USAG Daegu, South Korea -- Are you enjoying the summer time in South Korea? There are a lot of fun things happening on the peninsula but there is also a greater chance for mishaps and accidents to happen. We call the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day the 101 Critical Days of Summer. During this period, the statistics show an increase in accidents and fatalities.

United States Army Garrison Daegu Army Substance Abuse Program office invited the Area IV community to ASAP Porch Talk in order to give awareness of alcohol usage, July 25 at the ASAP building 1712.

"We started hosting ASAP Porch Talk, June 16 and it's to bring a new approach to prevention education," said Vanessa Mitchell, ASAP program manager. "It is taking the training out of the standardized classroom slide presentation, to give it a real life, social interaction with people in an educational setting. It's to help people to see that they can still play games, have snacks and still have fun without alcohol."

Mitchell shared her thoughts about how ASAP Porch Talk is in conjunction with the 101 Critical Days of Summer and Eighth U.S. Army Responsible Drinking campaign.

"The 101 Critical Days of Summer begins at Memorial Day and ends at Labor Day and what that is, during summer months, people, society and community tend to engage more in barbeques and swimming outdoors, said Mitchell. "Events in summer time have increased possibility of alcohol abuse. We combined those two in a social setting for ASAP to address those 101 Critical Days of Summer campaign without alcohol."

"Eighth Army wants to be able to ensure Soldiers are ready for fight mode," said Mitchell. "If you are impaired, how can you be ready to fight? So the responsible drinking campaign teaches 'Zero, One, Two and Three'. Zero drinks if you are on duty, if you are driving, if you are pregnant, and if you are taking medications. One drink per hour but no more than two drinks per night with a max of three. So that means total of 14 drinks a week and you cannot save them all for the weekend."

USAG Daegu ASAP is here for the Area IV community. It provides prevention, deterrence, intervention along with education and it is primarily there to help Soldiers stay in readiness mode. So that they are able to get up and fight tonight if needed.

For more information on Army Substance Abuse Program, contact ASAP Office, 768-7434.