A Soldier arrested for driving under the influence can have devastating consequences not only for that Soldier, but also for his or her friends, Family and unit. All the good work of teams and squads of brave, responsible and on-point Soldiers can be undone with a quick, poor decision made while impaired.
"Just like any other company commander, I want a work environment where people can focus on work," said Capt. Jessie Hart, commander of Co. C, 299th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. "Where they're not distracted by anything else, be it (equal opportunity) or sexual harassment issues or other after-work problems coming into the workplace."
The last time Hart's medical support company dealt with DUIs was more than a year ago. As of Sept. 10, the unit was DUI-free for one year. A big reason for that, Hart said, was a program introduced by Spc. Wesley Brown just after that last DUI last year. Brown is a medic with the company and a Hurst, Texas, native.
Designated drivers are on call at all times, along with a designated driver coordinator, whose job it is to recruit drivers and organize dates and times for them to cover. Each driver has an eight-hour shift from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. The company's staff duty desk has the drivers' contact information at all times. Contact information is typically sent in text messages among the junior Soldiers in the company.
In addition to the designated drivers listed at the staff duty desk, a major part of each company safety brief stresses the importance of planned designated drivers, who forgo drinking alcohol when out with a small group of friends and are in charge of getting everyone home safe.
There are no negative repercussions of any kind for using the service, which Brown said improved the chances the program would be used and Soldiers would get home safely.
"This program needs the support of the command, but needs to work outside of it," he said.
Hart agreed.
"Honestly, it's a ground-up push, it's not a top-down push," he said. "There's command emphasis on it, but the junior Soldiers came up with the program themselves and it's kind of like a peer-to-peer program."
Brown said the program worked because it was simple and Soldier-driven, whereas some other unit anti-DUI plans failed because of their complexity.
"Our (plan) is you get the call, relay the information, go pick the Soldier up," he said.
Brown's program capitalizes on the desire of young Soldiers and sergeants to gain promotion points through awards, and uses the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal as a carrot to attract those Soldiers to serve as designated drivers for the company.
"We have a lot of new Soldiers coming in and a lot of them haven't deployed, so they want to earn awards to advance their career, including the MOVSM," Brown said. "This is one of the easiest ways to do it and it provides a very tangible result. Because it's always talked about -- how many hours you have -- everyone says they want to be the next one."
The plan Brown set in motion has succeeded in eradicating the problem of DUIs in the company, and leaders across the division are taking notice. It is changing the culture around the issue, and Hart briefed Maj. Gen. Paul Funk II, commanding general of the 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley, and other senior leaders on the program Sept. 3 at Fort Riley.
Brown drafted policy letters for the plan that could be used at battalion, brigade and division level. He is adamant the post would see a sharp reduction in DUIs if the plan was used properly on a broad scale.
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