Kadena leaders target drunk drivers for both prevention and enforcement

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Jonathan Riley
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, and the possibility of Team Kadena members driving after drinking alcohol has base leaders on the offensive to combat this dangerous behavior.

"Impaired driving is more than just a display of poor personal judgment," said Brig. Gen. James Hecker, 18th Wing commander. "First off, it's a crime we are aggressively targeting and punishing. On top of that, it is definitely an operational readiness issue because every single instance runs the risk of damaging our relationship with our Okinawan hosts and having far-reaching effects on our ability to fly, fight and win."

"Catching these criminals is a top priority for Kadena base defenders," said Lt. Col. Kathy Jordan, 18th Security Forces Squadron commander. "Because of that, we are stepping up enforcement. Our goal is to get every single drunk driver off our roads."

Significantly, law enforcement officials have recently started focusing screening efforts on inbound drivers passing through Kadena's gates, according to Jordan. "If you've been drinking off base, you should expect to be busted if you attempt to drive back on base, period. It's that simple."

Jordan highlighted that fully two-thirds of the cases since August have involved people driving home or to work the morning after an evening of drinking, in many cases after having slept for a number of hours.

"This represents a disturbing trend in the statistics," said Capt. LaToya Artis, Kadena's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Program officer in charge. "It indicates that many people are mistaken about their body's ability to process alcohol out of their system. It goes to show that there is not always a direct relationship between the way you feel and your blood-alcohol content."

According to Artis, one of the most dangerous elements of misconception is that it takes one hour for the body to recover from a drink.

"That time is more realistically between an hour and a half and two hours, per standard-sized drink," said Artis. "Additionally, women's bodies are affected significantly differently than men's. A woman will generally have a blood-alcohol content 30 percent higher than a man of exact same size and weight who has drunk the exact same amount of alcohol."

This highlights the need to have more than just a plan for the night out, said Hecker. "The plan for getting where you need to go after waking up from a night out is just as important. Time is the only thing that clears alcohol out of your system, and there's no way to speed it up. If you have anything to do the morning after you've been drinking, those plans will undoubtedly need to take alcohol into consideration."

One other way people often get into trouble, Artis said, is by poorly judging the amount of alcohol they have actually consumed.

"It is incredibly common, in my experience, for our people to underestimate the amount of alcohol contained in their beverages, often times dramatically so," said Artis. "A 'standard' drink is only 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor. Most drinks -- particularly, most mixed drinks -- contain significantly more than one standard drink. When we test this with groups, it's pretty standard for our Airmen to pour two to three times the amount of alcohol in a standard drink, even when they know they're being tested."

In the end, Hecker said, the risks of driving drunk are simply not worth it, and commanders across the base are working to ensure that people caught drinking and driving are held accountable.

"The first thing everyone needs to know is that drunk driving carries with it a set of automatic loss of driving privileges, regardless of any other criminal or administrative actions they face through the justice system," Jordan said. "The penalties range from 6 months for anyone found driving with a blood alcohol content of .05 up to a full year for anyone whose blood alcohol content is .08 and above.

"On top of that, carrying a drivers license means you give automatic implied consent to have your blood alcohol tested any time you operate a vehicle," Jordan continued. "Refusal to submit to testing breaks the trust of this implied consent and the automatic repercussion of that is revocations of driving privileges for two full years."

Additionally, the penalties Airmen receive from their commanders are also very severe. According to 18th Wing Legal Office officials, Airman caught driving drunk risk losing one or more stripes, garnishment of pay, additional duty, restriction to base and even being discharged from the Air Force.

"We are serious about holding our Airmen accountable when they are caught engaging in this risky and criminal behavior," Hecker said. "And it's important to me that we reach the 99 percent of airmen out there doing the right thing by not driving after they've been drinking and let them know we are punishing the offenders."

While there can be a lot of different factors that contribute to a final decision to get behind the wheel of a car after driving, Artis pointed out that every scenario involves one person making at least one poor decision, if not several.

"One thing that concerns me is that some people might be placing themselves in risky situations involving alcohol without first assessing their relationship with it," Artis said. "To avoid that, I recommend that all our Airmen go out to visit the 'Alcohol eCHECKUP' website to take a short survey that will help them assess their current drinking habits. This easy on-line tool will help people become more aware of their behavior and help them identify specific aspects that might be likely to lead to problems down the line."

Anyone wishing to use the tool can find it at the following Web address: https://interwork.sdsu.edu/echeckup/usa/alc/adult/kadena/