What is the impact of drug and alcohol related incidents on readiness? Let us first talk man-hours.

When we have a Sailor who has an incident with drugs or alcohol, the obvious loss of man-hours comes to mind.

The time he or she is in custody, the time he or she spends being interviewed by everyone required to talk to the Sailor, the time he or she spends at NJP or courts martial, and possibly the time he or she spends awaiting separation from service. 

Looking at it deeper, it is not just a loss of hours from the Sailor who caused the incident. Every individual who has to fulfill a duty in every aspect of that Sailor’s situation loses hours they would have spent working on something else.

And it isn’t just those individuals whose time is lost. There are also the yeomen and personnel specialists who have to fill out the paperwork. There are the many hours of extra duty that have to be supervised and the required musters the duty master-at-arms must attend. Plus every hour the Sailor had to spend at medical or with the JAG.

When a Sailor has a drug or alcohol related incident, they are also required to meet with DAPA, go through classes, and receive counseling. All of that takes more time away from people who could’ve been doing something else.

So, just from one incident, that Sailor has caused the Navy possibly years of lost man-hours from Sailors in many different jobs. Hours that could’ve been spent performing tasks vital to the Navy.

But lost man-hours are not the only effect the incident has. 

There is a loss of money - both from the cost to run all the programs and the money it takes to pay people to do a job that doesn’t have to be necessary, like filling out paperwork related to these incidents.

There are the inevitable manning shortages that follow. It can be that the Sailor is getting discharged, or it can be from a loss of a security clearance - one of the possible outcomes.

If a Sailor in a job needing a clearance loses it, that Sailor can no longer work in the office and that office usually cannot receive a replacement until the Sailor transfers. So, that Sailor’s old coworkers now have to pick up extra work because one Sailor made a stupid decision.

And if a Sailor has a drug or alcohol related incident, he or she can be denied a top secret SCI clearance for having that incident in his or her history.

Having a drug or alcohol related incident also affects the people surrounding that Sailor. He or she will have to face their family after what he or she did and will have to live with that for life. And the community the Sailor is based in will have a degraded opinion of the Navy as a whole because of the action of that one Sailor.

I’m not even touching on how this incident affects the individual Sailor. If I wanted to go into that instead of readiness, I’d talk about how negatively everyone who knew that Sailor now thinks of him or her. There is a loss of reliability and trust, along with the obvious dislike for having put his or her friends and coworkers in the position that inevitably follows.

So, having one Sailor get a drug or alcohol related incident will cause: lost man-hours, which reduces the efficiency of our Navy; manning shortages, which can cause stress to coworkers and effect the efficiency of a shop, which can effect the efficiency of their command, which can effect the efficiency of the Navy, and; embarrassment to the Sailor and Navy, which can effect how the community, and in some cases foreign countries and the world, view our Navy and country.

That’s a lot of wide-reaching effects that one decision has. It’s a decision that if the right outcome is picked (and we all know that is to say, “no”) can keep the Navy’s combat readiness at a top level.

That right decision is exactly what we mean when we talk about our high standards of performance, military discipline and readiness. It is pride, professionalism and personal excellence.

To all the Sailors out there who have made that right choice, I thank you for not putting those burdens on your family, co-workers, command, community, Navy and country.

To those of you who haven’t made the right decision, but haven’t been caught, I want to assure you that our urinalysis programs are good and you will be eventually caught, so please reconsider the consequences your actions have and don’t be that person who causes so much strain and pain. 

We have a zero tolerance for drugs. You will get caught.  And ensure that if you decide to drink, drink responsibly. Make sure you’re never the person who causes so much harm to our community and our Navy.

Make the right choice!