STUDY: Majority of Army Personnel Report They Are Just ‘Social Drinkers’
THE PENTAGON — A new study conducted by the Army Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) turned up some surprising results, most notably the fact that 98% of soldiers enrolled in ASAP are social drinkers, which means they only consume 2-3 drinks a week, in social settings.
“It was really baffling to me,” said ASAP Chief Researcher Colleen Lawrence. “We have commander’s risk inventories, ASAP input surveys, and pre/post deployment health assessments. And across the board the results were the same. Almost every single soldier involved in some type of alcohol incident reports that they are just social drinkers.”
According to a source familiar with the study, all of these programs send their results to unit commanders to help them identify which soldiers may have issues with drugs or alcohol.
"I find it hard to believe that a force with almost zero admitted cases of alcoholism or drug abuse can still suffer an average of 275 daily DUIs, 14 weekly alcohol related deaths, and a further 59,400 alcohol r…
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