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This is real. Drinking and driving is way out of hand. Looks like this Wing Commander is tired of it. Before any of you blast me for OPSEC or COMSEC I believe this does not fall into one of those secret areas. Also yes I do drink alcohol myself.


All,

As a result of recent incidents involving people driver under the influence of alcohol, we will have a mandatory wing-wide formation on Saturday morning, 14 Dec at 0630 hours. Every member of the 18th Wing who is on island, and not previously on leave will be in formation. The uniform for this formation is Service Dress with flight cap.

We will be formed up by groups and squadrons within each group. Wing Staff members will fall in with the 18 MSS. Squadron commanders will stand in front of their squadrons, and group commanders and CEMs will stand in front of their groups. All units, squadrons and groups, will have their guidons/flags in place with the formation. All members will remain in formation, regardless if they have to take a knee, sit, or drop out of the formation.

At 0630, each squadron first sergeant will form up their squadrons, with enough room between the elements to allow for an open ranks inspection. At 0645 hours, squadron commanders will perform an open ranks inspection of their squadron personnel. At 0740, each group commander will move into place. At 0745, I will order "Wing" echoed by the group commanders "Group", "Attention!" General Remington will move into position and order "Report." After each group commander has reported, Gen Remington will make his comments to the wing. Once Gen Remington has finished, he will tell the group commanders to take charge of their groups and dismiss them. Immediately following that, he will address the remaining formation.

For all members who fail the uniform inspection, show up late, or who are not prepared for the inspection (i.e. drunk), they will be separated out and will stand in a separate formation. Gen Remington will personally address this formation.

I will need every first sergeant and acting first sergeant in place NLT 0600 to ensure we are set to implement this formation as directed. I will forward a detailed diagram of the formation as soon as I can. For planning purposes, we will be lined up from left to right as looking from the gym towards the football field: OG, MSG, MXG, CEG, MDG. We will be on the field and Gen Remington will be on stage on the track.

I know there will be a lot of questions, which I will attempt to answer during our respective meetings.

Bottom line: the decision has been made to address the wing, now we as the enlisted leadership need to make it happen in a professional manner.

v/r

Chief Bishop



Fender
In war there is no prize for runner-up. -- Omar N. Bradley

That seems pretty minor bro.

I can remember getting 'detained'in good ole' Dirtwater Texas once and having the First Sargeant(That's an E-7 with CA for you AF types drive all the way down from Fort Sill,Ok to come get me and the boys.

I do believe that was the single most unpleasant road trip any of us have ever been on.

Trample the wounded- hurdle the dead.

Edited by - m21 sniper on Dec 13 2002 10:07 PM

I served at Misawa, and Kadena. That is normal activities for all Servicemembers of all services in Japan. Trust me the Marines go through hell. nothings changed in the 10 years since i was there, although its 200 times worse.

Also do to the testing procedures of the JApanese police's Kitagawa Baloon intoxilizer test. wich is 6 times more sensitive to the US equivelents. You will sit and rust behind a Japanese Jail. SOFA agreement. The japanese have been Victims of 30,000 servicemebers on that island. Unfortunately 1 bad apple dishonors all of us. The whole idea about the Inspections before 96 hour passes. Is to remind all service members we are still Professional Fighting Men and women. It is ok to party, as long as we all keep it to a professional level.

The Marine Corps is the hardest hit do to their Fratinization bi laws of Enlisted-NCo, SNCo, Officer Corps. That is were the true problem lies. It is better to have a senior member in a group of young men for proper guidance than to allow Less mature men roam in packs and get caught up into something a Senior NCo could have removed the situation from takeing place.

Leadership Belongs OffDuty as well as on.

I feel Your disagreement in this. Unit Integrity means protecting your personal at all costs. That is the mark of a true Leader. Welfare of your unit Before the welfare of your Career.

Personally I would look forward to having the repoir and trust of the personal in my charge, than to be woken up at 2am and haveing to go down to a local Morgue to identify a service member or to retrieve them from a cage.

Please be safe on these holidays.

Does Kadena have any programs in place to prevent DUIs? I know DUIs are a big issue at Spangdahlem, and we have all of these prgrams in place:

1) Airman Against Drunk Driving (AADD): Volunteers work Friday nights, and Saturday nights, as well as long weekends, and will come pick you up if you or a small group get drunk and can't drive, and will bring a second person to drive your car home for you...for free.

2) First Sergeants Ride For Life: Local cab companies will honor a coupon to drive you home, and they take your name and the fare and turn it in to the First Sergeants Association, and you in turn repay your shirt for the cab fare.

3) We all caryy recall rosters, and a supervisor or NCO can be in big trouble if you call them drunk and they make no effort to get you home safely. Also, usually a first sergeant will give you a ride if you call them, so long as it is not a frequent occurance.

