Same Home Group for Twenty-Seven Years — That’s How I’m Still Here – Phil B.

About This Speaker Tape

Phil B. grew up in Atlanta in a family loaded with alcoholism on his father's side. He started blacking out at 13, got his first public drunk at 17 under a red light at the Kroger, and picked up another three days later behind the Northeast Plaza bowling alley. A judge's puzzled logic that running from police meant he was "less drunk" rattled him enough to stay dry for nine months — but he drifted back because other substances never did for him what alcohol did: made him ten foot tall and bulletproof.

His mother pushed him into the Navy to get him away from the crowd and the blackouts. The Navy didn't fix it. Stationed on the USS Canopus in Charleston, he stacked up nine public drunks, a DUI, and an assaulting-a-police-officer charge in 18 months. A military treatment center became his first AA exposure — but he went to jail on weekend liberty three weeks in. He was dishonorably discharged on December 6, 1984; the same day he picked up his last public drunk at Memorial Drive and 285 coming home.

At 22 he walked into the NABBA Club chasing a rumor about pool tables, picked up a white chip, and got a sponsor named Brent who had him on his knees morning and night, took him to three meetings per meeting, plugged him into Skyland (home group for 27 years) and a men's big book study. An 18-month first marriage taught him something was broken inside him. Years later, after an A International in Toronto, he met his Chinese wife through online dating — 12 years married, two houses in the suburbs, a sign-industry career he calls a hobby.

The hardest piece: his kid brother got sober six months behind him, stayed 2.5 years, slid from pothead-who-drank to drinker-who-smoked-pot, and at 34 killed himself — leaving four kids, the oldest 13. Phil still does what he did at the start: four to five meetings a week, surrounded by long-timers who've buried enough people to tell him the truth quickly.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Tinsley opens the Monday Night Blue Chip Speakers Meeting at the NABBA Club and reads the page 29 preamble
• 2:00 Phil introduces himself — sobriety date 'B.C., before cell phones' — grew up walking distance from the club
• 5:30 First drink at 13, instant blackouts, alcohol made him ten foot tall and bulletproof
• 9:00 First arrest at 17 passed out under Claremont Road red light; second arrest three days later behind Northeast Plaza bowling alley
• 14:30 Navy sends him to Charleston — USS Canopus submarine tender; nine public drunks, a DUI, and assaulting a police officer in 18 months
• 23:00 Enters the military treatment center — his first AA meetings — takes him two weeks to say his name and 'alcoholic' in the same sentence
• 28:30 Weekend liberty three weeks into treatment ends with him in jail — driving his drunk friend on a suspended license
• 33:00 Dishonorable discharge December 6, 1984 — last public drunk at Memorial Drive and 285 on the way home
• 38:00 Walks into the NABBA Club chasing a rumor about pool tables; meets sponsor Brent on the wailing wall
• 50:00 Kid brother gets sober six months behind him, relapses years later, commits suicide at 34 leaving four kids