In my first eight years of service in the Army, I drank socially with fellow service members. I drank a little more during my tour in South Korea than in my first tour at Fort Drum, New York. In my last 14 years in the Air Force, I haven’t had a single drink the entire time. Part of that was that I just didn’t go out socially enough to want to drink and part of it was that I was diagnosed with diabetes 4 years ago and alcohol and diabetes don’t mix in any way, shape, or form.
My career field has been Military Police for my entire 22 years of military service and there were times when the stresses of the job were enough to want to make you want to have a drink or two or three after work to help you forget about or ease the burdens of the job. Being in the Air Force is easier than being in the Army so it is a different and less taxing environment and work load for me now. I haven’t experienced or witnessed any undue peer pressure during my time in the military when it comes to members consuming alcohol.
As far as one branch worse than others? I think there are definitely stereotypes out there such as sailors pulling into ports and drinking like fish while on shore leave. A few former Marines that I knew used to tell stories of their wild parties and lots of drinking they used to do. I’m sure that each and every service has a percentage of members that drink alcohol on a regular basis with some of them probably imbibing more than they should and maybe for various reasons.
As far as the Air Force is concerned, you can seek help from your chain of command for various problems in your life whether they be related to alcohol abuse, family matters, work related issues, and many other things. Individuals have the option of seeking assistance from a chaplain first if they want to retain some anonymity en route to setting up more long term assistance in solving their dilemmas and hopefully not causing serious detriment to their military careers if the situation is taken care of before it gets out of hand.