So, How'd I Do?

George Grand

1:30 this morning the goddamn telephone goes off. My wife, the former Theresa Talamonti, jumps out of bed first to get it. I figure for sure it's the phone call about my dad, who'll soon be 75. NOPE!

We hired a young boom operator about 3 months ago into a full-time job with us. Right out of the Air Force, he might be 24-25.
"George, I'm in a bad jam. State police got me in a DUI roadblock. Can you help me out?"

"Yeah, where you at?"

"I don't know."

"That's good. Put a trooper on the phone."

"MSgt Grand, if you're this kids supervisor, come get him, or he's going down for DUI."

"I'm on the way, where you at?"

"Willis Honda, Highway 130, just north of Burlington."(15 miles or so from my home)

I get up there and people are getting hauled off big time. This is a major artery through South Jersey. At first I thought it was an accident scene with all the road flares and ****. There has to be 10-15 troopers with cars on this job. I see the kid in the dealership parking lot, sitting on top of his truck, still wearing a flying suit (probably the only thing that saved him). Talk my way up to the front of the line and the HMFiC hands me the kids license and keys and tells me not to let him have his **** back till tomorrow.

"You got it trooper! Have a good Thanksgiving, me and knucklehead are going back to my house."

Got home about 2:30, threw him on the couch, went back to bed (with visions of him puking all over my couch).

I got up at 6:30 showered, woke his sorry, knucklehead **** up, made sure he could pass muster, and dropped him back off at his truck.

He's got a lot to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving. A DUI around here is a death sentence unless you work right across the street from where you live. Automatic 6 month license suspension, and about $2 billion in fines. License points, insurance surcharges, the gift that keeps on giving. He lives about 20 miles from the airbase so he's truly a lucky boy. No mass transit around here.

I have a lot to be thankful for too this Thanksgiving. He didn't puke all over the couch.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

DAGLJAM6

I knew it all along you really are a softy GG.
Just remind him how lucky he is, the next time you see him, with a swift boot to ****.
Been there and learned quickly keep it on the straight and narrow, you live longer and with fewer headaches in the end.

Dave

TroyD

Having been around the Air Force a bit, I can tell you, George just saved someone's career. Now THAT (George) is the type of MSgt you want to work for. Old school.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, sir.

BDT

bikezappa

A+

George Grand

Kid's got nobody else around here. His parents, probably younger than me, live in Florida.

I'll still have to give him the speech. The "You can call me for anything now except for two things" speech.

Don't call me if you get busted as a child molester, and don't call me if this particular **** happens again. I don't deal in kid touchers, or PATTERN bad behavior.

He's not in my squadron, and I'm certainly not HIS supervisor. We have two flying squadrons in the wing, and he's a member of the other one.

I'm glad the first three people who chimed in are good friends. I'm glad you guys approve. I'm sure there'll be differing opinions, but you are the kind of guys that count. Everybody else will count also, even the opposing views.

Happy Thanksgiving guys. Especially you chubs.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

RuSsMaN

And people wonder why George SWEATS good karma....

I'm not suprised.

Cheers,
Russ

dorokusai

Excellent - (The Simpsons Mr. Burn's Voice)

bikezappa

George do you ever wonder why he called you and not some one else?

He may need a mentor.

TroyD

I'm sure that it's not just the Air Force but you KNOW (regardless if they are your supervisor or not) who the stand up guys are. Help you out when you need it and will also administer that swift kick in the **** when required as well. THOSE guys are becoming increasingly rare.

BDT

George Grand

He doesn't need one as bad as I do (a mentor).

I'm probably the only person he could remember to call.

Looks like nothing but close family chiming in at this point, with nothing but an indication they would've done the same thing I did.
Thanks ladies.

George

TroyD

Yup, I'm out......get ready to get feasting and being thankful (not in that order)


Pass my best wishes on to the ladies.

Troy

phoneisbusy

Sounds like the lad got an early Christmas present. Hopefully he remembers that when you're giving him the talk.

regards

Dave

George Grand

I'll do that, and raise you one......

