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FORT STEWART, Ga. — Drinking and driving is a dangerous game, one that an unfortunate few choose to play. They set out on the road without a care for those around them, and will eventually get stopped by the authorities. Even one DUI is too many, and A Company, 1/3 Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Third Infantry Division, is doing all in their power to stop them before they happen.
The company has been DUI free since before their deployment to Iraq in November 2009.
“We emphasis how much they do have to lose if they get a DUI,” said A Company 1st Sgt. Troy Hardin, “And we set a standard during our safety briefings. Our standard doesn’t even allow for one drink if you plan on driving. If you drink, you don’t drive. If you plan on driving you don’t drink.”
The company’s standard has kept the soldiers in its care from facing a DUI and the many consequences of getting one.
“It takes one small lapse of judgement to make a very large impact on your career,” said 1st Sgt. Hardin, “Whether that’s losing rank, money or your career altogether.”
However, the standard that the company’s commander and first sergeant hold their soldiers’ to is not the only reason they have been DUI free.
“To be honest, most of our success is not me [as the company commander],” said Capt. Leander Metcalf, A Company commander, “It is soldiers doing the right thing. I think our soldiers take a lot of pride in our guidon streamer, we talk about it monthly. We emphasize that the entire company earned it and that it only takes one person doing the wrong thing to affect the whole unit.”
The company command also reminds their soldiers’ that if plans go array there are options out there.
“We focus the soldiers toward calling their first line supervisor if their plan doesn’t work out,” said 1st Sgt. Hardin. “Then they continue calling up their chain until they get to me, because I would rather get a phone call from the soldier than from the Military Police. It’s straightforward, but the soldiers believe it and the soldiers use it.”
The largest problem with someone getting a DUI is that they are completely preventable, all it takes is a second plan.
“Drinking and driving is 100 percent preventable,” said 1st Sgt. Hardin. “You have to set out with a plan of action and understand that if that plan doesn’t work you have options. More than anything else we try to give our soldiers options. Knowing they have options that are better than getting in the car when they have been drinking will prevent them from doing just that.”
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2012 14:48 |
| Story ID: | 88456 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 109 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Alpha Company, 1/3 BSTB, takes stand on drinking and driving, by Jared Eastman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
