Props to the Navy

The U.S. Navy announced recently that it is drumming out 64 sailors who were caught using and/or selling a form of synthetic marijuana.  Use of other drugs, such as cocaine and meth, was also found in the investigation. 

Y'all should know by now that I'm a proponent of legalization of at least the milder drugs that are currently verboten in our country.  I think the government needs to butt out of our private lives, let the states regulate what they want and don't want happening within their borders, and spend the money saved on either cutting budgets or doing something that's actually productive. 

But that feeling doesn't involve the military.  Period. Dot.

In the civilian world, for the most part, one day is much like the last and the next.  Most people don't have an expectation that in the blink of an eye, every part of their world could change from boredom to bedlam with a distinct risk of someone getting maimed or killed.*

Not so with the military, whether they're deployed or stateside, off-duty or on.  Things happen in the world, and when they do, we have to know that our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen are ready to go without hesitation.  Yeah, service members drink, but unless you're blind drunk, you're not going to get someone killed in the hour or two it takes for you to sober up.  If you're high, stoned, tripping, or wired you're going to take much longer with many more after effects that will put your mission and the people who depend on you in danger.

Bad things happen in our world every day with little to no warning for the military:

• Pearl Harbor
• The Battle of the Bulge
• The Tet Offensive
• USS Cole
• Khobar Towers
• 9/11
• Fort Hood

And the list goes on and on.  What they all have in common is that there was no warning and no way for servicemembers to plan on when they could get high and not impact their unit when tasked to respond to them.

I cannot imagine a sailor on an aircraft carrier underway being high.  How would he respond to a fire or accident on the flight deck?  How would he be able to help in damage control parties?  How could he safely do his job when the inevitable sudden change in work schedule happens?

So, and this hurts a lot for me to say, good for the Navy. 

*Yeah, I know, such an expectation is the bedrock upon which all self-defense thinking lies, but I expect that someone who's taking responsibility for their own safety isn't going to eat a hash brownie and concealed carry to the grocery store for Crunch n Munch.