An Air Force squadron banned alcohol consumption outside of living quarters
After what appeared to be embarrassing incidents, the 721st Aerial Port Squadron, out of Ramstein, Germany, issued a new alcohol related policy. Between midnight and 6 a.m., Airmen are not to consume alcohol outside of their residences. Alcohol consumption is also prohibited within 8 hours of any shift.
From Fox News:
Members of the 721st Aerial Port Squadron, which is based out of Ramstein, Germany, were told in a memo of the new policy, which says that “alcohol consumption outside of your dorm or residence is prohibited” between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. and also “within eight hours of any shift.”
The memo, entitled “Updated Alcohol Policy,” was first posted to the popular Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page and later reported by Military.com. According to the memo, the “irresponsible” consumption of alcohol by members of the squadron is “putting the lives of our airmen at risk and we will aggressively address this trend.”
Lt. Cameron Silver, a spokesman for the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing, told Military.com that each violation of the new policy will be dealt with on a “case-by-case basis,” though he did not go into specifics regarding what incidents led to the new rules.
“If a member is caught in violation of this new alcohol policy, they will receive corrective action on a case-by-case basis,” Silver said. “Alcohol related incidents are a threat to our airmen and, in turn, our mission. This policy is meant to deter our members from putting themselves in those situations and promote their safety as well as good order and discipline.”
The memo does not specify a date at which the new rules may be lifted, instead only saying the policy will be revoked when “the trend is corrected.”
Fox News provides additional information here.
Category: Air Force
Begs one to wonder what led to such action?
There’s no telling. Oftentimes these policies are reactions to misconduct, criminal activities, or injuries/deaths.
The problem is that there’s a very fine line between reactive policies like this and proactive ones like my battalion established at Camp Natural Bridge in 2014. We were there to act as Observer-Controllers (OC) for the West Point Cadets’ annual Cadet Leadership Development Training (CLDT) and our commander had worked a deal to bring the bulk of the battalion instead of the company-plus usually required. Our predecessors (an ARNG unit, I believe) still had their barracks alcohol policy on the doors, which was similar to most of what you’d see in the military–no more than a six-pack or one bottle of liquor. For us, though, absolutely no alcohol was allowed in the barracks; instead we got a two-drink limit at the “Cantina”, where we could buy $6 Icehouse beers (a six-pack cost less at the time). Further, if we wanted to leave the camp we needed a pass and couldn’t use any GOV.
We did what Soldiers do: pay exorbitant fees for taxi rides to Central Valley, drink far too much at Unos or another establishment, then trek through the mountains for 24 hours at a time.
You don’t wanna know what I saw in that picture.
A vagina!
A pair of rock-hard stripper titties gently caressing an ice-cold glass of draft lager? 😉
Thank God! I thought it was just me! Ummm I mean… you see whut?
As Kyle Broflovski’s father said:
Two rock hard boulders!
So, I can be up getting blasted at 0300 in the barracks as long as I don’t have PT at 0600? Can’t have a beer after 2200 anywhere if I have PT at 0600, though.
Some of my best PT tests were done when still drunk from the night before. You don’t feel anything but a headache, and try to get all the vomit on the grass instead of the track during the run.
Squadron using a bit too much port to get aerial? Say it ain’t so. In Germany? Who do they think they are…Marines?
OK so I’m the one that sent this to Ed & Mason.
These are my people. That being said, I mean the AFSC aerial port air cargo for which I was part of for 23 years. That being said, I was never assigned to the 7/21 in Germany although I did transit that area and was TDY there a number of times.
Oh, I can also certainly vouch for the work hard play hard attitude of this particular career field in and the transportation career field in general. It’s definitely one of the more sweaty hard-working, very little recognition jobs in the military.
I have so much more to say about this, but I will leave you with this creative piece of work…
Ed and Mason appreciate the leads. I saw this independently via Internet search, I had no idea that they already had the story or if someone had already posted this link in one of the other threads.
thebesig wrote:
“or if someone had already posted this link in one of the other threads.”
1st Comment, 2 October 2023…😉😎🫡
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=148077
https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=148077#comment-3504161
“I had no idea that they already had the story or if someone had already posted this link in one of the other threads.” – thebesig
Because time is an issue on my end, I do not always have the opportunity to read through the comments section of most threads.
