Bad bosses: How to work for someone with a drinking problem

I go back a long, long way with alcoholic associates. I served in the Navy during World War II and was a recalled Reservist in Korea. Being a civilian at heart, I was surprised by the number of alcoholics I met in various ships and duty stations.

During WWII, as a teenager, I thought it was cool to go out with the guys and get drunk. It happened infrequently, but could have been enough to set me off on a lifetime drinking problem. Then, stationed in Manila just as WWII was ending, I went out drinking for what turned out to be my last time. We spent several hours at a recently reopened Filipino night club, and during the show, our group of a dozen sailors ordered several bottles of whiskey. Each had familiar labels, such as Seagram’s and Black Label scotch.

I know I didn’t have more than four drinks before I dropped to the ground unconscious. I dimly remembered being taken back to our tent on the floor of our truck, my face and white uniform bouncing on the dirty metal. Then, still groggy, my buddies tossed me on my cot, which was covered by a mosquito net. When I woke up in the morning, I was twisted up in the netting and deathly sick. We had a primitive shower stall outside, and I managed to drag myself to it and wash everything away. But throughout the next two days, I was sick over and over again.

We found out later that the whiskey we drank at the club was a homemade brew containing poisonous ethyl alcohol. It had been put in the bottles with the authentic labels. I was lucky and recovered, but there were many sailors and soldiers who drank more than I did at various places that served the lethel drinks. Some died, some were blinded, and others went berserk with guns and caused casualties.

My WWII experience made me a non-drinker. During the Korean War, I roomed with another chief who was an alcoholic. One day, two Marines escorted him to the room, watched him load up his gear and marched him off to the brig. After nearly 20 years in the Navy, he was court-martialed, imprisoned for two years and kicked out with a dishonorable discharge.

I worked with others in the Navy and in ensuing years with alcoholics. In those day, addicts were punished for their misbehavior. They lost jobs, careers, families and usually ended up in prison. Fortunately, today there are organizations that consider alcoholism a disease, including the Armed Forces, and addicts get treatment and therapy.

I can’t offer any firm advice to someone who must work with an alcoholic,