Driving under the influence convictions in the Navy: Does the Navy have to establish a required on punishment?

Senior Enlisted Academy

Driving under the influence convictions in the Navy
In 2009, IS2 Norton was convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) off base in San Diego. His commanding officer took him to Captain’s Mast and convicted him of disobeying a general order. He was reduced in rank to an E4 and forfeited half his pay for two months. In 2012, the same command had three Sailors convicted of DUI off base and they were not awarded non-judicial punishment (NJP). All four sailors had a blood alcohol content over double the state limit of 0.08 (Taylor, 2013). To ensure equality and fairness, should the Navy establish a standard punishment covering DUI convictions? This paper will provide the background, discussion and recommendations on the Navy’s punishment of DUI convictions.
Background Information The Navy has seen a 44 percent decrease of DUIs the past four years. However, there were over 2,000 DUIs reported in fiscal year 2011. Additionally, there was over 5,000 Navy-wide alcohol related incidents in the same year which includes Sailors driving under the influence who were originally arrested for DUI but were able to have the charges downgraded to a lesser charge (Port, 2012). While that number seems low, military alcohol use, especially among young service members, is almost twice as high as their civilian counter parts (NIAAA, 2010). Alcohol abuse impacts the entire Navy’s mission because every time we lose a Sailor, someone else has to step up to assume their responsibilities. Currently, there isn’t a systematic process to handle DUI convictions. Unlike the provisions in Navy instruction 5350.4D that spell out the exact process to administratively separate all personnel who are found guilty of drug