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Joint training tackles drunk drivers, underage drinkers

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Gustavo Gonzalez
  • 15th Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR HICKAM, Hawaii --  Drinking on the job will never be acceptable; of course, unless you are a volunteer for the 647th Security Forces Squadron.

The 647th SFS conducted a three day course to train 12 647th Security Forces members and two Department of Defense members from Pearl Harbor. They took volunteers to consume alcohol, under supervision of course, to ensure the training was as real as possible.

Volunteers were taken to a room and drinks were handed out for more than two hours as part of the last day of the three-day training.

"We want to have a variety of drinkers," said Master Sgt. John Havrilla, 647th SFS flight chief. "If someone gets too drunk, they are no use to us. We are trying to see if (the students) will make the right choice to take them in or not."

The drinkers were paraded by four different stations of security forces members to conduct the testing. The "suspected" went through a barrage of sobriety testing to determine the amount of alcohol the test subject consumed.

"We used field sobriety tests and had to guess and estimate how high their blood alcohol level is," said Senior Airman Rachael Ronk, 647th SFS. "I think it's good training. I liked it"

According to Staff Sgt. Frank Petray, who is on a temporary duty assignment to Hickam from the 188th Security Forces Squadron, Fort Smith, Ark., every security forces member needs to get trained on this skill.

"There are so many security forces members and so few instructors that it's hard to get this training on a regular basis," said Sergeant Petray.

Sergeant Petray also believes including the Pearl Harbor DoD members in this training will be beneficial for Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam.

"Everything is going joint forces now," said Sergeant Petray. "So being able to train as a joint force I think will help in the long run as far as communications and good rapport with other branches."