Senior leaders fight rise in alcohol violations

Driving down DUIs: Senior leaders fight rise in alcohol violations
By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, August 5, 2009

For the 52nd Fighter Wing commander at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, even one drunken driving violation by one of his airmen is one too many.

It’s a line repeated often by most commanders, to the point it can sound cliche.

But for Col. Lee Wight, the campaign against drunken driving is deeply personal.

In 1982, while working as a civilian police officer in Norman, Okla., a 16-year-old girl died in his arms after her car was T-boned at an intersection by a drunk driver.

"It sticks in your mind," Wight said. Ever since, "I’ve been kind of waging a war against DUIs."

A spike in drunken driving and other alcohol-related offenses this spring did not go unnoticed. After one DUI and one alcohol-related incident in January, the numbers for both began to creep up: 4 in February, 6 in March and 7 in April. And then in May there were several off-base incidents and serious accidents, some involving alcohol.

Wight and senior leaders across base cracked down, using a mixture of policy, punishment and programs to combat drunken driving and promote responsible choices.

Wight looked into raising the drinking age on base — in Germany it’s legal to consume beer and wine at 16, hard liquor at 18 — but was told he couldn’t legally do that.
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