War and Liquor a Perilous Mix for U.S. Troops

[maddezmom]

War and Liquor a Perilous Mix for U.S. Troops
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By PAUL von ZIELBAUER
Published: March 13, 2007
In May 2004, Specialist Justin J. Lillis got drunk on what he called “hajji juice,” a clear Iraqi moonshine smuggled onto an Army base in Balad, Iraq, by civilian contractors, and began taking potshots with his M-16 service rifle.

“He shot up some contractor’s rental car,” said Phil Cave, a lawyer for Specialist Lillis, 24. “He hopped in a Humvee, drove around and shot up some more things. He shot into a housing area” and at soldiers guarding the base entrance.

Six months later, at an Army base near Baghdad, after a night of drinking an illegal stash of whiskey and gin, Specialist Chris Rolan of the Third Brigade, Third Infantry Division, pulled his 9mm service pistol on another soldier and shot him dead.

And in March 2006, in perhaps the most gruesome crime committed by American troops in Iraq, a group of 101st Airborne Division soldiers stationed in Mahmudiya raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family after drinking several cans of locally made whiskey supplied by Iraqi Army soldiers, military prosecutors said.

Alcohol, strictly forbidden by the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan, is involved in a growing number of crimes committed by troops deployed to those countries. Alcohol- and drug-related charges were involved in more than a third of all Army criminal prosecutions of soldiers in the two war zones — 240 of the 665 cases resulting in convictions, according to records obtained by The New York Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/world/middleeast/13alcohol.html?ref=middleeast

[Redstone]

1. Soldiers WILL be bad to have a drink. Especially when they're told they can't.

Comes with the territory. Put a bunch of young kids in a place where they can get their ass blown off any second, and they WILL have a drink. And do stupid things as a result.

Best way to deal with it? Don't put them there, to die for nothing. But I guess it's a little bit late for that.

Redstone

[GreenZoneLT]

2. Fuck you, NYT

Fine, blame the poor, innocent booze, why don't you. What's the upshot going to be? A crackdown on the tiny trickle of sweet, sweet alcohol we manage to sneak in here. And we'll no doubt have to sit through a lecture by the sergeant major about how possessing booze is against the rules.

Meanwhile, the fucking Brits have their own pub.