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be "dry,” and the idiomatic expression "drunk as a sailor” was in fact replaced by the expression "drunk in every port.” For, as every skipper knows, when his ship hits port the intoxicated sailor becomes his number one problem.
Attaway is a prime example of this custom. He has, according to him, been drunk in about every port in the world, as well as on a few ships whenever he could make a deal with a "doc” for a quart or two of sickbay alcohol.
One such time was near New Caledonia but, because he had been cited for bravery at Pearl Harbor, he was handed a light sentence.
And so his drinking pattern continued.
After the war, in 1952, drunk and UA in Yokosuka, he was picked up and "because he was such a good man” the Commanding Officer let him "try himself.” Paul Attaway gave himself a two-week voluntary restriction, only to break it a week after it started.
But, he was a good man, and so his promotions continued; first class to senior chief, and on to master chief.
In 1968, at Port Hueneme, Master Chief Attaway, destitute and dejected, attempted suicide. He was committed to the psychiatric ward for observation. When he was released he went on liberty and, when he had to have an eye-opener the next morning, he continued drinking. When he was drunk, in a local bar, he telephoned his skipper for help. The skipper sent another chief to pick him up. The chief who went to his rescue got drunk along with Attaway. The shore patrol had to finally pick up both "drunken sailors.”
Now, Paul had reached a limit. His skipper told him to sober up or out he would go. Paul visited the old "Drydock,” the birthplace of the Long Beach Naval Regional Medical Center’s Alcoholic Rehabilitation Service (ARS). It was here that he was introduced to the Navy’s first attempt to help alcoholics.
Hoist him aboard with a running bowline, Hoist him aboard with a running bowline, Hoist him aboard with a running bowline, Early in the morning!
"And that ruined my drinking,” Attaway grinned. "After I left there I could never drink 'normally’ again. The guilt was there. I knew I was an alcoholic and not just a hard-drinking, hard-fighting Navy man. Tears earlier, my wife had told me I was an alcoholic but I couldn’t believe her. Now,” he said softly, "now 1 realize she was right. I had been an alcoholic for uiany years.”
On 3 July 1969, Master Chief Paul Attaway, U. S. Navy, got drunk for the last time.
When he voluntarily entered the alcoholic rehab program he knew it was sober up or die, for he was near death both physically and mentally.
He went through the recovery program and remained on board as part of the program. Eventually he became a counselor and has been one since.
Put him in a boat and row him over,
Put him in a boat and row him over,
Put him in a boat and row him over,
Early in the morning!
In a forthcoming book. From Quonset Hut to Naval Hospital—The Story of an Alcoholic Rehabilitation Service. Captain Joe Pursch, Chief of the ARS, Naval Regional Medical Center, Long Beach says:
"During the six to eight weeks stay at the ARS, the patient grows from an alcohol-drinking, dejected, resentful, problem-avoiding individual whose life has become unmanageable, to a more confident, friendly individual who has gone through a painful process of self awareness and who no longer tries to use alcohol to solve his life problems. This is brought about in a drug-free environment through group involvement, Alcoholics Anonymous, education, recreational psychotherapy, psycho-drama and family therapy.
"During the initial two weeks, the patient is as rapidly as possible withdrawn from other medications (many of our patients, although 'dry,’ when admitted here are chemically not 'sober’ because their doctor may have unwittingly switched them over to a tranquilizer). Usually in less than one week the patient is free of any medication other than antabuse and vitamins. From then on when he gets anxious or depressed we prescribe people instead of pills.”
And this is where Paul Attaway comes in. He is people. He’s been there—the entire route. He’s suffered, he s had his problems and he has recovered. Paul is a good counselor.
Captain Pursch continues:
The group counselor is without a doubt the mainstay of the ARS. He is an active duty recovered alcoholic with two to ten years of sobriety who serves as a role model and as a supportive but firm example of identification. It quickly becomes apparent to all patients that although the average counselor has had most of the troubles and bad breaks that the patient has had, he now stands tall, looks confident, and smiles easily. The patient also learns that the counselor’s car is paid for, his family is happy, he has money in the bank, he has many things that he could only dream about during his
Flanked by chiefs of other commands’ Alcohol Rehabilitation Services, Captain Punch addresses an audience of physicians and psychologists u ho have come to Long Beach for a tuo-ueek training period.
days of self-destructive drinking and that he now is a non-drinking, sober, highly respected member of his community. Thus, the counselor becomes a tremendous source of inspiration to the patient and visible proof that the system works.”
According to Captain Putsch, "We are trying to help the Navy’s medical personnel to recognize the alcoholic. We have covered for him too long. Let’s treat him in the earlier stages so we can help him lead a productive life.”
In order to increase a hospital staff’s knowledge about the diagnosis and treatment of alcoholism, and in order to make the staff more comfortable with the various aspects of alcohol abuse, Doctor Pursch meets in formal teaching sessions with physicians, nurses, corpsmen, and administrators. An increased awareness, as evidenced by the rising number of requests for consultations which they are now getting from wards and the emergency room, suggests that this approach is going to be highly effective.
Make him turn to at shining bright work,
Make him turn to at shining bright work, Make him turn to at shining bright work,
Early in the morning!
Also, an increasing number of dependents and retired personnel are being admitted to the ARS for detoxification by the staff physician who is on duty in the emergency room when they are brought there by family and police. Formerly, these patients were either given some tranquilizers and sent home "because you don’t have the DTs” or they were admitted to the hospital for treatment of a related disorder without alcoholism being mentioned or with no particular efforts being made to get the patient into treatment.
