Perfection, deterrence key to mission readiness Published Feb. 10, 2010 By Tech. Sgt. Thomas Dow Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Deterrence. Perfection. Attention to detail. These words could be used to describe the nuclear mission here. However, it also describes the mission and the driving force of another important program here. It is Minot Air Force Base's drug demand reduction program. "We are here for deterrence to support mission readiness," said Mrs. Lisa Peckham, 5th Medical Operations Squadron behavioral health flight DDRP manager. "One of my colleagues said it best when he said we provide a drug free Air Force to support global power and global reach for the United States of America." The Air Force Drug Testing Program deters the use and abuse of controlled illegal substances through a comprehensive program of education, prevention, and deterrence. The results this program garners is based in scientific data and forensic evidence. According to Mrs. Peckham, the process begins when a person is randomly chosen by the work center's computer. "When we come here in the morning, we have no idea who is going to be tested for the day," said Peckham. "No one is preselected or anything. The names are chosen using a computer-based program called the Air Force Drug Testing Program." Once the individual is selected, a letter is sent via encrypted email to the program's trusted agents. The agents then notify the person selected. They then have two hours to come to be tested. The person arrives at the medical facility and signs-in. If they are not ready to test, they stay in place and drink water. Once able to provide a sample, they remove the top of the bottle and verify their social security number and their name are correct on both the paperwork and bottle label. "We go through the rules and have them open and look in the bottle and show the observer to ensure nothing is in there," said Peckham. "The sample bottle must come back half full because if it comes back positive, there are three tests they do to triple check findings." Once done, they put a tamper proof seal on the bottle and ship them out in batches of 12 to the AF Drug Testing Lab at Brooks City-Base, Texas. All these steps must be accomplished with no mistakes, every time. According to Mr. Vince Tomasi, 5th MOS behavioral health flight drug testing program administrating manager, attention to detail and being perfect is vital for an important reason. "This has to stand up in court," said Mr. Tomasi. "It's got to be forensically defensible. You have a right to know that everything was done right. It has to be done correctly to stand up under the scrutiny because this could be someone's career." Peckham said there were numerous myths about "beating" the testing system. She has heard anything from magic elixirs to flushing the drugs out of your system. "No magical substance can be taken to defeat the urinalysis test," she said. "And there are a lot of myths saying you can flush your system. However, the lab can detect it, see something is fishy and will know something is going on." The DDRP office receives feedback on every sample sent for testing. If the sample comes back negative, then no further action is required. If the sample is positive, a medical review officer pulls the persons dental and medical records to see if the individual has a prescription for the drug. He then makes a determination if it is a valid positive reading or not. If the medical review officer finds that the sample indeed has an illegal substance in it, a lab report with the amount of illegal substance in the sample goes to security forces, legal, office of special investigations, the Alcohol/Drug Abuse Prevention &Treatment office, as well as the individual's commander and first sergeant. Because of the visibility of the wing commander's program and the fact that a person's career could be impacted, the men and women of the DDRP take their job seriously and hold themselves to a high standard. "We have to be perfect in all we do," said Peckham. "It's a reflection not only on us but a reflection also on the wing commander. We can't allow for any mistakes."