit that went this long DUI free, I think it's awesome.”
*As of 02 July 2012 HHC NATO Brigade has gone 1,023 days without a DUI or DWI incident.
| Date Taken: | 07.02.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.03.2012 09:00 |
| Story ID: | 91043 |
| Location: | TOMPKINS BARRACKS, BW, DE |
| Web Views: | 162 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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