In the words of the great philosopher Steve Martin,

Well, EXCUSE me!

But you have to realize, the vast majority of civilians have no concept how either the UCMJ process works, or how the various discharges work. A lot actually have the belief that if you show up drunk you can get a dishonerable discharge. And that simply telling your NCO that he is wrong can get you locked up in the brig.

And BTW, back in my day it was the same way. Although I have never been a big drinker, there were plenty of times I showed up for morning PT with most of the formation smelling like a distillery. I remember doing the hill runs in Okinawa, with a good number of people leaving the "Technicolor Spew" along the side of the road. Back then, in the Marines the general rule was "as long as you can keep up, we let it slide".

However, the military of 2007 is not like the military of 1987. And most assuredly, the Army of 2009 is not like the Marines I knew back in 1989. Alcohol and drugs are treated much more firmly. Even showing up in my battery smelling of alcohol is enough to get the 1st Sergeant to send you to the MP station.

But I do understand what you mean. I am rather unique, in that I have seen the changes first hand over the years. Originally serving from 1983-1993, I came back in 2 years ago, and the changes were almost like culture shock.

We get classes to death. At least 2-4 times a year, we get day long lectures on drinking, drugs, suicide, cultural awareness, reckless driving, sexual harassment, and almost anything else you can think of. We even get a "Command Climate Survey" twice a year, where we tell the Army when we think the Army (or our command) is being unfair to us.

And I spent 10 years before, never seeing an Inspector General. I have seen him 3 times in just 2 years, because they constantly seem to want to come to the units and talk to the Soldiers, seeing where the command is messing up.

But other things have changed. The old "3 Strikes" rule about drugs is gone, replaced with a "0-1 strike" rule. Unit "beer bashes" are gone, replaced with "battery picnics". And since where I am at now we have a 3 drink per night limit, you almost never see anybody intoxicated.