Who knows, perhaps when I’m in my mid 60s and not have the commitments that I have right now, I may have plenty of time to read through every thread and comment. 😀
Dear thebesig (Grasshopper):
Nowadays, if you are as some of us , most likely you will STILL be working and drawing a paycheck when you reach your Mid-60s…🫡
And after you officially retire? You will be surprise to find there is still not enough time in a day to get everything done.😊
Sincerely,
センセイ
(Sigh….My comment with the 721st Aerial Port Squadron Patch was in jest…Sorry you took offense to it…or maybe we simply misunderstood what you wrote…😉😎)
I’m in my early 70s (shudder….) and still working for that paycheck.
I don’t expect to even think about second retirement for another 5 years.
PETDRSAHN: Yep!
There are LOTS of us in our late 60s, early to mid 70s STILL working (“We Work Hard For The Money”)…Heck, one of us works with a 84 year young-un!
Must be a Baby Boomer Thing…😉😎
Now, dear ninja, would you be able to accomplish all of that while also hammering out a doctoral research proposal? In my situation, I’m also working with disabled adults (mental), which is my day job and is also documentation intensive. There were times where I was tempted to just disappear from here for days, even weeks, to address these other requirements. If it weren’t for dictation software, I could very well have done that out of necessity.
I have seen what working well into one’s 70s have done to people, and have planned accordingly. Between my military retirement check, disability compensation for ailments that get worse with age, and social security, as well as with my minimalist philosophy, I don’t anticipate being in position to where I will be doing as you guys are currently doing. I do anticipate being fully involved with commercial freelance writing well before then… But there is flexibility in this arena as I won’t have to do this as a full-time operation to make ends meet.
No offense taken, but leaving out a part of my sentence, then linking to your post, suggests that I was stealing credit when I wasn’t. though I turned around and credited someone, before, when I discovered that they posted a link to something I scheduled after I scheduled it… Even editing my scheduled post to give credit, despite my not seeing the link prior to scheduling the post.
thebesig:
We did not think you were “stealing credit”.
That thought never entered our minds.
Best of luck on your Doctoral Research Proposal.
https://youtu.be/xNutV-N7W7E?feature=shared
At this point I am willing to write his thesis myself if it will get this PhD thing over with.
I am truly grateful for all of his work posting articles.
I am less fond of him inventing the “Comment Tome”. (smile)
🫡😉
Could you write my articles and comment tomes instead? 😀 Just kidding. 😀
I’ll do both the articles and my research write up (100+ pages at this point). There are a lot of positives that result when tackling both.
Thanks. 😀
What he is talking about is the yoke that people place on themselves. The human ego is a brutal taskmaster, enslaving people to the point to where they willingly trade their souls for the rewards they can get from their efforts… Their work and their efforts, as well as their status symbols, become their master, their idols. They are willing to destroy others via backstabbing, throat cutting, etc., (sacrificing God’s children), as they climb up and position themselves to where they would have a lot command and financial and material rewards.
However, when people shift their perspectives to make it about service to others rather than dominating others, and they strive to facilitate others as they accomplish their objectives instead of doing things like throwing other people under the bus, motivated by the benefit of others rather than selfish gain, they effectively remove the yoke that their ego placed on them. Being motivated by service to others, as well as being the last/least, is not the burden that a person’s ego would otherwise place on them.
The “come to me and take my yoke” passage leans on Ben Sirach, Sirach 51:23-30.
May your grad school burden (which sux, I know) be brought to bountiful fruition in an expeditious and happy manner.
Is the patch German for drink more beer?
I am shocked to learn that a military unit in Germany would ever consume an excessive amount of alcohol. I blame the brewing industry for this, it’s a German plot to undermine the capabilities of the American military, led by those diabolical brewmasters at Bitburger!
Soldiers in Germany drink lots of beer!
https://www.eichbaum.com/
A personal favorite.
And they have those bodacious huge beer mugs.
Does calling them bodacious huge beer mugs prevent calls from HR or lawyers?
Asking for a friend.
Those Krauts have likely made their brews so tasty just to undermine our military. Still seeking revenge for their defeat in WWII.
Happy times at the Norfolk NOB Tradewinds Enlisted Mens Club drinking RC Cola and eating Rebel Burgers which was a knockoff a Micky D burger……..
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Once, maybe 🙂
AATW!
This cranky old Engineer can drink that SPC under the table.
Doubly so, if that SPC is a tanker.
Or a 14T… who’ll forget where the bathroom is, try to take a dump in a large potted plant and miss (with no memory of it later).
