FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Airmen Against Drunk Driving is a decades-old, Air Force program developed to help prevent Airmen from driving drunk. If plans for a safe way home at the end of a night of drinking falls through, Airmen can call AADD for a ride home. After an AADD volunteer receives the call from someone who needs a ride home, two other volunteers are dispatched to the caller's location. Not only does the Airman get home safely, but he or she is driven there in their own car by one of the volunteers.
The main reason the commander of the 43rd Airlift Group on Fort Bragg's Pope Field feels the program is successful is the culture of the "wingman."
"From a leadership perspective, it works because it's easy, it is self sustaining, it's anonymous, and in the end, you may say altruistic and pie in the sky. But the bottom line is it's Airmen living the Airmen culture," said Col. Paul Kucharek, 43rd Airlift Group commander.
Kucharek went on to explain that in his 24 years of service, he has yet to serve in a unit that did not have the AADD program in place.
Kucharek's AADD program is overseen by Staff Sgt. Katie Shields and a small committee comprised of other noncommissioned officers. At the end of each month, the noncommissioned officer in charge tells the group commander how many "saves" AADD has made. That information is all the commander has ever wanted to know.
According to Kucharek, the program saved 37 Fort Bragg Airmen in 2011. A small part of the success of AADD is the anonymity of those involved. The names of the Airmen who use the service are never given to their chain of command.
"I have no idea who those 37 (Airmen) are that we saved last year. After all these years, I was never told 'hey I had to pick up one of your Airmen during my time at Airmen Against Drunk Driving," said Kucharek.
The volunteer's safety is always stressed. Volunteers are told not to go anywhere they feel unsafe. The volunteers can refuse to pick up someone if the volunteer feels his or her safety is in jeopardy, said Chief Master Sgt. Eddie Webb, 43rd Airlift Group chief enlisted advisor.
Kucharek has never asked one of his leaders to do something he wouldn't do himself. To that end, both he and Webb volunteer their time to give those anonymous rides home. Webb spent his last New Year's Eve as an AADD volunteer.
"We trust the same Airmen to fix aircraft and to look after our Families and now we are asking them to take care of each other," said Webb.
When asked about his hands-off approach with the program, Kucharek explained the confidence he felt is due in no small part to the trust he has in his NCO Corps.
"When I walk up to the aircraft I am confident that an NCO fixed any fault the aircraft might have had and that a senior NCO went behind and signed off on the work. If there is a problem with the aircraft, we trust them to fix it. An officer can trust these NCOs with his life, the lives of his crew and the lives of the paratroopers he is carrying," Kucharek said.
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