European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday july 28, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 3 army Survey shows drop in drug use sexual harassment up but women report it More by Charlie Bowden staff writer sexual harassment is up but admitted drug use is Down. Fewer people Are smoking and those who Don t smoke think More restrictions should be placed on those who do. Those statements Are a Sample of viewpoints rep resented in the personnel opinion Survey an annual study compiled by the army in Europe to help Analyse the Impact of service policies and programs on soldiers and their families. The results of the most recent re port published earlier this month included the views of More than 7,000 soldiers and family members who responded to the Survey. About 15,500 randomly selected soldiers were mailed the surveys and some 5,100 responded Accord ing to the report. A special family member Survey was sent to the 5,525 married soldiers among the 15,500. About 1,900 spouses responded. The Soldier Survey included 152 questions in 31 subject areas ranging from incidents of sexual harassment to discrimination to cigarette smoking. The family member Survey had 104 questions covering 21 subjects such As schools housing and Community serv ices. Key areas pointed out in the report s executive summary include an apparent Lack of Confidence in Neo the military s plan to evacuate family Mem Bers and civilians in time of War and an increase in the number of women soldiers who say they have experienced sexual harassment during their tour. The sum Mary also pointed to a drop in the number of soldiers reporting they use drugs at least once a month. Concerning Neo or the non combatant evacuation order 41 percent of the respondents gave it a poor rating 34 percent ranked it High and 25 percent were Neutral. But 80 percent of the married soldiers said they would report to duty if mobilized and 95 percent of the family members either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement in Case of War i will put Forth the maximum Effort required to keep myself and family Safe regardless of where my spouse  sexual harassment based on the responses continues to be a problem for army women in Europe. The percentage of women responding to the Survey who said they had been harassed during their tour in creased this year to 41.2 percent up from 36 percent in 1985 and 1986 and 34 percent in 1984. However women apparently Are becoming less afraid to report harassment. In response to a question asking if they reported the harassment the percentage saying no dropped to 6.2 percent last year from 19percent in 1986. Similarly the number saying they did report it and something was done jumped to 14.5 per cent last year from 4 percent in 1986. Females comprised 10.6 percent of the soldiers responding to the Survey. Admitted drug use among soldiers dropped again last year continuing a slide shown in the first published report in 1984 when 6.3 percent of the Soldier reported using marijuana monthly and 3.1 percent said they used cocaine. Last year the percentage of soldiers reporting drug use dropped to less than 1 percent for each Type of drug. The report cautions that the statistic May be mis " few vis Ti-1 8 tit r  is ii  Fiss a i be a  percent or cd nearly 70 percent of Sio smokers Felt that Rasore Restek Ostons should be placed on where smokers con ii tit up. A b leading since the surveys were individually addressed and could have affected the soldiers willingness to admit drug use. Soldiers apparently still like to drink. Based on the report s findings about 85 percent of the soldiers drink alcoholic beverages to some extent. The average sol Dier drinks 1.6 times a week and consumes 2.5 drinks each time according to the report. The drink of Choice Beer by nearly 50 percent of the respondents. Fewer than half of the soldiers smoked 40 per cent and nearly 70 percent of the non smokers Felt More restrictions should be placed on where smokers can Light up. Not surprisingly 75 percent of the smok ers voted for fewer restrictions. The response rate on this year s Survey was 32 per cent a drop from the previous year s rate of 72 per cent. Capt. Wesley Shull the command s Survey control officer blamed the drop on the change to direct mailing of the Survey which saved both time and Money but Hurt the percentage of response. Officials Are planning to add an incentive with next year s sur vey to boost participation he said. Heavy drinking bigger problem than drugs worldwide study says by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington drug use in the military has dropped so Low since the Pentagon began widespread testing in 1982 that heavy drinking is now a bigger problem according to a worldwide Survey. The preliminary results released tuesday based on Anonymous responses from 17,213 service members showed that Only 5.5 percent used marijuana cocaine or other recreational drugs within the 30 Days prior to the Survey Down from 9 percent in 1985 and 27 percent in 1980, when the first such Survey was con  report also showed that heavy drinking is de Clining but not nearly As far or As fast As drug  drinkers defined As those having five or More drinks per occasion at least once a week made up 9percent of the military population compared to 12 percent in 1985. Ten percent of military personnel reported Simenon medical drug use Over the 12 