23 sailors discharged from Navy for drug use
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Twenty-three sailors with a P-3 Orion squadron at the Marine Corps base at Kane'ohe Bay are being kicked out of the Navy for using drugs including cocaine, LSD, Ecstasy, methamphetamine and marijuana, officials said yesterday.
"This is an unusually high number," said Cmdr. Jack Papp, a spokesman for Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, in San Diego. He added that the Navy-wide incidence of known drug use is less than 1 percent.
Papp said 11 sailors with Patrol Squadron 47, one of four P-3 squadrons at the Marine Corps base, have been discharged, and another 12 are being administratively processed for discharge following the drug use that was discovered in early March.
"Some admitted, some popped positive (on urinalysis tests), but in either case, they used drugs," said Papp, noting the Navy's zero-tolerance for illegal drug use.
Papp said all are "fairly junior" sailors who were support personnel or worked in maintenance with Patrol Squadron 47, known as VP-47. The unit is nicknamed the "Golden Swordsmen." Air crew with the 390-member squadron were not involved.
"We're not talking senior members of the squadron here," Papp said.
News of the drug use comes after two other Kane'ohe-based P-3 squadrons, VP-4 and VP-9, distinguished themselves flying surveillance and reconnaissance combat missions over Afghanistan.
The squadrons, each with about 10 of the four-engine propeller aircraft, also kept an eye on shipping in the Arabian Sea.
Drug use within the military has fallen steadily since random testing began two decades ago, but the trend has been countered by a sharp jump in the use of the club drug Ecstasy, which leaves the system in 48 hours, making detection more difficult.
Cmdr. Roxie Merritt, a Pacific Fleet spokeswoman, called the discharges an anomaly.
Most of those involved are in their late teens or early 20s, she said. The circumstances of the drug use were unavailable from the Navy yesterday.
"They are under the same peer pressures other kids are under, but we demand a lot more out of our people than in general society," Merritt said.
The squadron's commanding officer at the time of the incident, Cmdr. Keith Bluestein, recently undertook a new position with naval operations at the Pentagon. Papp said no disciplinary action was taken against commanding officers as a result of the spike in drug use among junior personnel.
Papp did say additional drug training and education "is being given to all levels of command to ensure everyone is aware of the negative effects illegal drugs have both to a sailor's health and command's mission readiness."
VP-47 also has started more frequent drug testing. The Navy's minimum requirement calls for random urinalysis drug testing of 10 percent to 20 percent each month of personnel within a command.
Papp said a sailor in early March admitted using drugs, and that led to others being identified, either through admissions or urinalysis testing.
Merritt said all of the sailors are being administratively discharged. The process provides for honorable, general or other-than-honorable discharges. Eleven of the sailors have waived an appearance before the board and elected to receive other-than-honorable discharges, Merritt said.
A dishonorable discharge results only from a court-martial, she said. The remaining 12 sailors are going through the administrative discharge process, she said.
Merritt said statistics show that illegal drug use within the Pacific Fleet is lower than 1 percent. For fiscal year 2001, about 1,742 sailors, or 0.67 percent of 260,000 service members tested, turned up positive for illegal drugs. For fiscal 2000, 1,400 sailors out of 200,000 tested, or 0.70 percent, turned up positive.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
