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Comment by Morizero | Hacker News Reader

Nice read but doesn't mention much about the modern decline of battlefield drinking. My understanding is that it's due to deployed women being at high risk of assault from a fellow soldier when alcohol is involved, but I've never really read a comprehensive analysis about it.

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The decline of alcohol in the services predates even serious consideration of integrating the services. A combination of factors have changed matters, but the two biggest are:

-Alcohol has always been trouble for discipline and getting work done. It was just... unavoidable. People didn't drink water, they drank weak (or strong) booze, and that shaped cultures. It was still trouble, "What do you do with a drunken sailor?"

-Other drugs came to dominate, either openly or prescribed (Go and No-Go pills for example) or covertly and for fun.

http://theconversation.com/the-enemy-within-the-battle-over-...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207276/

Or the modern instances of battlefield drinking - there's many tricks for circumventing the prohibition on alcohol in current warzones.

Sure, there's always mouthwash.

Haha, try engine degreaser.

I prefer gasoline.

Your understanding is wrong. It has more to do with pent up emotions of soldiers and dealing with the trauma of war in violent and unhealthy ways when alcohol is involved.

Also Marines get roudy when drunk (source: 5 years in the corps) and the culture there encourages fighting and violence.

It has very little to do with sexual assault.

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