Another outgrowth of the hospital teaching program is an increasing number of in-patient transfers. A recent example is a 20-year-old Marine who had shot himself in the chest in a suicide attempt. After lifesaving surgery on the thoracic service he was still somewhat depressed and was being readied for administrative separation. Fortunately, he got drunk on liberty and on closer examination was diagnosed as having chronic alcoholism. He was transferred to the ARS and has since then experienced dramatic changes in his total person- ability functioning. He is comfortably abstinent and has
returned to active duty with a totally different kind of motivation. Another example is an HM1 who was on independent duty on a destroyer and was admitted to the neuropsychiatry ward with the diagnosis depressive reaction. Examination by the neuropsychiatry department revealed alcoholism as the primary diagnosis. The patient was then seen by ARS in consultation and transferred.
A most important phase of Captain Putsch's education program is training physicians and psychologists from other naval commands. These professionals check into the service for a two-week training period. They are assigned to a group and are treated the same as the patients except for restriction and antabuse. They also get didactic lectures on medical aspects of detox and are taken to local civilian hospitals and rehab facilities to give them a broader understanding of the disease. Most of them have undergone profound changes in their attitude about alcoholism and two of them voluntarily changed their status from visitor to patient. They underwent rehabilitation and are now among the 23 recovered alcoholic Navy Medical Department officers who are sober and functioning on duty in the Navy. Doctor Pursch continues:
"The average doctor today recognizes only the medical, surgical, and orthopedic complications and is inclined to consider them as separate disease entities apart from alcoholism. Since he knows nothing about the socio-psychological aspect of the disease and because of his pessimism about the potential benefits of treatment, he tends to patch up the complications, unwittingly enabling the patient to go out and get more serious complications, without the primary condition ever being treated—until it is too late. Since the availability of services is ever more increasing, it follows that education of the health care deliverer will enable him to make the diagnosis of alcoholism and to get the patient into treatment sooner.
"Eventually emergency room treatment and medical detoxification of the alcoholic will be looked
upon nor so much as therapy bur rarher as a means of referral for treatment. To that end, our hospital staffs need to be educated.”
Doctor Pursch added, "Men, good men, such as Paul Attaway should have been treated at the onset of their disease, not years later after suicide attempts. Paul was one of the lucky ones. A great many have succeeded in taking their own lives, either abruptly or by gradually drinking themselves to death.”
Attaway added, "The Navy covered up for me for so damned long, I felt like I was emerging from the womb when I became a part of this program. This is the big problem” he commented, "we keep our drunks in the back rooms and in the closets like we do our mentally retarded children. It’s high time we recognize this and seek help for our 'children.’”
In the September 1972 issue of U. S. Navy Medicine. a statement from BuMed was issued,
Make him clean out all the spit-kids, Make him clean out all the spit-kids, Make him clean out all the spit-kids, Early in the morning!
"Alcoholism is a serious threat to the individual, his family, his community, industry, and the military services. Department of Defense and Secretary of the Navy instructions were issued to implement new policies on alcoholism which require enlightened attitudes and techniques by command and Medical Department personnel. Alcoholism is preventable and treatable. An alcoholic is no longer considered physically unfit for continued military service or employment because alcoholism can be arrested. To treat alcoholism effectively, it must be viewed objectively and freed from stigma. . . .
". . . Early identification of the potential alcoholic is essential and will occur at his command and in our medical facilities in a variety of ways. The obvious case needs no further discussion. In every hospital and dispensary, however, we see patients with fractures, depressive reactions, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, neuritis, vitamin deficiencies, hepatitis, convulsions, psychoses, and many other clinical conditions where the primary problem is alcoholism. Sometimes alcoholism is not recognized, is ignored or even denied. Concealing alcoholism with the diagnosis of other conditions is not meeting our responsibilities.”
The Navy and other military departments have intensified their "early detection” program.
"To wait for an alcoholic to recognize his own illness ls to wait for his illness to become far advanced,” reads
an article by Captain Pursch in the March 1974 issue of Naval Aviation News. "Nobody goes to the doctor saying, Hey, my life is going great, I am happy, I got money in the bank, I was just picked up early for commander, but I think I am an alcoholic. Can you help me?”’
Few people are aware of early detection signs of the alcoholic or potential alcoholic. An old saying goes, an alcoholic cannot be helped unless he wants help. "This is a myth,” Dr. Pursch comments. "We are proving it every day here at Long Beach. We’re treating, effectively, alcoholics who were involuntarily admitted to our ward.”
Master Chief Attaway added, "Supervisors, anyone in charge of someone, should be aware of the early warning signs: problem drinking, an early morning drink, depression, and so forth. The supervisor should do something about it. We’ve been covering too long.
I waited 30 years for help. If I, or one of my bosses, could have recognized my disease years ago, my life would have been better for it. Now, I’ve never been happier nor has my life seemed to have meant more to me. I’m doing a job I enjoy, my home life is a happy, contented one and I can see years of enjoyment ahead of me.”
He paused a moment, then added, "I reckon I’ve counseled around 1,500 abusers since I’ve been a counselor—that’s enough to make anyone feel happy.”
And happy he is—Master Chief Paul Attaway, U. S. Navy Boatswain’s Mate, a recovered alcoholic and "damned proud of it,” intends to spend the rest of his life counseling and educating.
"I have 34 years in the Navy now, and I intend to stay just as long as they’ll let me. I want to make up for those years the Navy hid me undercover. My last good conduct award is the only one I got while I was sober. I’d like to get a few more,” he grinned and added, "as a sober sailor.”
That’s what you do with a drunken sailor,
I hat’s what you do with a drunken sailor, I hat’s what you do with a drunken sailor, Early in the morning!
W. R. Robinson, a 20-vear civil service career man with the Department of the Navy, has published several hundred articles and short stories in publications ranging from Science Digest to Mike Shayne’s Mystery Magazine. He is now serving as a Command Information Specialist for the Naval Regional Medical Center. Long Beach. California.