Briefings about drinking and driving are required as parts of safety breifings, and the wing also briefs anyone under the age of 26 annually about DUIs. Also, the wing has a program where the wing recieves a down day if the base goes 52 days straight without a DUI, and some squadrons also have such programs in place.

--Raven

"Work Hard, Party Hard, Hardly Sleep"

MRMUDD'S RIGHT EVEN DURING THE MID 80'S, AT YOKOTA WE HAD TO AT LEAST ONCE FALL OUT IN BLUES FOR A "DOG AND PONY"!
THE JN'S DONT SCREW AROUND WITH DRINKING AND DRIVING,THEY'LL BUST YOU AND LEAVE YOU IN A HOLE!


PRESS TO TEST

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

First let me say this. I never said I was oppossed or for the actions taken by this wing commander. Snipe I am sure in the Army they are very hard on drinking and driving. For us in the A.F. it is just not a common thing for a whole wing to fall out in service dress on a saturday for open ranks inspection. I will say if you want to lose a stripe it is the quickest way to do it.
Mr.Mudd I agree with what you are saying. Leadership does not stop at the gate on the way home. However, most of us have our own families to care for and I myself never go out with the "guys" unless I am TDY. When TDY I do go out with the "guys" and try to be the voice of reason. You are right in saying the Marines are missing the boat on this one. If a senior member were allowed to hang out with the "guys" a lot less trouble would be started. I myself volunteer for AADD and have done my share of alternate First Shirt duty. By the way I really like the AADD program. No questions, no retribution, just a safe ride home.
Raven I can't say for sure Kadena has these programs in place you mention. I venture to say they do, along with anything else that might deter DUI's.
Goose, glad you are back. Hope you enjoy your new home.

Fender
In war there is no prize for runner-up. -- Omar N. Bradley

they threatened us with this type of thing while I was at Osan, but it never happened, thank god. Main reason was I didn't have any blues that fit, a crew chief doesn't wear blues that often, I think the last time was while I was in Tech School...

Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood moderator...

If you can't go fast...go Ugly

Edited by - prkiii on Dec 16 2002 08:36 AM

Edited by - prkiii on Dec 16 2002 08:37 AM

_________________

I'll bet that is what scared a lot of this guys also. Blues, you want me to wear what? I'm a wrench turner. Yeah, I'm sure the blues thing was scary for most.

Fender
In war there is no prize for runner-up. -- Omar N. Bradley

Keep in mind too, that since 9/11, about the only thing anyone has worn Blues for at ANY overseas base would be ALS or a bad visit to the commander. All of the office people that used to wear blues everyday have been in BDUs since then. Also, I was shocked to see security forces wearing Blues when I was at Nellis...overseas there has been zero hope of seeing Threatcon (er...FPCON) Alpha, so in all cases, unifom of the day is BDUs.

Also, in my experiences, the AADD program is only as good as the volunteers they have working. In some cases they will say that you are too far out and offer to call a cab for you, but in some cases, they say they will be out in half an hour and never show, because they won't drive that far. I personally find the bst solution is taking a cab or having a reliable DD if you are going to be out drinking.

--Raven

"Work Hard, Party Hard, Hardly Sleep"

LMAO...an 18Speed Huffy Mountain bike was my designated POV..Couldnt hurt anybody but yourself on the way back..lol unless of course my Wizzo wanted to do the driving..<img src=icon_smile_clown.gif border=0 align=middle> 9times out of 10..Momma-Son wouldnt let me in till my eyes no longer said "TILT"....Spent allot of time racked out god knows where. Amazing the Stupidity a man would get into for the sake of his brothers.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

I know at Osan AB, ROK you can get a BUI as well (Bicycling Under the Influence.) I have heard some interesting stories about those!

--Raven

"Work Hard, Party Hard, Hardly Sleep"

.Dont Laugh i had to explain to My Wing Commander. Why 2 of my 1stLt's got popped for DWI in a shopping Cart....rolling down an overpass..the Local cops even nailed them on radar. 1 in the basket with his head in the feed bag and the other Eyes out scanning for threats..clocken 35 or so miles an hour, useing both lanes of travel. Luckily they dropped it and left it as a public intox. The things ive had to do to save some hide....no comment.

LOL Wing Commander didnt accept my excuse that they weren't MQT'd yet..lol Conus Commanders have no sense of humor. So i got jammed with my 2 Clowns on base for DNIF for a month Studying....For his Exam.

In a shopping cart?! Well, I guess it isn't that far off...a group of us rode shopping carts to Karoke at the NCO club one night...but we stuck mostly to the sidewalks, and weren't doing 35! Thanks for the idea though!!! j/k <img src=icon_smile_cool.gif border=0 align=middle>

--Raven

"Work Hard, Party Hard, Hardly Sleep"