Commentary: Don’t be an idiot – Call AADD

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Austin M. May
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Imagine someone walking into a public place where your family is spending their day and indiscriminately firing a weapon into the crowd. Maybe your loved ones get away unharmed; maybe the unthinkable happens.

It's the stuff of nightmares.

Now picture a car driving down a road, maybe through the town where you live. It might not conjure up the same grisly imagery, but if the driver has been drinking, it should. After all, it could have the exact same end result.

Drinking and driving is a deadly game of chance played not by homicidal psychopaths and maniacs, but all too often by people like the guy sitting across from you right now. Look at him - could he be the one who one day wipes out everyone you love just because he spent his taxi money on beer and didn't have a backup plan?

He could be if he doesn't know about his options, and he has at least one that he - and you - should be well aware of.

Airmen Against Drunk Driving is a volunteer service you see advertised on every flat surface around base and mentioned at every commander's call and safety briefing, yet somehow DUIs still happen. The list of excuses people use for driving drunk is long and creative, but AADD renders almost every single one of them useless.

In its simplest form, AADD is a safe ride home. They - the AADD volunteers, that is - will drive out to wherever you are (within reason, but no one will be left hanging) - and take you home if you've had too much to drink.

That's it - end of story. No cost. No retribution. And best of all, no last-second regrets as your alcohol-soaked blood drains from your body, taking your life along with it. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

According to Airman 1st Class Kathryn Merritt, the 100th Air Refueling Wing's AADD representative, anyone assigned to RAFs Mildenhall, Lakenheath or Feltwell, including dependents, can call for a ride home if they've been drinking. If you need to come on base to get home, you'll have to have proper I.D., but no names, ranks or units are logged at all. The ride is 100 percent no-strings.

Getting the ride is ridiculously easy. One simply needs to call 08003280178, provide a location for pickup and location for drop off. The drop-off point must be a residence, and it has to be established before the drivers leave. They aren't going to take you to the next pub on your list.

Airman Merritt said while the boundaries for the service don't extend farther than Newmarket or Bury St. Edmunds, that doesn't mean anyone will be left to their own devices. Call AADD, and a safe ride will be worked out.

AADD operates on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as any United States Air Forces in Europe- or higher-level down days, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. It's an all-volunteer service, so rides may take a little longer than if you were to call a cab or a friend. That said, it's worth it to wait a little longer and let AADD pick you up rather than the cops - or the grim reaper.