Joint Base Charleston, S.C. -- What if your wingman, who was originally supposed to be your designated driver, had a couple of drinks and your "get home safely" back-up plan has failed? There are other wingmen you can rely on to get you home safely: Airmen Against Drunk Driving.

AADD is an all-volunteer program, which provides free, safe, confidential rides home to military members, their families and Department of Defense civilians, who make the responsible decision not to drink and drive.

"This organization provides personnel with an alternative to drinking and driving," said Staff Sgt. Stephen Kohn, 628th Security Forces Squadron Police Services non-commissioned officer in charge and JB Charleston- Air Base AADD president.

The program is activated on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. AADD also operates on Sunday if Monday is a federal holiday.

"The impact of providing a safe ride home to someone who is too intoxicated to operate a vehicle is far greater than just a simple ride," Kohn said. "It's the life of the family driving home from a vacation that you saved because you didn't allow your wingman to drive drunk. It's the financial stress that you saved your wingman by not letting him suffer the Air Force consequences of a DUI."

How it works

When an individual's first and second plan have fallen through, they can call (843) 963-AADD or 2233.

The dispatcher will then collect the following information: first name, location, descriptive clothing and amount of people to be picked up.

After this, the dispatcher will relay the information to a volunteer driver and the driver will provide the requester a safe ride home.

Volunteers

Last year, more than 4,700 hours were volunteered at JB Charleston, according to Kohn. Any military member can volunteer any weekend.

To volunteer, members must fill out the AADD Volunteer Waiver and e-mail to aadd.charleston@charleston.af.mil. Volunteers can receive the form from their squadron representative or request one from the e-mail address above.

"I've seen what drinking and driving can escalate into. I had a friend who decided to ride his motorcycle home one night after drinking too much. He t-boned a car going 90 mph. He barely lived through the accident. They had to reconstruct his face and he was in a coma for a month," said Senior Airman Gregory Greathouse, 628th Communication Squadron transmission systems technician and AADD volunteer. "I want to do my part to help prevent anyone from making the same mistake."

"AADD is a great service, but it only operates with the help from you," said Kohn. "Support from the units is critical to the overall success of the organization. Prevent a DUI this weekend by volunteering."

For more information on AADD or to volunteer, call 843-963-5809.

(AADD is a purely voluntary organization. If you are involved in an accident, it is your responsibility to have adequate insurance to cover the cost involved. Neither AADD, the U.S. Air Force nor the Department of Defense carries any liability concerning your volunteer efforts. Do not solicit funds for picking up a member. If you choose to drive the member's vehicle, you accept all risks that come along with that decision.)