A Sad Day at Warner-Robins AFB

[Phoenix Blue]

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE - An airman was found dead in his dormitory room here early Thursday, the victim of alcohol poisoning, according to autopsy results.

Airman 1st Class Eric Paternoster, 19, had a .468 blood-alcohol level when the autopsy was performed, said Dr. James Whitaker, Houston County's medical examiner.

I don't know what's more sad - the fact that this kid drank himself to death, or the fact that he somehow got ahold of the alcohol in the first place. I hope OSI will find out how he came to get the alcohol - especially if it came from another airman who's over the age of 21.

My sympathies go out to the family of this young one. Any death is tragic. . . **shrugs and shakes head** but this was senseless.

[Gwion]

Socially, we really need to get rid of the "Animal House" idea that getting shot-faced drunk is funny, manly, sexy or anything else but pathetic.

[shnen]

oh my... what a tragic story. :(

yes, I agree, but how do you take the competition out of the male?
Not to be sexist, I know womyn are as well.. but I think in this area guys are more pressured to drink more then womyn are.

nonetheless, it is tragic, my heart goes out to his family.

[Azure]

I remember when my Dad was a squadron commander when I was growing up and getting calls at 2 in the morning and him having to go bail out airmen who were drunk and disorderly. It was an example though - I never got that way, for fear I'd have to face him in that mood!

Anyway, I agree with Shnen. I think there is more pressure on men to drink to excess than women. And regardless it's sad. I certianly can enjoy a beer or two, a glass of wine, a Cosmo - but I don't enjoy being mind numbingly drunk, and I dont enjoy watching people slink around with hangovers the day after a big party.

My sympathy to the family of the airman. It's very, very sad.

[SerenityMoon]

i've been drunk twice, and even then it wasn't full blown drunk, but i have a very low alcohol tolernace, so it does not take much to make me tipsy...either way, i cannot STAND the feelings of disorientation, nausea, and confusion that come with being drunk. what's the point? the few two times i hvae been drunk were purely a misjudgement of how much alcohol i could take, and after that, i know now. I never try to get drunk..that' sso damned stupid.
my heart goes out to the young man's family and friends.

[Mythrel]

when I was in the dorms at Peterson AFB I saw more drinking than anywhere in my life...there's a party of some sort going on most nights and the drinking gets out of control...I myself have called the ambulance on someone who got alcohol poisoning at a party...

The military does do alot these days to stop underage drinking and excessive drinking...is it enough??? who knows, when minors want to drink they usually find a way...:(

[Witchy Cowgirl]

That is so terrible. My sympathies to the family.





Originally posted by Azure
I certianly can enjoy a beer or two, a glass of wine, a Cosmo - but I don't enjoy being mind numbingly drunk, and I dont enjoy watching people slink around with hangovers the day after a big party.


It took me a long while to learn my lesson. I'm forunate that I made it through my drinking days. I think back on some of the foolish stunts that me and my buddies did and am still amazed that I'm around to tell them....which I don't do cause it's nothing to be proud of.

[Jenett]

Unfortunately, cracking down on drinking in situations like this can sometimes make the problem worse - pressure to drink quickly and get it down your throat, or face serious consequences can lead to binge drinking (which is much more likely to be lethal or life-threatening, unless you get in a car or decide to do something dangerous,than just drinking on its own.)

This is one of the problems that colleges and at least some boarding schools have faced - cracking down on alcohol only works if they can control the alcohol coming in, which is hard, or only if they can do so in ways that don't encourage the 'drink it fast' mentality.

(I learned about this as a dorm proctor my senior year in boarding school, and was glad my college was fairly sensible about it.)

[Nissala]

That is a tragic story and less than a hundred miles from here! My sympathies go out to the family and loved ones. I have a son who is 19 and I can only imagine the pain they are going through. *lighting a candle for the family*

my brother is also in the air force....

I have never understood the male ego to drink themselves to the point of stupidity or futher ( my husband is like this I am ashamed to say). I can only ask "WHY?" and try to discourage my sons not to follow in his footsteps. I have only been drunk 4 times in nearly 40 years, average of once every 10 years..

[Wyrdsister]

Originally posted by Gwion
Socially, we really need to get rid of the "Animal House" idea that getting shot-faced drunk is funny, manly, sexy or anything else but pathetic. Here, here!! Well said!

What a tragic thing to happen. Best wishes for his family and loved ones.

Wyrdsister

[Phoenix Blue]

Quoth Jenett:
Unfortunately, cracking down on drinking in situations like this can sometimes make the problem worse - pressure to drink quickly and get it down your throat, or face serious consequences can lead to binge drinking (which is much more likely to be lethal or life-threatening, unless you get in a car or decide to do something dangerous,than just drinking on its own.)

This is one of the problems that colleges and at least some boarding schools have faced - cracking down on alcohol only works if they can control the alcohol coming in, which is hard, or only if they can do so in ways that don't encourage the 'drink it fast' mentality.

