AA in the Military. Группа авторов
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depend upon AA to the utmost to remain as well as I have. Two slips in 20 months in the Army is, to me, an indication of what happens when we don’t constantly practice our program.
John D.
Lieutenant Rediscovers the Beauties of Easy Does It
(From: Mail Call for All AAs in the Armed Forces)
September 1944
One of the strongest motives behind the starting of the Grapevine—in fact the main thing that pushed the editors from the talking to the acting stage—was the need so often expressed in letters from AAs in the service for more AA news. We felt that their deep desire for a feeling of contact with AA might be fulfilled at least in part by such a publication—by us and for us. And, as the first issue emerged from the presses, a letter came to one of the editors from a woman AA, a Second Lieutenant stationed in an out-of-the-way place. It was a cry for help:
… if things keep up the way they have been going I’m going to be in more trouble than I can handle. … I’ve been recommended for promotion, but …. My work is more than satisfying, but off duty I’m a total loss. There isn’t a single soul here that speaks the same language. … The Army is a funny place. One is expected to drink, but not to get noisy or pass out or do any of the things drunks do. … I’ve met a few AAs but we’ve only been in the same place for a short time. Several of them were in the same boat as I, skating on thin ice, but I don’t know the outcome. Frankly, I’m scared. Has this problem been discussed at meetings? If so, has anyone offered any constructive suggestions?
M.L.
A copy of the Grapevine went off by return mail. And now comes this:
Dear Editors: The second copy of the Grapevine just arrived. Does that mean I’m to get it every month? It’s proving no end of a help to me. Thanks so much for getting it started, anyhow ... I guess there isn’t much one can do about the sort of spot that I’m in. There isn’t anything wrong but loneliness and boredom, and there’s no way out of that, for now. ... Right after the first copy of the paper arrived I decided to try to take it a little easier (I’d forgotten all about ‘Easy Does It’). ... I was working so very hard that the hectic on-duty and the static off-duty hours didn’t mix. For some reason it doesn’t seem as bad to be bored now.
P.S. I got that promotion I wrote you about.
M.L.
Far From the Customary Skies
June 1954
I received my first issue of the Grapevine (Vol. I, No. 1) in June of 1944. At that time I was in the Army, stationed overseas. So far as I knew then, there were no AAs within several thousand miles of me, so you can imagine the kick I got out of that first number.
There was more to it than that, of course. I think I probably felt a good deal like a shipwrecked sailor when the rescue vessel steams in sight. For what that first Grapevine did for me, more than anything else, was to assure me that I was not alone.
I had come into AA almost two years earlier, and through the miracle of this Fellowship found the sobriety I had been seeking. When I was drafted, after only four months in AA, I was secretly terrified I would start drinking again. Thanks to loyal AA friends who wrote me, and to the good God who brought me to AA, I didn’t. But staying away from the first drink wasn’t easy for me, and I lacked any real confidence that I would be able to make it stick.
Vol. I, No. 1 changed all that for me. Because after that I knew that no matter where I went, my Grapevine would sooner or later catch up with me. And I knew, too, that in its pages I would find the help I needed. Just knowing it was coming each month helped keep my defenses up. It was such a solid and reliable tie to AA-style sobriety (and no other style had ever worked for me!)
“Mail Call for All AAs in the Armed Forces” was especially helpful, for it was concrete evidence that we weren’t forgotten. At the same time, it proved to me that others in the service were keeping the program ticking. To that extent, it made things easier for me.
Those days are long gone now, but Grapevine, happily, is still with us. I, for one, find it just as helpful now as it was in 1944. Today, it helps me in a different way—but none the less effectively. For one thing, I haven’t gotten to meetings very frequently for the past year or so, and I find that Grapevine helps keep me from feeling out-of-touch. Not that Grapevine, or anything else, is a substitute for meetings, but it does help when you’re not able to get around as much as you’d like.
One thing in particular I’ve always admired about Grapevine, and that is the readiness with which it has accepted “unorthodox” views. Such a reception is not always accorded the dissident elsewhere in AA.
I like the changes that have been made in Grapevine, too. Changes in format, changes in content, changes in personnel. Changes in almost everything, I expect, except in its basic purpose (Grapevine still dishes out my brand of AA). I understand they’ve even changed the financial picture—no more running in the red. For that accomplishment, a loud huzzah from this correspondent!
As you may gather from the foregoing, I am not one of those “old-timers” who yearn for the “good old days.” I think both Grapevine—and AA—are better today than they ever were, for we have begun to mature
R. H.
New York, New York
AA at Camp Peary
July 1944
Operation of the plan (Alcoholics Anonymous), at Camp Peary, an officer from the base declared at a big open meeting in Richmond, already has resulted in much good in its aid to officers in solving the problem of Navy men getting drunk on leave and overstaying their liberty. The AA group at the base, he said, occupy the same barracks and live with their problem, in close contact, seeking the solution among themselves.
This is part of a write-up of a semi-public meeting held in Richmond, Virginia on May 16th—the first meeting of its kind to be held there. Several ministers and physicians attended as special guests. Tom B. of New York and White Plains was the invited guest speaker. The article appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Wednesday, May 17, 1944.
AA Is the Chaplain’s Ally
June 1960
This is the story of a small Alcoholics Anonymous group on an Air Force Base in Florida and what it was able to accomplish in the lives of men who were on their way out or in otherwise serious trouble in their military careers. In the short span of three years, 52 men in deep trouble over their drinking problems were restored to favor and acceptable duty. Some regained lost rank rapidly, and others by a slower route. Now most of them have not only new stripes as tangible evidence, but self-respect and family love to prove the value of a step which they should have taken long ago. It is the contention of this chaplain, who watched them progress from their great decision, that they might have taken the step sooner had the help been more readily available.
It is also his opinion that the formation of an AA group on any installation will prove to be a valuable ally in the chaplain program. Chaplains are involved in many consultations with families over the heartaches and contingent problems which result when the husband stays away from home or takes the family income for drink. We have seen too many broken homes where the only diagnosis is alcoholism. We could get at the root of these problems if we could convince men that AA can give the inspiration and help they need to overcome the major problem.
Why have a group on the military installation itself when an existing organization can usually be found in the neighboring community and is as close as the telephone? Too often the serviceman hesitates to join civilian groups lest his presence and his problem be a reflection upon his branch of the military service. To be with his own kind in a common endeavor to overcome a problem seems to make it an easier decision to reach.
It all started