The Army and Air Pressure Change Service, or AAFES, says that starting Jan. 1 it would not promote alcohol between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at its shops within the U.S. and around the globe.
The change on Army and Air Pressure bases is supposed to assist the Pentagon’s suicide prevention initiative, which stated that limiting when alcohol is accessible “reduces heavy ingesting and different opposed outcomes related to alcohol misuse,” together with suicide, in accordance with Protection Division analysis and suggestions.
Different initiatives listed within the suggestions by the suicide prevention committee, created by Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2022, included rising the worth of alcohol offered on Pentagon property, establishing 24/7 sobriety applications for service members arrested or convicted for alcohol-related crimes, and banning the promotion of alcohol on army bases.
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“In keeping with the Division of Protection’s Suicide Prevention and Response Impartial Overview Committee’s suggestions, the Army and Air Pressure Change Service is aligning the occasions alcohol will be offered to be according to that of DoD’s different army exchanges,” Chris Ward, a spokesperson for AAFES, informed Navy.com by e mail Friday.
The newest initiative impacts 161 Categorical, Class Six and different alternate shops worldwide, in accordance with Ward, who additionally indicated that the change would have little influence on gross sales for that time-frame.
“Alcohol gross sales after 2200 and earlier than 0600 on the 161 shops impacted accounted for lower than 1% of whole alcohol gross sales final yr,” he stated.
Stars and Stripes reported that 25% of AAFES shops promote alcohol within the soon-to-be-banned time-frame. The publication additionally reported that the Navy Change stopped promoting alcohol between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at greater than 100 areas a decade in the past as a option to cease sexual assault and alcohol-related offenses.
“Junior enlisted service members spoke overtly about their very own extreme use, together with how they acknowledged their very own ingesting was problematic,” in accordance with the report with the ultimate suggestions of the Suicide Prevention and Response Impartial Overview Committee.
“Different service members spoke about previous alcohol-related convictions, particularly driving below the affect (DUI) prices, and army regulation enforcement at each set up informed us that extreme alcohol use is concerned in a lot of the on-base incidents to which they reply,” it added.
The examine by the committee, which was an unbiased panel, stated that 18% of service members who died by suicide in 2021 had been recognized with an alcohol-use dysfunction. Different findings stated that 10% of troops engaged in heavy ingesting or binge ingesting no less than as soon as per week over the month the examine measured.
Exterior of restricted hours and banning alcohol promotion, the examine advisable that further coaching be carried out to stop abusive alcohol consumption.
“Revised coaching ought to embrace modules and details about alcohol use and misuse, the alcohol content material of drinks, what constitutes wholesome versus unhealthy and extreme ingesting, how alcohol impairs judgment and efficiency in addition to will increase danger for suicide and perpetrating sexual violence, and methods for recognizing and addressing dangerous ingesting in oneself and others,” it stated.
— Drew F. Lawrence will be reached at drew.lawrence@army.com. Observe him on X @df_lawrence.
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