introduction

[Big Ugly]

O.K. I stand corrected. I had been told that it was, primarily due to the muslim thing.
Seems odd that it would be due a 'readiness state' since in that far off little asian land, getting shit-faced drunk was one of the few pleasures available on-base. Of course, it was frowned upon outside of the main base (safe area).
The times they are a changein'
You put your life on the line, get paid to carry a gun and shoot people, but you can't even drink a beer

[blaine]

Big Ugly, the reasons they give us for no alcohol is the muslim reason and also to keep a high state of readiness.  I understand these rules and i follow them but i dont necessarily agree with them.  There is no outlet for a soldier.  Once in a while it would be nice to be able to forget about everything around you and get lost in some form of alcohol.  It is relaxing and therapeutic.  Whether the army sees it that way or not.  But you are right we have to abide by this countries religion and customs but they do not have to try to understand ours at all.  We are held to an unreasonable standard while they have secret meetings about when they get to start shooting americans.  That part is absolutely true.  Heard it from a general in the afghan army.  I was on an ett team at the time.  These are the things that will never make the papers.  Talk to you all again soon.

[adambomb]

Hmm, very interesting.  If I had to guess they were probably just throwing the "Muslim" reason in there as some sort of scapegoat, seeing as how it really has the appearance of being a carryover from previous campaigns.  Of course there would be a couple other observations to be made on whether or not it really is for religious reasons.  First, do the non-U.S. bases in the middle east allow alcohol?  Alcohol is a good deal more mainstream in Europe, although if the religious reasoning is valid, then Europeans, being generally known as more "culturally sensitive" than us U.S. brutes, might also ban it.  Also, was this policy also in effect during Desert Storm?  I recall we had quite a few "hard lessons learned" in culture there, mainly in how our female troops presented themselves over there, given the overall status of women over there.  Then again, instead of being a carryover policy from Bosnia, perhaps alcohol on deployment was banned during Desert Storm for cultural/religious reasons, and this carried over into Bosnia?

Oh well, I probably don't want to hear the "official" answer, it's probably dumber.  Most "reasoning" I've found in these types of scenarios is pretty absurd, I'm usually happier not hearing it!  It is true though, deployments would sure suck a lot less if you were allowed to have a beer or two now and then.  Made my Bosnia deployment just fly by!  The Germans even held an authentic Oktoberfest...now that was a good time. 

That's one thing I've always hated about the way the U.S. does things, it's always some pissing contest about seeing who can put up with the most suckage and BS.  Of course this leads to such inane contests as who can go the longest without taking a shower in the field (when hot showers are only a 5 minute walk away).  That doesn't make you hardcore, it only makes you smelly!  Sadly there were a lot of people that couldn't understand that.  Then again, with political correctness even creeping into the military, I suppose that's what you end up with.  When you run out of acceptable true feats of manliness, bored troops come up with junior high BS.