months prior to the Survey compared to 13 percent in 1985. Marijuana is still the drug of Choice with 3 percent of respondents having used it within the previous 30days, Down from 7 percent in 1985. Seven percent said they used the drug some time in the past year com pared to 11 percent in 1985. The services have done a Superb Job in working toward eliminating illicit drug use from the military and in establishing healthy Behaviours among service members said or. William Mayer assistant Secretary of defense for health affairs in releasing the Survey results. Army and air Force crime statistics in Europe for 1987 support the Survey s findings on reduced drug use. Usa eur drug offences dropped from 2,657 in 1986 to 2,000 last year. Safe drug offences fell from 508 to 285."the biggest reason is the increased use of the urinalysis program and that gis know. That the policy is very hard said it. Col. Bud Heiman Safe la enforcement chief. You get caught you re going to get put  but military health officials admit that there is growing concern with alcohol abuse with some officials theorizing that service members who previously used marijuana or cocaine Are turning to alcohol As their drug of  self reported loss of productivity Over the previous year in which Survey respondents Felt their Job performance was impaired in some Way because of substance use was far higher for drinkers than drug users. Only 2 percent of those who used drugs in the pre Vious year reported a loss of productivity while 23 percent of the respondents reported such a loss As a result of alcohol use. The Survey showed that tobacco use in the military also is declining. Over the previous 30 Days 57 percent of military personnel did not smoke at All compared to 54 percent in 1985 smokers of about a pack a mayor More went Down to 23 percent compared to 31 percent in 1985. Using the results of the Survey Shull said officials have created a data base that can be used to pinpoint specific areas by age rank sex unit Community Mari Tal status and race. For example if a commander wanted a better idea of who is most Likely to be sexually harassed within his command a profile could be created using the stored data. It s not foolproof Shull said but it s a reliable indicator. It helps people in decision making positions make  officials have been doing the Survey for 10 years but have published the findings Only since 1984. In a series of questions concerning readiness factors responses varied widely Between officers and enlisted soldiers. Officers generally had greater Confidence in their Chain of command their ability to wage War and their assignments according to the report. Fewer than 10 percent of the respondents were warrant officers or officers. The majority of the spouses surveyed 93 percent were women. Only 18 percent of the couples had no children. Among the families nearly 65 percent included children who were 10 years of age or younger. Nearly a third had children under two years of age. Other Survey highlights More than half Felt their Cost of living allowance was inadequate. Many were dissatisfied with the banking facilities particularly Long lines. More than 70 percent said they usually waited 10 minutes or longer to do Busi Ness at their local Community Bank. About 40 percent of hispanics and 37 percent of Blacks reported discrimination during their overseas tour usually by a person of equal or Superior rank. Most did not report it. Of the respondents 21.8 per cent were Black and 7.5 percent hispanic. Half of the men and 42 percent of the women Felt that female soldiers should be assigned to front line combat units. Twenty percent of the spouses who were surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with the overseas school sys tem but 65 percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the Quality of education. Forty five per cent thought local school advisory committees were effective. Most spouses said they would turn to their family for help in an emergency with their friends next in line. More than half said they probably would not turn to a chaplain social service activity or the Chain of command for help. Postal workers arrested for throwing away mail new York a eleven postal workers arrested on charges they tossed nearly 60,000pieces of mail into the trash were trying to shave a couple of hours off their work Day a prosecutor says. The carriers were arrested tuesday and were released on their own recognizance. Destroying mail carries a sentence of up to six months in prison and a $500 Fine. Postal inspector j. Randolph Cox said about 75 percent of the mail 44,800 pieces could have been delivered As addressed. Sixty of the 59,700 letters were first class mail. About 5 percent was second class magazines and newspapers and the remainder was bulk mail. The motive for the dumping was to save couple of hours a Day of work assistant . Attorney Nicholas Defeis said tuesday. Officials said they will deliver the recovered mail after it is photographed. The investigation began after postal inspectors received a tip that a Carrier had emptied a mailbag into a trash bin behind a Brooklyn Post office april 6. Postal officials put a video camera near theban and Between May 18 and june 21, caught carriers in the act investigators said. One defendant Gil a. Holmes superintendent of mails at the Post office stood nearby As the carriers tossed out mail investigators said