There are many factors which may cause Marines to abuse substances such as Alcohol.
Some of these factors include boredom, anger, depression, peer pressure, lack of supervision, and over all bad habits. In this essay I PFC Nava will be stating my opinions on why I believe CAAT 2 may have an alcohol abuse problem. I will also state my opinions on how we as individuals and as a whole can contribute to mitigating and putting an end to incidents within our platoon and maybe even the Company.
It is 1800 on a Friday evening and the Marines of 3/3 WPNS Co begin to plan out their weekend, 80% of these marines most likely include alcohol in their plan. Why? Do these Marines have an alcohol problem? If I drink on the weekends, does it mean I also have a problem? Does this mean you have a problem? NO, in my opinion the problem lies in small unit leadership. This is past the squad/section leaders, maybe even past our team leaders. How do we expect marines to lead teams if they can barely lead themselves. This is not to hinder the strengths, abilities, and potential of a lot of Marines in the Co. As a 5 year PFC I have had the “opportunity” to get to know both ends of the spectrum from conversing with NCOs and hanging out with the LCPLs in the barracks. I have noticed a trend within Marines that have been put in Leadership position saying “I am off work”. To the junior marines this means “We are not working, he is now my friend”. This makes it even harder for Marines to be able to lead their peers. This is one of the biggest reasons problems occur, because a Marine is too afraid of what his “friends” may think of him yelling at them. Without leadership immature marines turn to immature decisions, thus influencing their friends (“leaders”) to do the same.
What does leadership have to do with these Marines having an alcohol problem? There are various ways a Leader can help mitigate alcohol abuse. A few opinions are, maybe having a team competition every week. (teams...