After reading Act 1 of Journey's End, I began to understand why Stanhope was against going home. He feels immense pressure to be a hero to his family and friends but feels like by using alcohol as a coping mechanism he's failed to make his fiancée proud. When Raleigh joins his company, he knows his old friend will be shocked by what he's turned into in the last three years of the war. The brutality of what he has witnessed has turned Stanhope to drink, however he only crosses the violent line of camp safety whilst doped on whisky.