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The sad part is, this phenomena with military bases and issues with drug use is not new. I remember hearing all the horror stories of meth running rampant at th

The sad part is, this phenomena with military bases and issues with drug use is not new. I remember hearing all the horror stories of meth running rampant at the 29 palms Marine base when I was deployed with a MEU from out of there. Not trying to stir any shit over branches, but here is one thing I have noticed. The Navy isn't without these issues, but it seems to be a lot less. I speculate because Navy bases tend to be in pretty good locations. I was in San Diego, had access to the beach and lots of things to do. 29 palms, like many Marine and Army bases, are often in BFE with nothing for service members to do for fun except for finding trouble. I also grew up in NC and had heard how bad drugs were around Fort Bragg and Camp Lejune, before I enlisted in the Navy. Maybe the Navy SEAL group cited in the article thinks the Navy doesnt go far enough. Maybe that is a problem localized to the SEAL community, they appear to sometimes get away with some really bad shit because they are SEALs, so it doesn't surprise me. After we returned from my second deployment and several sailors were found out to be selling ectasty, they did two full command sweeps. Walk into work, muster up and get told, no one leaves today until everyone has pissed in a cup. All of those sailors were quickly NJP'd and kicked out with Other Than Honorable discharges. As for above referencing the SEAL community. The Navy has "communities" and these communities sometimes are very different. To me, being regular fleet on an LHD, some of the weirdest fellow Navy guys I've ran into are Seabees that have never stepped aboard a ship. Which is a lot of them. It is almost like two different branches in some respects. The only thing we share in common, at least at that time, was rank structure and CNO. Until the recent uniform change, their working uniforms were even different from most of the fleet's, having the 'Avacados' instead of the blue digi camo. The only reason this is appearing to get more attention now is Fentanyl. But these are problems that have lasted for awhile. My dad who was in the Army in the late 90s to early 2000s could tell you how much of an issue drug use was in the Army then.

6stringmerc 4y ago
Here in North Texas, mostly in affluent Plano (now corp HQ US for Toyota among others), the late 90s was awash in high quality Mexican heroin. It made it to the affluent areas where the hooked became dealers to support their own habits. Like you say, a story as old as time…A new way humans can get their kicks but end up ass over teakettle…the story follows. Also, many of the kids had originally been swiping pills from their parents when first experimenting, found feeling high is awesome and withdrawls are not…pills turned snorting turned to shooting. I specifically remember 9 teenager OD deaths in like a 3-6 month period that made the news, and probably a couple more through social circles of friends and their older siblings. It really hit home for me about the reality of drug economics Christmas Eve morning of 98 or 99 when our entire street up and down the block were witnessing a family’s oldest son of 2 being taken out in a body bag after overdosing at a party the night before and his friends “dropped him off at home he seemed okay” Yeah, stuff like that will stick and in my case always say the kids get the money from somewhere, and if they don’t have any, they find something they can hustle to those who do have it. Repeat, rinse.

6stringmerc 4y ago

Here in North Texas, mostly in affluent Plano (now corp HQ US for Toyota among others), the late 90s was awash in high quality Mexican heroin. It made it to the affluent areas where the hooked became dealers to support their own habits. Like you say, a story as old as time…A new way humans can get their kicks but end up ass over teakettle…the story follows. Also, many of the kids had originally been swiping pills from their parents when first experimenting, found feeling high is awesome and withdrawls are not…pills turned snorting turned to shooting. I specifically remember 9 teenager OD deaths in like a 3-6 month period that made the news, and probably a couple more through social circles of friends and their older siblings. It really hit home for me about the reality of drug economics Christmas Eve morning of 98 or 99 when our entire street up and down the block were witnessing a family’s oldest son of 2 being taken out in a body bag after overdosing at a party the night before and his friends “dropped him off at home he seemed okay” Yeah, stuff like that will stick and in my case always say the kids get the money from somewhere, and if they don’t have any, they find something they can hustle to those who do have it. Repeat, rinse.