Army kicks off Warrior Pride campaign

***image1***The Warrior Pride campaign officially kicked off Army-wide Monday.
Its purpose is three-fold according to Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck.

“It’s a social marketing campaign designed to standardize and
incorporate Army values and the warrior ethos in all substance abuse
awareness training,” he said. “It instills and reinforces that drug use
and alcohol abuse violates Army values and the warrior ethos, and they
are incompatible with military service.”

The goal is to reduce drug use and alcohol abuse by Soldiers, said General Hagenbeck.

Throughout the Army, commanders are aware that alcohol and other drug abuse seriously impacts mission readiness.

Soldiers with substance abuse problems are more likely to be less
productive, prone to accidents and miss more work due to health,
financial, social, legal or personal problems.

This on-going campaign is designed to educate and train Soldiers and
rehabilitate substance abusers who have potential for continued service.

The Army Substance Abuse Programs at U.S. Army Garrison Kaisers-lautern
and other Army garrisons have available and are distributing Warrior
Pride materials to their Army units.

Materials include General Hagenbeck’s memo and a Warrior Pride Leaders Reference compact disc for commanders.

This CD includes information on substance abuse testing, the Risk
Reduction Program, an Army Substance Abuse Program overview, deployment
testing, and alcohol and drug education.

Other materials designed by the Army Center for Substance Abuse
Programs include a new logo, posters and a pamphlet explaining the Army
Substance Abuse Program.

Some Warrior Pride messages include: “Main-tain your Warrior Pride.
Don’t drink and drive,” “Don’t leave a Soldier behind on the
battlefield, in a bar or at a party” and “Because I am a Warrior – I am
drug-free.”

Soldiers are America’s warriors. They deserve to have pride in themselves, their unit and the U.S. Army.

Soldiers being proud of who they are and the duty they perform for
their country is incompatible with using drugs and abusing alcohol.

For more information and to request materials, contact unit Army Substance Abuse Program prevention coordinators.