Please give to YOUR Mrs, a whole bunch of kisses,

Tell her they're from, the one she misses.

George B. Shelley

Strong Bad

Would have chimed in earlier, but I wanted to enjoy sleeping past 6am on a weekday.

WOW George, that boy dodged a HUGE bullet with you coming to the rescue. That could have easily spelled disaster for his career. Great move on your part! I'm sure it was a stupid young punk kid mistake on his end. Nobody ever thinks it's going to happen to them until IT DOES! I know a few people that got nailed with DWI's. Also know 1 guy that got nailed for his second even after having to go through the lawyer fees, probation, alcohol classes, you f-ing name it! Dumbass thought..."Can't happen a second time!" Well, it did!

George, I hope you ride his **** the next time you see him. Make sure he knows that this type of **** doesn't play out like baseball. It's not a "3 strikes" type of deal. He just used up his 1 "get out of jail free" card.

Excellant move George!

Happy Turkey day all!

John

dcarlson

I think, everyone makes an idiotic mistake at some point in thier life. That guy's one lucky dude you were there to bail him out of that one. I hope he learned from it.

You're a stand up guy GG.

George Grand

YOU guys are all stand-up too. It would have been easy for anyone with a differing opinion to make a good argument. Just read the papers. Innocent people getting hurt everyday.

I hear you guys loud and clear about the **** kicking. But I don't know about that. I think he's just going to get the speech I mentioned above, short and sweet. The reasons for no real **** kicking are,

If he's smart, this **** won't happen again. When I tell him he can't call me anymore for THIS particular charge, he'll know where I stand.

If he's not smart, or this kind of behavior IS genetic, or just plain out of his control, no amount of **** whip on my part will have any bearing whatsoever on his situation.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

dorokusai

I know when I was in that there was nothing my chief wouldn't have done to help our little commo shop.....just me and my homeboy Pickles. I assure you we got into some trouble in one way or the other.

That went across the board in my battery. All the old school guys were well known for helping the gang, and most people knew that if they did help you, you may be getting your **** worked the hell out the next day or week, haha.

Alpha Gators!

I may know George just a little, but it's obvious he was hardcore when I first met him. Nice to see the reputation continue.

shack

This is the kind of thing I like to see in what has become a "ZERO TOLERANCE" society. To me zero tolerance is the battle cry of the hoard of gutless wonders who are so afraid of making a decision that "might" be wrong or offend someone. It seems no one wants to use common sense or judgement when dealing with a problem. (Like the kid who brings a nail file to school and is suspended for the year beacause it could be a dngerous weapon) Sometimes....just sometimes people make real mistakes...and if the people who have the authority will use a little common sense, compassion, judgement and a strong dose of teaching it could make a huge differnce for the future instead of just ruining a life for the sake of PC. Good for you George. Let's hope you made a difference.

Happy Thanksgiving!

steveinaz

Good job MSG; being a retired Army NCO I really miss the satisfaction of helping troops thru hard times, it gave my job alot of honor and meaning. I'd let them suffer thru some situations, just so they'd learn a little something--but if it was serious, I would do what I could. I can hear them saying:

"Sarge, I owe you big time" my reply would be "You don't owe me ****, you wanna pay me back? Learn something from this.."

You the man, George.

Jstas

I've had the undesireable opportunity to deal with this kind of stuff on much more than one occassion. Usually, the trip back to where ever the miscreant is heading to is laced with profanities and not so nice descriptions of where thier intelligence has scampered off to and they should go find it.

Yeah, you're right, lotsa innocent people get hurt. If people knew how many drunk drivers there were out there vs. the number of accidents occurred, they'd be stunned.

Honestly though, it's the fear of having it happen that will scare a person straight. So just getting caught and having your master sargent called to come pick you up at 0'dark-thirty in the morning is enouth for your average grunt, squid, what have you to realize they really screwed up. Not making him pay for it physically is going to make much more of an impact on him that hours of physical labor will. Why? 'Cause if you don't tell him that he is going to get off easy, he'll spend the entire day wondering when he was gonna get reamed.

