TOP STORY>>One to 15: Airman Parton’s story

By Airman 1st Class Regina Agoha
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

“I was at a friend’s house, working on his car, (he’s deployed right now). His wife was having some problems, so I said I’ll come over and help her work on it. She always offers me money, but I say no, and tell her to just buy me beers, (It’s a maintenance thing. That’s kind of what you do).”

“She had to leave to run errands, so I was there alone. Unfortunately, one beer turned into 15… in about four hours. I hadn’t eaten anything. I had an empty stomach. It came time for me to leave, and I thought it was okay for me to drive.”

Senior Airman Matthew Parton, the 19th Logistic Readiness Squadron technical order distribution officer, drove himself back to the base, passed the security forces gate, pulled up to his home and made it inside his house without accident or injury.

One hour later, a passed out Parton was awakened by his wife, informing him that security forces was at the door wanting to speak to him. A concerned neighbor had observed his arrival home, contacted the Security Forces Squadron so they could check and make sure he was okay.

“Unfortunately when you’re that drunk,” Parton said, “you’re really honest.”

A member of the SFS asked Parton if he drove drunk, and he answered with an honest yes.

Parton was offered an Article 15, which he accepted. His case therefore didn’t go to court martial. He was found guilty by his commander of violating Article 111. He said, “An Article 111 is reckless control of a vehicle while drunk or under any other substance. It’s pretty much a DUI without a court martial.”

Parton, who’s been in the Air Force for almost 10 years, was given a reduction of rank from staff sergeant to senior airman, suspended forfeiture of half his pay per month for two months, and a reprimand. As a side effect of his Article 15 for driving under the influence, he has been ordered not to drive on base for a year.

“At first, the consequences had a negative effect on me,” said Parton. “I had to go through ADAPT, and ADAPT thought it was best for me to go to Bridgeway, which is a substance abuse rehabilitation program in North Little Rock. I go through IOP, which is intensive outpatient. I meet three times a week for about three hours. It’s more like a group. It’s similar to an AA, or something like it. I was still in that self-righteous mode, ‘I don’t have a problem. This is ridiculous,’ but the more and more I thought about it, the more I realized how much of a problem I really had.”

“I was not the ‘dirt bag’ Airman,” Parton said. “I was going places. I had a really good chance at making technical sergeant this year. Because of my refusal to admit I had a problem, I paid for it.”

Parton said he had to humble himself and take responsibility for what he did.

“I got humbled,” he said. “The biggest thing I want people to take from this is an old saying which states, ‘pride comes before a fall.’ That kind of got hammered into my brain.”

After the negative viewpoint of Parton’s consequences faded, he actually saw himself as a better person for them.

“Getting treatment has done a lot of good for me,” said Parton. “Not just in the realm of drinking, but you realize that when you have a problem, there’s 100 other things pushing that problem. When you start to get to the root of that, you begin to feel better. Now I know I don’t have to drink to feel better or to be social.”

For other Airmen who have had a bad moment of judgment and feel like there’s no way up, Parton expresses that anyone can recover from a bad mistake.

“You can get up,” he said, “and you can dust yourself off. You can either choose to be ‘poor me, the victim,’ or you can take the responsibility from it, and learn from it. And move on with your life. I look at the senior airman stripe now… I used to look at it with contempt, and now I look at it as a scar. Every scar I’ve gotten in my entire life, I’ve learned something. This is no different. Did it set me back? Sure. But, I can also push forward. I’m not at the end of my rope. I’ve still got a long way to go. It’s a setback, but it’s not a hindrance.”

When moving on, Parton says examine one’s self, and remember the term, “incomprehensible demoralization,” which means whenever a person is indulging in their drug of choice, all morals go out the window.

“First, look at yourself,” he said. “If someone comes up and asks you if you’re okay to drive, then there’s probably already a problem. If you would’ve asked on the first beer, ‘hey Mat, would you drink and drive,’ I would’ve said no and meant it. By the 15th, I had no morals left.”

Parton said there is absolutely no shame in asking for help. “Everybody in the world has a problem with something. I have gotten more respect for being honest with my problem and treating it than I ever got from not saying anything to anybody. There are so many sources for help. Don’t be too proud.”

Parton will soon be spreading that message at Airman Leadership School and First Term Airman Center. He has already briefed for the LRS.

Parton, who’s been in treatment for almost two months now, said that everyone likes to think that they can’t become “that guy,” just because they’re a good Airman. “My leadership was shocked when they heard that I was the one with the problem. They didn’t believe it. Don’t think that just because you’re not the Airman who always gets in trouble, that you can’t be caught in a bad situation.”

In the May 18 issue of the Combat Airlifter, there was an article entitled, 30 minutes of spice: Airman Montoya’s story. That story was about an Airman who made one mistake that changed his Air Force career. Parton was inspired by that story to tell his own, and wants, if only one person, to have the same effect from his story that that story had on him.

“If I can get one person to pick up the paper,” he said, “read this story, see similarities with their own problem and say, ‘man, I need some help,’ I would be delighted. It doesn’t have to go down the same road as mine did.”

Parton offers his ears to anyone who needs to talk to someone.

“Don’t let your addiction define you,” he said. “You may have a problem with alcohol, but that’s not who you are. I go at my job now with a new vigor that I never had before. I used to dread coming to work, and now I come asking, ‘what can I do’. Even with my family, I’ve got more energy for them now. I work out more, and I enjoy it. I’ve found healthier ways to enjoy myself. Before, I had blinders on. Life is better. I am much better now without a beer in my hand than I ever was. And that’s the truth.”

Parton said he is going to continue on doing what he was doing before his Article 111. He is working on his bachelor’s degree, and in a year he will be done. He wants to pursue his graduate course work, and he said he’s going to keep working for rank. He’s working to become a staff sergeant again and after that a technical sergeant. He also wants to retire in the Air Force.

“When I was at another base,” he said, “a chief master sergeant was retiring. One thing he said that stuck with me and I reflect on often now is, ‘I’m living proof that you can get an Article 15 and still become a chief’. There’s no reason for me to stop now. It’s not over for me. Not at all.”