Originally Posted by
ATOBTTR
I stopped traveling in uniform when possible anyway both for PERSEC/OPSEC and because I felt awkward having people buy me drinks or meals when I'm on per diem and an officer who believes that he's well paid for what he does (it makes me happy when I see some young enlisted guy get theirs comped because they don't get paid well enough for what they do but I do get paid well enough for what I do).
^ to all. If you see someone with chevrons, offer them the drink coupons; don't offer it to anyone with bars, a leaf or an eagle and certainly not stars.
When I was a wee junior O on active duty with the Navy, we were not allowed to travel in uniform; not that I ever wanted to pretty much for the reasons you well articulated. I think the only Navy people that do travel in uniform are either coming from Great Lakes aka Great Mistakes (see them all the time at ORD) or perhaps, for a funeral. I never understood why the Army made its folks travel in uniform. I just assumed it's because they wanted to be reminded about how terrible their foot-ball team is/was
Originally Posted by
ATOBTTR
If the military can justify having a bar at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar where all the personnel there are supporting combat operations, I personally think having a drink on a commercial plane or at an airport bar where one may be on duty but that only duty is traveling from point A to point B is acceptable. The key is "drink" not "drunk".
I think there are actually multiple bars there now.
Originally Posted by
ATOBTTR
Oddly other countries don't see this as an issue. Many European allies are known for having a drink at lunch. Heck the Germans and French even got booze in Afghanistan and apparently had a really nice set-up at Mazar-I-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. (US policy was no booze in Afghanistan while I was there but even that wasn't always the case).
Mazer-I-Sharif was very nice and btw, there was booze all over Camp Phoenix in Kabul when I was there too. There were a lot of French soldiers. Ten months sans booze was ROUGH!