FORT CARSON, Colo. — Fort Carson’s Army Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) has not only earned the Secretary of Defense’s Community Drug Awareness Award for the third consecutive year, recently it became the Army’s sole winner of the award for the fourth time in five years.
“Fort Carson ASAP exhibited and excelled in providing outstanding servicing to its community,” said Tom Gillard, Army Deterrence Program manager. “This is evident in the ASAP team being recognized as the Red Ribbon Award winner for the Army. This team epitomizes ‘Army Strong’; well done.”
Clearly, the staff at Fort Carson ASAP are setting a standard for other installations to follow.
“Drug and alcohol abuse is obviously contrary to an effective fighting force, so we have a huge mission in (providing) prevention,” said Bill Lana, Fort Carson ASAP program manager. “ASAP is a prevention and deterrence program. That’s getting people not to abuse substances in the first place.”
The program provides five different services: prevention and education; risk reduction, which involves conducting anonymous surveys and data collection for units; suicide prevention; employee assistance (civilian employees); and drug testing.
“We can tailor classes specifically to what a unit commander is seeing,” Lana said. “Any time a commander wants some education or training for themselves or their Soldiers, they reach out to us. We then provide ASAP specialists, who teach tailored classes on whatever a commander is looking for, be it a general training or something more specific. For instance, we can teach DUI prevention, or even address some new drug that pops up such as LSD, steroids or THC Ace, a new light version of marijuana.”
All told, Lana manages a staff of 14 team members at Fort Carson ASAP, including program specialists, managers, counselors and administrators.
“Creativity is probably what gets us noticed for this award,” Lana said. “Every ASAP across the world will set up a table with information, literature and maybe some giveaways during their campaigns, and we do that, but we like to take it one step beyond.”
Back in 2020, the time frame for this most recent Red Ribbon Award, Fort Carson ASAP team members created a mascot, known as ASAPasaurus, to interact with children and adults during community events.
“That ASAPasaurus gave us something different, and it’s just one little thing that draws attention,” Lana said. “ASAPasaurus even participated in a 5K race on post last year, for example, and was a big hit among the runners. We are always looking for interesting ways to get the message out.”
ASAP team members also conduct community events each year. The organization partners with the Directorate of Emergency Services and Fountain Fort Carson School District 8 to host a mock-DUI crash scene, where students witness potential devastating effects of drinking and driving in a realistic scenario, complete with emergency medical technicians, fire fighters, ambulances and a flight-for-life helicopter evacuation. Other times, ASAP has hosted events that help parents and military leaders identify indicators of drug use that may be occurring in their homes and in Army barracks. They’ll typically stage a mock-bedroom scene, where they’ll plant various pieces of drug paraphernalia amongst normal bedroom items. The idea is to show event attendees how seemingly innocuous items can be clear indicators of drug use.
While Lana and Anthony McCollin, ASAP prevention branch chief, are often the face of Fort Carson’s ASAP during outreach events, McCollin said the program’s heavy lifting is done by its team members who work in the program’s drug testing, drug-use prevention and unit training segments.
“The ASAP program gets the recognition for this award, but it’s really a Fort Carson community award,” he explained. “The innovation shown by ASAP staff and our community partners creates new avenues of prevention. At the end of the day, it comes down to the Soldier. Drugs and alcohol tend to be the common denominator when it comes to most high-risk behaviors and when commands allow us to come in and exercise prevention, we’re helping commanders be successful and helping them keep their Soldiers in the fight.”
ASAP will be the lead organization during Red Ribbon Week, which occurs each year from Oct. 23-31 and is the largest drug abuse prevention campaign in the nation. In typical years that don’t involve pandemic-gathering restrictions, program team members also participate in the Evans Army Community Hospital’s Trunk or Treat event, Garrison Safety Day, Colorado College Safety Fair, the 1st Space Brigade’s Safety Stand Down and the Directorate of Emergency Services National Night Out.
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