Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990 TAG: 9007300054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
"It's not like it used to be. I remember those days when you would just get totally bombed and stay at the clubs until you passed out," said Pensacola Naval Air Station spokesman Harry White.
The change in Navy philosophy is evident at Navy bases here and in Pensacola, where anti-drinking programs abound and recreation and other activities are becoming popular on Navy bases.
"We want to get across to sailors that there are ways to enjoy their leisure time other than drinking," said Julian Barrs, director of Mayport Naval Station's morale, welfare and recreation department.
Nick Young, spokesman for Jacksonville Naval Air Station and a former sailor, said he's seen a 180-degree change in the Navy's philosophy about alcohol.
For years U.S. sailors were given a daily ration of spirits called a grog with their bread, salt pork and peas - a tradition rooted in the rum-powered British navy. The practice was banned in 1862, and one lament went: "They've raised his pay three cents a day but stopped his grog forever."
All booze was banned in 1914, when the blue-nosed teetotaler Josephus Daniels as secretary of the Navy ended the custom of officers having wine in their quarters. He earned the bitter nickname "Grape Juice Josephus."
Even so, drinking was the rule at Navy parties.
Now it often is the exception, Young said.
"I attended a going-away party at noon and the only alcoholic beverage was consumed by the guest of honor. Everyone else had Cokes and iced tea," Young said recently. "Drinking is thoroughly frowned upon."
The Navy now realizes that alcohol can cause work, family and health problems, he said.
Happy hours when sailors used to guzzle down two brews for the price of one are now forbidden. Free food, instead, now induces sailors into the clubs instead of extra booze.
"Our bartenders are instructed to stop serving sailors before they get too many," Barrs said.
In addition, the naval bases in Jacksonville and Pensacola use a designated-driver program or arrange transportation to keep drinkers from behind the wheel.
Drinking is not as popular among Navy personnel as it once was, partially because the average sailor has changed from a young single man to one with a wife and children, Barrs said.
A new $1.2 million Mayport Sports Club opening in October will feature indoor and outdoor sports activities such as volleyball and basketball. Mayport's new sports bar is one of three being opened on bases by Harborage, a Dallas company. The others are at Norfolk and San Diego, Barrs said.
The switch to the sports bars partially resulted from a 1986 study conducted for the Navy by the University of Georgia on how sailors liked to spend their leisure time and what they wanted in recreation and entertainment.
"They wanted a different atmosphere in clubs," Barrs said.
Cecil Field Naval Air Station's club underwent a $1 million, seven-month renovation and has reopened as Ace's Place, a sports bar, with a new chief petty officer's club and refurbished dining and dance areas.
At Jacksonville Naval Air Station, $1.9 million in improvements are being made to the enlistment personnel club, adding a dining room, game room, ballroom and fast-food restaurant.
"The main thrust is to give people activities that are alternative to sitting in a bar and drinking," Young said.
At the Pensacola Naval Air Station, a sports bar is in the planning stages, White said.
Besides providing an atmosphere that reduces drinking, the clubs are having to scramble to find ways to recoup the money that had been spent on alcohol.
And come October, the Navy is cutting off all funds to base clubs.
"They have to be self-sufficient or they close," Young said.
by CNB