Help a brother out, Mick. NATOPS said no alcohol either 12 hours prior to brief or was it within 100 feet of the aircraft?
100 ft of the aircraft? My dad’s crew used to cover the bomb bay doors in a B-52 with plywood, then pack it full of San Miguel, fresh from the brewery. That way, if customs was doing random inspections, they could dump it offshore and land clean. They dumped something like 150 cases somewhere off Catalina once, IIRC. I’m told tears were shed.
NATOPS joke, 12 hours of course. The internal sonobuoy storage rack installed in the P-3 was called the “Wine Rack” for very good reasons.
San Miguel dark was some tasty stuff. I don’t think you can buy it anywhere here in the US. Used to have it at the grocery stores here about 30 years ago.
I was weaned on the stuff. I haven’t seen it in the local stores in years.
So is that like a bock or a dunkel? Stout? Vitamin Y, otherwise known as Yuengling? I gots ta know!
Maybe if they had dealt with previous violations on a case by case basis (harshly) they wouldn’t have to over react now. Just a thought.
Had an old 1SG tell me one time that noting good happens between 1200-0500 being out and about.
Amen
Nope, nothing good happens between those hours. But there’s plenty of sinning accomplished 😉
Yeah, I’ve done my fair share of sinning in between those hours. And, like I would tell people about working a girl, if it don’t happen by midnight, it ain’t going to happen. I’d close the deal at around 11 or so, and, if we stuck around until closing, I knew we were going back to the hotel.
On social media, too, these days.
The policy makes sense. The body processes an ounce of consumer alcoholic beverage in about an hour – depending on the person’s size. They probably had some alcohol-related incidents. No reason to be boozing off base after midnight. The clubs will probably be closed by then as well.
I’m a retired club manager and know problems occur after midnight.
I’d somewhat agree (midnight seems a bit early) if not for the 24-hour activities on a base like Ramstein.
I’ve never worked there, but I’ve flown in-and-out a few times; we might make fun of the air farce on occasion, but they serve a vital role and deserve a good drink at a good bar no matter what time their shift ends.
Also, the air bases were the only places I could get a drink in several Muslim countries – the army had to play by local rules.
When made a Community Drug and Alcohol Abuse Center(?) (CDAAC) NCO* back in the 80s, local gasthauses closed at 11 but the snack bar on the kaserne sold beer whenever they were open. I remember trying to explain to the civilian bluenose who ran CDAAC that the folks drinking beer at 8am weren’t alcoholics, they were mid-shift workers whose 5pm happened at 7am. She thought it still ” socially unacceptable.”
* I had more experience than most. Not one of my most stellar extra duty assignments.
I was in one of the Operational AWACS squadrons at Tinker AFB. On 21 Sep 95 we were deploying to Operation Southern Watch (OSW) taking a bird for a tail swap. The original plan was launch from home drome it a refueling tanker near Plattsbug NY and land at RAF Mildenhall for an RON and proceed the following day into Riyadh. Pretty routine.
Up over eastern Ohio/western Pennsylvania, we experienced an aircraft pressurization problem so we ended up diverting in to Wright Patterson AFB. We missed our tanker and spent the night at WP. We were unable to get a tanker rescheduled for us, The new plan was to make an Ops stop at Bangor ME take on fuel and press to Mildenhall. Our crew chiefs ad extra maintainer we had on the jet resolved the problem and we put the replan in motion. However, we got word before launch that an AWACS in Alaska had crashed. When we landed at Bangor I got word to go to the ANG refueling Wing command post there and contact our home Command post.
Not having any details of the Alaska incident but as a longtime flyer I halfway expected to be told that the bird was grounded pending some inspection or other as a result of preliminary reports from the crash. And that I had to bed down the crew and maintenance folks for 24-48 hours.
Instead I was read an order from the Ops Group Commander that all assigned personnel transitting RAF Mildenhall were forbidden from consuming alcohol. I copied it verbatim and have everyone onboard read and sign.
No details concerning the Elmendorf accident were provided during the call.
I’ve never heard of a boat doing a reactor startup with watchstanders who were hung over or still drunk…nope, never happened. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
But it would explain why they now do breathalyzer tests at duty section turnovers now.
The boss chewed out for being seen drinking beer in public at 0700. I reminded the boss he had me working from 1900 to 0700.
At 0700 a bunch of us from different units would meet at the terminal cafeteria to drink beer. I told the boss he could join the group, all he had to do was work the 1900 to 0700 shift. I never heard about it again.