Thing is, this is the military. Ultimately, the commanders there have the ability to make sure the base is as dry as they want it to be. . . if they do decide to go that route.

There're a few things I would do as the commander of Warner-Robins AFB, if I were in such a position:

1) Contact the airman's family, in conjunction with the base Chaplain, and express my condolences in person. If that required me to hop a flight across the country, then that's what would happen.
2) Have the local Office of Special Investigations determine just what happened that enabled a 19-year-old to get access to alcohol that he could poison himself so in the first place: the alcohol didn't just come out of nowhere.
3) If the person who provided the alcohol is a civilian, I would make sure that person never came onto my installation again, in addition to cooperating with local authorities to prosecute the individual for third-degree manslaughter. If the person was military, I would have them apprehended for violation of UCMJ Article 108 (damage to government property) and Article 134 (conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline). . . and punitively throw the book at them.
4) Institute a new policy wherein any airman under the age of 21 caught posessing alcohol automatically loses a stripe; and similarly, any airman (to include NCOs) caught dispensing alcohol to someone underage automatically loses a stripe.

The good news--if there is any--is that the news of this incident came down the chain of command here at Maxwell-Gunter; so it's likely that commanders and first sergeants around the Air Force will be figuring out their own solutions to this over the next few months. Hopefully we'll see some solutions like #4 above - it's time the military took underage drinking seriously, before we lose anyone else so needlessly.

[SnowStar]

Picky detail (sorry, I'm compulsive): It's Robins AFB, not Warner Robins AFB...Warner Robbins is the town adjacent to and surrounding the base. Simple mistake to make, but I'm sort of a local and it's one of those little buzzy things that gets to me.

As for the airman, it is really kind of weird when you can put an exact location with something like this that makes national headlines. I know where the barracks are precicely, and sometimes when you're at the enlisted club across the street you can hear some of the people inside listening to music or just making noise. On the other hand, it's fun to hang out over at the pool during the summer ;) So yeah, being able to relate this tragedy to something that I know very well makes it a lot more real in my mind, even though I didn't know the individual who died. I'm not in any real position to dictate or discuss policy on this matter, but suitable deterrents and punishments need to be put in place to keep this from happening again.

[Phoenix Blue]

**Laughs** S'okay, Snowstar. . . I stand corrected.

[Trinity Faith]

This really hits home.. and my husband and I are sorry to hear about this unfortunate incident. We lived in Macon (near Warner Robins) when myy husband played hockey there last season for a bit, and previously, two years ago, and he had gotten to know a few guys from the AFB that came to games.
Our condolences and well wishes go out to this kids family friends, and co-workers.

[Caelin]

What I don't understand is how come men in particular in our countries have such an unhealthy attitude to drinking, but men in other countries - notably places like France and Spain, do not. I don't think I've ever seen drunk men in France or Spain staggering round towns in the way they do here. Perhaps we should look into their culture and see what ours lacks in that respect?

[Yvonne Belisle]

One factor to consider too is that many military men look older in uniform and he may not have even been carded. I know back in 1987 the military sold wine or beer to those who were under 21 but not hard liquer. I also know that women in the military that want to drink never have to pay for it. I was a severe alchoholic I have been dry for over 14 years but I do remember how easy alchohol was to get. :(

[Jenett]

I agree that the military has a lot more options for control - but face it, if people over 21 are allowed to have alcohol on base, there's a potential chance for people under 21 to get hold of it. Even if there are strict penalties for providing alcohol, there's still the potential to steal someone else's stuff (consequences *after* the fact don't necessarily mean the binge drinking won't happen first.)

The boarding school I was in had serious concerns about it - and this was in a town with fairly limited liquor store hours, when most students didn't have cars, and where the closest liquor store was a quite long walk (I think over 3 miles each way, and up a long hill on the return trip.) And of course, all the students were *well* under 21.

It didn't seem to stop the folks who really wanted to drink. It just made them that much more secretive about doing it, which is one of the real dangers with binge drinking.

As far as why it's not a problem in other countries: there *are* problems with drinking in other countries (take a look at football rioting, or fights after other sporting events), but the attitude towards drinking is much saner. Because it's much more common for casual reasonable alcohol use to be a part of family life, and wine is often given to children in small quantities, there isn't the sense of 'Oooh, we're such adults' going on. (That's the way I was brought up, actually - I was regularly given small glasses of wine at dinner by my parents, who were Austrian and English.)

When I was in high school, I went to a suburb of Paris on a 2 week exchange trip. There was a party the first night I was there - where there was a lot of smoking, but no alcohol at all. I asked why, because I knew it was perfectly legal for them to be drinking (these were all high school age kids), and they said "Oh, we could, but we prefer not to. We have just as much fun without it, and we'd prefer to use our money for other things."

Which made a lot of sense to me, honestly.