"He did a tour of Iraq. You don't even look at the front door because you're so afraid someone in military garb is going to come up and say your loved one isn't coming home," Craig Mansfield said.
In 2003, it wasn't the front lines that killed Mansfield's 23-year-old son Christopher. It was a drunk driver.
"He did nothing wrong. I can still hear the moment he took his final breath. It's forever etched in my mind," Mansfield said.
In June 2003, Christopher Mansfield was riding his motorcycle when he was hit at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Ohio Avenue. He was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support before he died two days later.
It's a painful memory Craig Mansfield has to live with. But it's a feeling that inspires him to tell his son's story hoping to save others.
"When you leave the house, make sure you have a plan on how you're going to get back safe, how your friends will get back safe," Mansfield said.
That message is especially important this weekend. Fans will be filling the bars cheering on their NCAA basketball teams, many others will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day, while the alcohol continues to flow.
"The numbers are staggering: 30,000 DUIs a year, 90,000 nationwide," Mansfield said.
In 2007, St. Patrick's Day was on a Saturday, like it is this year. The Colorado Department of Transportation says 363 drivers were arrested for DUI. Since then, there's been a 48 percent increase of drunk driving arrests on the holiday.
The crackdown on drunk drivers is not cheap. Police say on average, a DUI can cost more than $10,000.
This weekend, 114 law enforcement agencies from around the state will be out in droves starting Friday night though Monday morning looking for drunk drivers.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)