FogRider wrote:
Change in actions & attitude /= impaired.
Do you leave your gun at home if you are a little tired? Do you lock up your gun if you need to answer your phone? Fatigue can impair you more than alcohol, and talking on a phone can greatly reduce your situational awareness. Zero tolerance is rarely a good thing. If I can handle a little alcohol without significant impairment, (and I can, whatever you may think), why should I go about unarmed? If I am going out to the bar for the night, my gun stays in my truck. If I am sitting around the house, or stop over at a friends place, there is no reason not to have a beer or two. How is telling me that I shouldn't carry with any alcohol in my system any different than telling me I shouldn't carry for any other reason?
Yes, there are many things in this life that distract us from the level of awareness that we would like to maintan. I was encouraged to see you state that: "Zero tolerance is
rarely a good thing". So we can agree that there is a time for zero tolerance.......a decision that we each must make and live with.
As for fatigue impairing
more than alcohol .... a little of each would seem to have the same effect or a lot of each the same would it not? And my statement still stands.. there are changes in attitudes and actions
However, I would humbly submit that we do not always have the choice not to be fatigued, but we always make the choice to impair ourselves with alcohol no matter how significant that impairment might be.
Am I bashing you? That is not my desire, just attempting to present a fact (that I feel strongly about), but perhaps not in the best way. My wife lived with an alcoholic father, I spent 24yrs in the AF with a lot of drinkers. Am I an expert? No .......just presenting what I have seen.
We can just agree to disagree.
Thank you for the discussion. It helps me clarify my thoughts, and my mind needs all the exercise it can get!