From 1979 to 1981, I was stationed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. I dealt with military transients being discharged for various reasons as well as the marines who were assigned to the Navy's alcohol rehab and drug rehab centers in Miramar, California for treatment. It was a long time ago, but it had a lasting effect on my outlook of drug and alcohol abuse later in life.

As a leader in the Marine Corps, I often had to deal with the alcohol and drug problems my troops got mixed up in. Alcohol and drug rehabilitation services, via the Navy, or civilian hospitals, are the only things that saved the lives and careers of most of them. Rehab didn't always work — a person had to want it to work. Still, our attrition rate for rehab failures was extremely low. I remember one of my marines very well. He finished his contract and got a good job after being released from active duty. A young man with a great sense of humor, he had let alcohol abuse get the best of him. His determination made his rehab a success and I couldn't have been more proud of anyone in my life when he returned to work without the baggage of alcoholism.

The current policy of the Marine Corps is treat and release: Treat Marines who want rehab and then discharge them. They can refuse rehab, in which case they're immediately discharged. In the civilian sector, the current policy of employers (in the U.S.) is to fire those that come up positive on a urinalysis. My previous company would rehire if the employee reapplied for employment in 90 days and came up clean on the preemployment urinalysis. This is where a good, viable, and affordable rehab service comes into play. A drug rehab service, like the one provided by The Watershed, is a good place to go if you want professional solutions to your addiction problems. In this current day and age, your career as well as your life, depends on you being clean and sober.