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Post by jonesy on Nov 7, 2011 7:22:18 GMT 12
nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/11432432/concern-at-alcohol-offences-in-defence-force/Sigh...more sensationalist journalism again...As a snapshot of society is it really such a big deal?? You'd see most of those offences on any given weekend night in most cities. Yes I know our guys are meant to be good examples to others whilst serving their country but to be honest the underlying problem is our (armed forces AND society in general)attitiude to alcohol consumption over the last 30-odd years. And its not getting any better. I'm pretty sure that if these "offences"had been recorded back where I was in during the 80's and 90's they wouldve been just as much a snapshot of society back then...(including silly old me trying to steal a base bike to get from Ohakea to Bulls on a Junior ranks night...seemed like a good idea at the time  ) Maybe its cos I'm older and wiser now??
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zook
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Post by zook on Nov 7, 2011 16:56:23 GMT 12
A concur with your view. It was the same back in the mid 60s early 70s when I was at Ohakea. Always something on at the baggies club as we called it then. I guess we took the view that we are defending the queen and country we should be able to have an ale or two or three or what ever. NO one held us down and poured it down our throat. It was ALL self inflected and boy some times it WAS . That rose garden by the post office was not a good place to spend the night I had a little grin when you said. "Trying to steal a base bike !" did an elephant tracker spot you as you wobbled your way out the gate ?? Or were you to full to ride it.??
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 7, 2011 17:28:26 GMT 12
Has anyone done a study to see the rates of alcohol related offences and alcoholism within the media industry?
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Post by jonesy on Nov 7, 2011 17:29:59 GMT 12
I had a little grin when you said. "Trying to steal a base bike !" did an elephant tracker spot you as you wobbled your way out the gate ?? Or were you to full to ride it.?? They had a breath testing setup at the gate via an S-pattern set up with road cones. I knew I was waaaaaay over the limits so just grabbed the bike and tried to heave it over the fence. That bike was the old butcher's variety complete with large basket in the front. Both myself and said cycle ended up tangled in the wire, not more than 20 metres from the provo hut! Excellent idea but the execution left much to be desired. I walked home instead. |
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Post by jonesy on Nov 7, 2011 17:35:00 GMT 12
Has anyone done a study to see the rates of alcohol related offences and alcoholism within the media industry? There's quite a few industries, even "trusted"ones that still have issues with alcohol. I can relate stories of volunteer firefighters finding out which one was sober to drive the appliance-does go back a few years, but the undelying issue is our generation's attitude to alcohol needs addressing, not just one element of society. Glass houses=stones, anyone? |
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zook
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Post by zook on Nov 7, 2011 19:06:34 GMT 12
To single out just one part of society as having a so called drinking culture is being some what one eyed . How many times have the media got on their band wagon and targeted the youth of today with their attitude toward entertaining . Not forgetting how some parents supply the teens with the goods .When it is boiled down it is a whole of our country that we could, if we wanted to too say had a drinking problem . SO Mr media and Mr report maker take a big breath , have a drink ( And I bet you do as well ) think about the whole picture not just one part of our society .
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Post by skyhawkdon on Nov 7, 2011 19:25:39 GMT 12
Paul Henry had Ron Mark (ex NZ First MP) on Radio Live this afternoon talking about this. It was the most sensible thing I have ever heard from anyone on the subject. It is a crying shame Ron left politics, he would have been a superb Minister of Defence!
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Post by phil on Nov 7, 2011 19:26:06 GMT 12
Slow news day?
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Post by obiwan27 on Nov 7, 2011 19:31:17 GMT 12
NZ has had problems with alcohol as a country since the days of the pioneers/early settlers.
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zook
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Post by zook on Nov 7, 2011 20:07:27 GMT 12
Go back when you had to be 21, the 6 o'clock swill days ......Bar closes at 6 so drink up .That was power drinking ! Then the government passed legislation 10 pm closing time. That encouraged the booze barns, huge car parks as well . Drink driving wasn't really policed back then. Still had to be 21 Now it is open all hours 24/7 .Get your fix at the local dairy or bottle shop .The variety is huge from RTDs, imported beverages and many others. Not forgetting a huge growth in wine production. Then lets lower the drinking age !!!! And the next thing the Tui girls arrived ! no bloody wonder, as from there on we were doomed . And the meg jar was no more . So sad.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 7, 2011 20:58:24 GMT 12
What always gets ignored is the military system is set up so that if a member of staff actually is found to have an issue with alcohol they deal with it properly, efficiently and quietly. They look after the alcoholics, sponsoring them to get the proper treatment and to return to work when they have dired out. Most other companies would simply fire them.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Nov 8, 2011 14:46:25 GMT 12
Paul Henry had Ron Mark (ex NZ First MP) on Radio Live this afternoon talking about this. It was the most sensible thing I have ever heard from anyone on the subject. It is a crying shame Ron left politics, he would have been a superb Minister of Defence! Ron Mark is still in politics....here merely switched from national politics to local politics. He is now His Worship the Mayor of Carterton! ;D  |
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Nov 8, 2011 15:25:57 GMT 12
Anyway, it sounds as though getting pissed and acting up was mild in the armed forces compared with some places.
Take for example the old wooden Terminus Hotel in Napier in the mid-1970s. I was a young chap newly qualified as a locomotive assistant based at Napier Locomotive Depot. Our boss, the Locomotive Supervisor, was one of the worst pissheads I have ever met. The depot administration building (which had been there since 1874) had a gap of only about one foot between it and the Terminus Hotel. The lift-up sash window in the bosses' office lined up perfectly with an identical window at the back of the hotel bottle store. Our boss used to phone the barman in the bottle store and the two windows would be lifted up, a crate of flagons would be passed in one direction, and the money passed in the other direction. The drunken sessions that used to go on in that office were legendary, with many of the senior locomotive engineers also taking part as they finished their shifts. Quite a few of them (including the boss) were ex- Railway Operating Company staff from WWII in North Africa, but that's another story.
Meanwhile, next-door at the actual Terminal Hotel, the public bar was open 24/7 and extremely blatantly with no attempt whatsoever to hide it with heavy curtains and secret knocks on closed doors like on the West Coast. This was back in the days of 10 o'clock closing. The shunting gangs working in the railway shunting yard at Napier used to virtually live in the public bar of the Terminus, only leaving the bar to undertake shunting operations whenever a freight train came in and needed to be broken up, or whenever a train had to be made up for departure from Napier, then they'd return to the bar. The public bar was also always full of off-duty Police officers....surprise, surprise — now do you understand why the Terminus never used to get busted, even though they were blatantly trading illegal hours? The cops had to behave themselves in their own Police bar, so they used to head down the road (only one block away and in the same street) to the public bar of the Terminus when they wanted to get pissed and didn't want to behave themselves. Also in the same public bar were usually gang members from the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The fights that used to take place in that bar were vicious, usually between the cops and the bikies. They used to sort their differences out between each other with their fists, boots, and whatever else was handy that they could pick up and use as weapons. Yet, no matter how huge a brawl got in that bar, the on-duty boys in blue never, ever attended to sort things out.
It was an interesting place, but these days it would never ever happen. Could you imagine off-duty cops and gang members brawling in an illegally-open public bar today? The news media would be all over it like rats in a sewer and the politicians would have a bloody field day. They were definitely different times back then! ;D
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Post by baronbeeza on Nov 8, 2011 16:17:38 GMT 12
''''''' to hide it with heavy curtains and secret knocks on closed doors like on the West Coast. '''' That is classified. How did you know about all that ? Oh, and parking the car a substantial distance from the bar. Out front or within 20 yards would be too obvious..  |
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