Morning TexAgs,

TLDR - Air Force staff sargeant had a drunken driving episode in front of my house for 30 minutes, passed out in his running car, and the police gave him a PI.

I thought I'd seek some advice from those who know the military much better than I.

Last night around 8:45, a car pulled down our quiet neighborhood street, parked at the end in the middle of the road, and for the next 30 minutes, the driver did the following.
- continuously entered and exited the vehicle slamming the door
- yelled **** at a volume loud enough for me to hear down the block
- punch his horn and other parts of the vehicle incessantly

Things then went quiet while the police were "assigning an officer".

20 minutes after it went quiet, a few neighbors and I walked down to check and make sure someone wasn't OD'ed in the car. This is where we found a Staff Sargeant passed out in his back seat (mind you the car is parked and has been running in the middle of the road).

There was a half empty bottle of liquor in the cup holder so we determined it was likely just alcohol and felt safe enough to wake the driver and ask what was going on.

He was clearly intoxicated but nice enough at this point. He wanted to get back in the drivers seat so we asked if we could move his car to the side of the road to try and locate the keys (attempting to prevent him from driving off).

When the police finally showed up, he was arrested for PI and that ended it.

Here is the concern - I personally don't feel a PI draws enough attention to the risk he put others in and the challenges he's likely facing. Is there a resource in the military that I could reach out to that can help him address what I would assume is some form of PTSD?

I'm not trying to get him in trouble necessarily, rather to help him address his demons.

The event alone should trigger a command referral for DAPA as it is an AI. The screening should identify if he needs treatment for alcohol and a good DAPA will also refer for mental health if suspected. He'll be required to report the indicent for security purposes and if he's not in California, the police can actually share the report with the command.

The command can direct him to treatment and medical may be able to identify some additional things. Beyond that will be voluntary on his part. You personally know him?

You don't need to do anything, the military has procedures in place to address this. Depending on his job and security clearance different things will happen. For example, when I was living in quarters in Germany our LTC next door neighbor came home late one night, parked crooked in a diagonal spot in front of our building, went inside, evidently noticed he was parked crookedly and returned to his car to straighten it up. The MP's showed up as he was doing this, arrested him and away he went. He got an Article 15 and lost his license for the remainder of his tour. That effectively ended his career but he did make it to 20. He also got to keep his job but it was one that didn't involve him needing his security clearance. It was enough to make me let my wife drive home most nights.

Pro Sandy said:

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The event alone should trigger a command referral for DAPA as it is an AI. The screening should identify if he needs treatment for alcohol and a good DAPA will also refer for mental health if suspected. He'll be required to report the indicent for security purposes and if he's not in California, the police can actually share the report with the command.

The command can direct him to treatment and medical may be able to identify some additional things. Beyond that will be voluntary on his part. You personally know him?

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I don't know him. Based out of state and here for training.

Is the military still retaining folks with DUIs? As I was leaving active duty in 2014 it was one and done, didn't matter your record or rank.

JABQ04 said:

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Is the military still retaining folks with DUIs? As I was leaving active duty in 2014 it was one and done, didn't matter your record or rank.

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Not a DoD policy. I've seen COs make that a policy, but they have ultimate discretion with it.

If he was formally arrested, no matter for what, the report will be referred by local police to his base and command structure.

Unless there's major mitigating factors, he will almost certainly receive Article 15 discipline for drunken operation, conduct unbecoming and bringing discredit. He'll likely lose a stripe, forfeit pay and find it very difficult to get promoted in the future, which means it's probably career ending. If he has a prior poor disciplinary record, he could very well be dismissed outright.

JABQ04 said:

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Is the military still retaining folks with DUIs? As I was leaving active duty in 2014 it was one and done, didn't matter your record or rank.

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Definitely not a policy.

I know multiple aircrew members with DUIs. More than anything the DoD isn't going to throw away the millions of dollars of training plus time spent for a DUI.

Seems so, and I'm just speaking from what I saw, alcohol related incidents were being used to kick out both enlisted and officer across my last three duty stations spanning from 2011-2014. (Army)

I will say it was sad my brigade couldn't go 42 days with out a DUI. We were 4th Brigade 2nd Infantry Division so if a battalion could go 42 days without a dui they'd get. Three days weekend and of the whole brigade went 42 days we'd all get a 4 day. Never happened my last year at Lewis before I went to Korea, which was a whole other world of alcohol related issues)

JABQ04 said:

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Seems so, and I'm just speaking from what I saw, alcohol related incidents were being used to kick out both enlisted and officer across my last three duty stations spanning from 2011-2014. (Army)

I will say it was sad my brigade couldn't go 42 days with out a DUI. We were 4th Brigade 2nd Infantry Division so if a battalion could go 42 days without a dui they'd get. Three days weekend and of the whole brigade went 42 days we'd all get a 4 day. Never happened my last year at Lewis before I went to Korea, which was a whole other world of alcohol related issues)

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I hear it's up to the sq cc's now if they want to kick the person out or not.

there was an incident not too long ago that this AD airman got a DUI and the sq cc said to just kick them out. (this airmen had previous instances of getting into trouble though and the sq cc has a zero tolerance regarding DUI/DWI).

CharlieBrown17 said:

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JABQ04 said:

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Is the military still retaining folks with DUIs? As I was leaving active duty in 2014 it was one and done, didn't matter your record or rank.

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Definitely not a policy.

I know multiple aircrew members with DUIs. More than anything the DoD isn't going to throw away the millions of dollars of training plus time spent for a DUI.

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Do you think that's due to a pilot shortage? If they had a surplus of pilots and crews, I suspect they'd be looking for excuses to kick them out.

We're pretty convinced that My Favorite Pilot would not have been retained after her auto accident*, had it not been for the shortage of pilots and especially fighter pilots.



*Accident not her fault, she was not drinking, and a drunk driver put her out of the cockpit for 18 months. Just thought I might clarify for anyone who isn't up to speed on her story.

Before I retired three years ago, if you were an NCO or officer and got a DUI, you were pretty much done. You got a GOMOR at the very least and then a bad OER/NCOER, which meant you were QMP'ed on the next board. Not saying I agree with this, but that is what the going punishment was for a DUI when I was in.

Yeah retention is definitely part of the reason for it.

The way the airlines are hiring, Majors pretty much don't exist in flying squadrons right now.

You have Lt Cols in leadership and Capts and Lts flying the line. Most of our Majors are pinning on and leaving within a year of that. Just how the service commitment times out.

CanyonAg77 said:

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So basically, drive drunk and you're sentenced to death by acronym?

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Hahahaha, yep, that was a part of the punishment too.