DUI costs lieutenant thousands Published July 17, 2006 By Col. Rob Federico Air Armament Center Staff Judge Advocate EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Recently, a 22-year-old, new Air Force second lieutenant never dreamed she would be standing at attention in front of the two-star Air Armament Center commander to receive an Article 15 for driving while under the influence. This “bright young officer” never thought about having to forfeit up to $1,208 a month and having to pay off a $23,000 Air Force Institute of Technology student loan the Air Force will no longer pay for her. Hopefully, her fun night was worth what might be the end of what could’ve been a promising Air Force career. I imagine the evening was going well. Afterward, her friends got the lieutenant safely back to lodging. But she must have gotten hungry or thirsty and decided to drive over to the Shoppette. Security forces went to the Shoppette after someone called in a complaint of a “drunken female, sitting in her car in the parking lot.” When the responding security forces officers found the lieutenant, they described her as having “a strong odor of alcohol emitting from her person, glossy eyed and slurred speech.” When the lieutenant was taken back to the security forces building and asked to perform the field sobriety test — the result was “swaying profusely, not being able to keep her balance, missed heel to toe … used her arms to maintain her balance.” The intoxilyzer breath sample results were 0.220 and 0.209, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08. The lieutenant felt the payoff of her selfish actions first-hand as the center commander informed her that she would be helping him send a strong message to all of Team Eglin — drinking and driving is unacceptable. The lieutenant received the maximum punishment — forfeitures of $1,208 pay per month for two months, a reprimand and the establishment of an Unfavorable Information File. She lost her base driving privileges too. The next time you are drinking and thinking about driving, imagine a big screen TV or the down payment on a car, with a big red X over them. Because that’s how expensive a DUI can be. Even worse, think of going to jail and the guilt you would have to live with looking at the faces of the parents of a child you’ve just injured or killed because you were intoxicated.