So I'd call him into your office, an office or a conference room at the end of the day and give him your speech. Let him suffer through the day by his own devices. He'll learn to be more responsible when drinking and he'll also get it into his head that you are someone much more wise and experienced than he is and not to **** around.

Only draw back is that you might get another 0'dark-thirty call to come pick him up for something else again!

Anyway, good for you George. I'd have to go buying a new size 9 right boot today and he'd being seeing Dr. Clark down at the hospital to have my Wolverine removed from his aft regions!

F1nut

You did the right thing and now it's up to him not to screw up again.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

gidrah

Good move my friend. You would probably be the one I called too.

sowen010599

Most would say, you get what you get. Especially when it's not family and it's stupid-30 in the morning. But for an airman, that's a career killer. Good job George, you saved his skin. That says a lot about your character. U's a good man.

Just don't let him get off so easy he does it again. Make it a "learning experience".

brettw22

Good on ya George.....

Hope he's smart enough to pick up on what exactly has been done for him.

Happy T-day boys (and girls)...........

George Grand

The state troopers deserve all the credit. The bulls POTENTIALLY had a lot more to lose than me. Let's face it, I didn't see anybody else's "supervisor" up there getting them off the hook. That flying suit with the patches is what got him special treatment. It's also one of the things that concerns me. Everybody got cut loose at 2-3PM yesterday afternoon, no late flying. What the F*!K is this kid doing still dressed in a flight suit getting shitface past midnight? I know there's a certain amount of "pick up the honeys" factor involved, but this is really blatant ignorance. Or he really needs to get laid bad. He wasn't anywhere near the airbase when he got popped.

So the real credit goes to the bulls like I said.

Thank you all again for helping me feel like I definitely did the right thing. I'm glad I heard from Jesse, the eldest among us.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

simm

As the father of a 20 year old serving in the Air Force, currently serving in Qutar, I hope my son has better sense than to drink and drive but I also know that he probaly has and/or will. If he does and is caught I hope he will be fortunate to catch a break with someone like you. I would also hope he got the **** chewing from hell the next morning.

Certainly not condoning drinking and driving as it is truely stupid and irresponsible but am sure most of us have at one time or another gotten behind the wheel when we shouldn't have. I am definitely a believer if you do it and get caught more than once you should be maxed out sentencing wise.

By the way he called the other day to say he was having a beer with Rick Flair and Chris Benoit.

Great group of guys here........

Tour2ma

Kudos, GG... for the save to be sure, but even more for laying down the law to the lad.

DarqueKnight

I do not drink, but according to friends and acquaintances who do, the state police around here will usually give a break to a motorist caught for DUI provided that:

1. They find no prior DUI or DWI offenses after running the offender's license.
2. The offender can provide the phone number of someone who can come get him/her.
3. The offender does not act in a belligerent, disrespectful, or obnoxious manner toward the officer(s).

I understand that the city police are not as forgiving.

Provided that no one has been injured or no property damage occurred, I see no reason why someone should have their career ruined and/or incur severe financial penalties for one stupid mistake. However, if they do it again, they deserve whatever penalties the state can hand down.

I had an uncle and a cousin killed by a drunk driver. My mother was seriously injured after her car was struck by a drunk driver. She fully recovered physically, but she stopped driving after the accident.

BlueMDPicker

Originally posted by George Grand
Thank you all again for helping me feel like I definitely did the right thing. I'm glad I heard from Jesse, the eldest among us.

In the FWIW department, I believe you did the right thing and in the right way. I hope the old addage "no good deed will go unpunished" won't apply here. And, if it ever does, you sound like the kind of guy with the moxie to plumb this kid up quick.

BTW - Jesse is just a pup. I've got socks older than him.

F1nut

LOL......I think Mr. "Good Deed" Grand was refering to the people that had responded up to that point. He has, as have many others here including your old arse a few years on me.

jcaut

I'm betting not many among us can claim to have never had one of those potentially life-changing "young and stupid" moments.

That fellow was extremely lucky that he had someone like Mr. Grand to call at 1:30 in the morning. I think he'll remember that one for the rest of his life.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all you guys!

Jason