VETERANS ORGANIZATIONS PEDDLING ALCOHOL TO COMBAT VETS
CLASS 6 STORES ARE A MAINSTAY ON EVERY BASE
By Gordon Duff
Almost every combat vet I know is a recovering alcoholic. As this accounts for most of my friends, awareness of the danger of drinking is a critical issue. Even if all of us didn’t lose friends to drunk drivers or know how alcohol and drug use has pushed up the number of military and vet suicides, exacerbated PTSD, and brought on family abuse and sexual assaults on military bases, we still would have other health concerns.
Alcohol is a depressant. It is addicting. It, in most common forms, is a serious health danger. For combat veterans, alcoholism has been one of the hidden disasters of the last 80 years. Hundreds of thousands of veterans are alcoholics. VA medical facilities after WWII began to be flooded with alcoholics and then veterans sick and dying from the effects of alcohol and cigarettes.
With Veterans Organizations openly a part of both the alcohol and tobacco lobby, many base their social existence on avoiding the disastrous health consequences of abuse of these drugs and promoting, not only the agonizing death that comes from this lifestyle but building a revenue stream and recruiting efforts behind it.
Our exchange system is no better. The Class 6 at Ramstein, every night of the week, is a filled parking lot into the wee hours. A primary war for American bases in enforcing drunk driving laws and keeping service members safe from assault by drunks, sometimes strangers, too often family members.
Any competent mental health professional will tell you that there are no medications for PTSD or other depression-related illnesses that will work properly along with alcohol.
With thousands of active duty servicemen, many in combat or on rotation, and hundreds of thousands of vets under treatment, alcohol is an extreme danger.
Any combat vet is in danger of becoming an alcoholic. Susceptibility to substance abuse is a key component of PTSD. Many of us don’t use narcotic pain relievers even when they are prescribed. We know better.
Pushing alcohol on vets and service members and trying to fight suicide and depression is, in itself, total insanity.
The power the tobacco and booze lobby has over the military and their long-time partnership with service organizations need to be discussed and exposed.
How do you work for safety, work for health and protect families and, at the same time, destroy them for a handful of change? Money. Everything is about money.
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
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