TOP STORY > >Life on the binge

By Staff Sgt. Jacob Barreiro
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

A night of, raucous partying, patchy memories, flaunting cash, empty bottles stacked up like trophies, no recollection of a beginning, middle or end, verbose bravado, delusions of grandeur, spastic drunk-dialing, bursts of emotion, enthusiastic sentimentality toward those they like, vitriolic disdain toward those they dislike, drinking games, shots, mixed drinks, beer bongs, the binge drinker lives for nights like these.

The morning after, stomach pain, nausea, cutting headaches, violent-vomiting, dysentery, dry mouth, indigestion, dehydration, dry heaving, physical agony, missing money from their wallet, a torrent of charges on their cards, inappropriate voicemails and text messages sent out in droves, bruises, cuts, scrapes from toppling to the concrete, perhaps a fight, perhaps an embarrassing display of sentimentality, social delinquency, perhaps they don’t mind the physical repercussions because their friends admire their alcoholic-fortitude, but perhaps they’re oblivious to the social anathema they’ve become or the physical repercussions of their behavior.

Most Airmen are acquainted with the Air Force’s mantras against driving under the influence and drinking underage. Moreover, many Airmen are familiar with the consequences of such actions. Yet, often lost amidst the discussion of preventative measures for DUIs and aiding in the delinquency of a minor are the social, physical and professional hazards of binge drinking.

According to a 2009 study released by the University of Minnesota and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention titled “Binge drinking in the military,” 43 percent of more than 16,000 military members polled admitted to binge drinking during the past month.

In an article published on sciendaily.com the first author of the study remarked about the significance of these results.

“Our study clearly shows that binge drinking is a significant public health problem in the military, which is dangerous to both the drinkers and to those around them,” said Mandy Stahre, Master of Public Health, a doctoral candidate in alcohol epidemiology. “It also underscores the importance of implementing effective strategies to prevent underage and binge drinking, such as maintaining and enforcing the age 21 minimum legal drinking age.”

From the standpoint of Master Sgt. Nichole Reynolds, the 19th Medical Operations Squadron certified drug and alcohol counselor flight chief, there is no fool-proof way of determining just how much of the base population binge drinks, but thinks that the majority of the problems rests with a negative perception stemming from alcohol-related incidents.

“I think we have a perception that there’s a lot of binge drinking on base,” she said. “It’s always the few that get in trouble that get the most attention. A lot of the 18-24-year-olds may think that everyone else is doing it, but unfortunately we don’t have a way of knowing all of the binge drinking problems except for our patients, I think it’s a case of most people doing the right thing, but the people getting in trouble changing the perception.”

Reynolds said the Air Force defines binge drinking as consuming four or more drinks per occasion for males, and three or more drinks per sitting for females. However, number or drinks consumed is not the sole indicator of being on a binge.

“Basically, if you’re drinking with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, that’s a binge,” she said.

Going on a binge is a problem, Reynolds said. It’s a problem that people often live in denial about by rationalizing or bargaining with themselves or others.

“A lot of people we talk to are asked to define what they think an alcohol problem is,” she said. “I’ve found that people often fit that definition with what doesn’t include their drinking habits. I always tell people that even if you only drink once a year, but you intentionally drink to the point of intoxication and it causes a problem, then you have a drinking problem.”

The CDAC flight chief said a lot of patients make concessions or excuses for themselves because they want to avoid being labeled or associated with the stigma of “having a problem.”

“A lot of people don’t want to be given that label, but the majority of the people we see in here are commander-directed,” she said. “Not many people want to self-refer, and I a lot of that has to do with the perception that they don’t have a problem or don’t want the stigma.”

It’s always better to self-refer than be commander-referred to programs, Reynolds said. People that think they have a problem shouldn’t be afraid to self-refer.

“People have a lot of complicated feelings over self-referring,” she said. “It’s a lot better than being commander-referred or getting in a bad incident.”

Binge drinking comes with a massive amount of health risks, Reynolds said. Problems that mass-drinking can cause include mental and respiratory problems and the typical physical ailments such as vomiting, but can also shorten a person’s life-span by 15 years.

“The physical danger is that after three drinks your judgment is impaired,” she said. “After four drinks your coordination is impaired and you may put yourself in bad situations where you can get hurt. Alcohol is the one drug that affects every single system in your body, and there’s a laundry list of problems it can cause.”

Aside from the typical post-binge reactions such as headaches, nausea and vomiting, binge drinking can cause more severe physical damage such as damaging the liver and several types of cancer, Reynolds said.

“People who drink more than three drinks per day have an almost tenfold higher risk of esophageal cancer than do those who drink less than one drink per day,” the flight chief said.

Even though people get routinely educated about the dangers of excessive drinking, they’re still reticent to self-identify their problem, Reynolds said. The admission of having a problem may cause some people to feel they’re being labeled.

“Sometimes I do have people that are considering coming to talk to me,” she said. “They’ll come in and the questions they ask are: Will I be put on a profile? Will I not be able to deploy? What is my commander going to think about me? … They think their chain is going to look down on them if they admit they have a problem. They think that it’ll be looked at as a sign of weakness.”

Fears about being stereotyped as a weak person by their chain-of-command are unfounded, said Reynolds. In her experience, most commanders and chains-of-command appreciate the self-responsibility involved in identifying and voluntarily tackling a personal problem.

“I always tell people in that situation we’ve had patients referred to us that have actually gotten into alcohol related incidents,” she said. “(They) made bad decisions while under the influence, and the commanders are very supportive … having them get the help that they need. Our job is not to kick people out; it’s to help people become fully functioning members of the Air Force again. So if the commanders are going to be supportive of somebody who actually had an alcohol-related incident, then they’re going to be even more supportive of someone who didn’t wait until they had an incident … I think the Air Force is very supportive of that.”

Reynolds said that self-referring is a good step for a person who recognizes they have a problem, but not the only one. There are numerous paths to recovery available, and members should be encouraged to seek out which one fits their sensibilities the best.

“If someone thinks they have a problem with alcohol, I recommend going to AA meetings and trying to quit, not just cut back, if you don’t want to self-refer,” she said. “If you realize you can’t do it on your own, come to ADAPT and we’ll work with you to get you in the right level of treatment. We’re not here to try and trick anyone into something. We will be very open and honest and happy to answer any questions. Our primary mission is to help people become a fully functioning member of the Air Force.”