Study: Binge Drinking Common In Military

(CBS/AP)  Researchers at the University of Minnesota say 43 percent of active-duty military personnel admit to frequent binge-drinking.

The figure is based on a 2005 survey of 16,037 active-duty military personnel by the Department of Defense.

Binge drinking (having 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men, or 4 or more drinks for women) is a common risk behavior among U.S. adults that is associated with many adverse health and social consequences.

Excessive consumption of alcohol (including binge drinking) is a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.

However, little is known about binge drinking among active-duty military personnel (ADMP). The objectives of the study were to quantify episodes of binge drinking, to characterize ADMP who binge-drink, and to examine the relationship between binge drinking and related harms.

In the survey, 67.1% of binge-drinking episodes were reported by ADMP aged 17-25 (representing nearly half of all ADMP), and a quarter of those episodes were reported by underage personnel (age 17-20).

Previous studies have found similar rates of binge-drinking among college students.

Heavy drinkers (19.8% of ADMP) reported 71.5% of the binge-drinking episodes and (compared to nonbinge drinkers) were more likely to report alcohol-related harms, including incidents relating to job performance, alcohol-impaired driving, and criminal justice problems.

The research, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is published in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.


For more info:

Alcohol & Public Health (CDC)

[crzmeat1]

Is this news everyone in the country KNOWS this.

[wiswolf2]

Another topic to furrow our brow and wring our hands!
When I served on Coastal Patrol off the coast of Viet Nam, we were at sea for 30+ days, had 3 days in port and one of those days I had the "duty". Liberty Call commenced at 4PM and I had to be back aboard by 12M. In other words, I had 16 HOURS of liberty per month. How can anyone help but indulge in "Binge Drinking"? Get serious people...Military service during times of war fosters this type of behavior!

[cbs_tom]

"I have no respect for anyone in the US military serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. You are all scumbag warmongers with no ethical or moral fabric".
Posted by bthomascoope at 09:16 AM : Feb 15, 2009

I have no respect for anyone condeming anyone in the US military who has served or is serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. They serve because they were called upon by their country when the need occured. And now they have to listen to unsacrificing selfish morons such as yourself. Nice way to blanket all of the troops!
Vet

[honestabe8]

ubrew: i have a friend who is in Alcoholics Anonymous, and he said there are plenty of people there who just drank beer. He never cared for beer because he drank to get drunk and drinking beer wasted too much time eliminating it. i have smoked lots of pot, and stopped on a few occasions. i have never had the withdrawal symptoms that i have when i stop drinking caffeine (my main drug of choice). however, there is a psychological component where people smoke just to feel normal. i guess that i don''t think there should be a lessening of pot potency any more than i think that hard liquor or wine should be eliminated in favor of beer. for those who want average weed, it should be there for them. for those who want primo weed, it should be there for them.

[ubrew12]

HonestAbe8 said: "if today''s marijuana is too potent, wouldn''t people smoke less to get the same high? "

Are there people who become alcoholics drinking beer, and nothing else? Yes, and they all weigh 300 lbs.

Its just easier to get addicted when the potency is so high. If you hold yourself to beer, your chances of becoming horribly addicted to alcohol are small. With wine, those chances increase dramatically. Vodka: ouch! Same applies to any drug. Potency matters. Its crazy to think it doesn''t apply to weed.

[honestabe8]

ubrew: if today''s marijuana is too potent, wouldn''t people smoke less to get the same high?

[ubrew12]

If ever there was a need for marijuana in a segment of our society, this is it.

How incredibly sad these fine soldiers are losing their futures and/or lives to alcohol. I enjoy beer and especially wine, but they are BAD for me. I should enjoy a good toke (as I did in my youth) but of course its illegal.

So, I deal with the destructive effects of alcohol as a salve against modern stress. It kills me to know that todays soldiers are being forced, essentially, to do the same.

''Platoon'' was pretty explicit about how PROPER soldiers dealt with the Vietnam War, and how IMPROPER soldiers dealth with it. Alcohol is horrible in its effects. I don''t think it should be illegal, but it should be understood: its almost a horrible as tobacco.

Sorry, rightwingers. Perhaps by happenstance, the hippies were right about this one. Still I think todays marijuana is way too potent: it should be reduced by half, at least, in potency, and offered for sale legally. Its much, much safer than alcohol, and not all of us can deal with stress like Ghandi (meditation).

[squidoutofguam]

Only polled about 16k personnel? And the age breakdown was? They make the military sound like laggards and alcoholics. The polling could have come from a far wider base. After all, troops get email surveys all the time. They could have saved their money on this one, though. It is a no-brainer that most problem drinking in the military occurs during first enlistments, when the member is 18 or 19 years old and away from family and friends for the first time in their lives.

[fush2]

i dont understand how do these men and woman find the time to drink?? i thought that they were comitting suicide because they are getting over worked

[vet_sk]

Yo, bthomascoope. Just because they''re idiots in the military who do stupid stuff, e.g., Haditha, does not say that about all members of the military - even though when I was there 80% of the members believed that Iraq has something to do with 9-11. That was their war-mongering criminal idiot president bush saying that.


That we attacked this small 3rd world country is disgusting, no doubt. That our politcal war policy allowed Iraq to go into depricable state is politics not the soldiers. Most soldiers wanted to go and quell the violance in May of 2003 before it got our of control but instead were told to stay on the bases until it burned itself out - which it still has not.

I see soldiers every day now picking up what''s left Iraqis who have been killed by another Iraq faction.

So you, bthomascoope, you rediculous fool, who believe soldiers are criminals, why don''t you account more for the politics that put them there. Idiot!