I was (am) a pipe and cigar smoker so any old port in a storm. If they said "smoke 'em if you got them" cigarettes were it. They were worn down by the ankle though not the calf.
Posted on 08/11/2019 10:53:24 AM PDT by re_tail20
Mention of the American military-industrial complex conjures up images of massive weapons procurement programs and advanced technologies: supersonic bombers, strategic missiles, armor-plated tanks, nuclear submarines, and complex space systems. However, a key element of the military lifestyle for many years was not a weapon or even a machine, but one of the world’s most highly engineered consumer products: the manufactured cigarette.
U.S. soldiers used to smoke often in historical footage, so why don’t they anymore? Why are U.S. military officers now banned from smoking in uniform on some installations? Looking back at military smoking culture, stark distinctions separate the past and the present: Hardly anyone smokes in public on bases today. There are no cigarette billboards, no smoke breaks on the rifle range, no ash trays in the squadron bar, and no smoke-filled post-mission briefing rooms.
The demise of soldierly smoking during the 20th century is a story of power, politics, culture, and money. The nearly 90-year-long relationship reveals how difficult it can be to extricate the government from corporate collaboration once companies get entrenched in partnerships. And, of course, when an intensely passionate affair turns sour, the fists—and the lobbyists—come out.
But the love between the Army and the cigarette all started rather innocently on the World War I battlefield. After a year of war, the Army decided to give out cigarettes to enlisted men because they wanted to keep them calm during battle and free of boredom. The Army was aided, ironically, by the Y, which also handed out billions more manufactured cigarettes to soldiers. For its part, the Y wanted to keep men from liquor and sex workers. The vice of manufactured cigarette smoking was the happy compromise from which everyone got something.
Soon Y volunteers could be found in every corner of the frontlines providing “loosies”...
(Excerpt) Read more at zocalopublicsquare.org ...
I remember in boot camp the cc would say “those of you who smoke..fall out!” As they would lounge around for 10 minutes smoking their butts watching the rest of us being roughly abused. We learned real quick there were benefits to being a smoker. Then on cruises, with all the stress of our missions, since Marlboroughs were only 10 cents a pack, we literally lived on coffee, cigarettes. Now at 61 with MS I’m still trying and NEED to kick the habit and yes..I DO blame the Navy for first getting me into it but still love them and would never dream of being part of some class action lawsuit. I’m a big boy, it was my choice. Looking back I would have done the same. It’s amazing what one will do for a ten minute break from agony.
Yes, but a beer joint is for beer.
I remember way before Credit Cards were accepted and EVERYTHING was cash as you ordered, a friend had a sign up that said
I will cash checks when the bank starts selling beer.
(He better watch out, no telling what these ‘full service’ banks will do these days)
And the cigarettes tasted like Chicklets. We had the Korean War C’s in the late 60’s and they had been together for a long time.
I can only imagine how many packs Ike must have smoked on D-Day.
I attended college between 1957 and 1962. It seemed that every day at the evening meal a tobacco company rep was at the dining hall offering a 4-cigarrette sample pack to anyone that would take it. In the beginning I did not smoke but took the samples and give them to my roommate who did. Before my freshman year was over, however, I began to avail myself of the samples, and then I was hooked. Remained a smoker from age 18 to about 30. The tobacco companies knew what they were doing. Back then we could smoke in classes. How crazy was that.
I was (am) a pipe and cigar smoker so any old port in a storm. If they said "smoke 'em if you got them" cigarettes were it. They were worn down by the ankle though not the calf.
was there ever a “fascination with explosives” phase?
"..., , seemingly at ease, he asked their names and hometowns and what they had done for a living before the war. One young paratrooper stopped just as he was boarding his plane, turned around and snapped a salute to the supreme allied commander, who returned it smartly and flashed a smile. Then Eisenhower turned away and wept..."
Pall Malls, break them in half ya got two cigarettes.
An old blacksmith once told me I needed to eat
“Blacksmith Food”.....that was green beans and Pall Malls.
I believe Ike said, that on June 5th, he was the most powerful man in the world, on June 6th, he was the most powerless.
Remember the line, Three on a match?
Take five! Smokem if you gottem.
I remember when they addd penny changers to coke machines in order to charge 6 cents for a Coke. Seems like that lasted a few weeks then the dime changers replaced both of them.
Those cigs that came with the C-rats were horrible. I don’t recall anyone who smoked them in Nam. Smokes were only 10cents a pack at the PX.
Remember when the airlines gave out the sample packs of cigarettes to passengers?
As a young teen in the mid-’50s, I’d go to the TX State Fair many times with friends. Before leaving I would always stop by the shooting gallery. The gallery used .22 short guns and offered a carton of cigarettes for certain scores. ...I always went home with a carton.
I call Bull....Hollywood glamorized it...watch any number of old movies...they just want to deflect and blame someone else....again.
LOL Nope. Stopped at plumbing phase.
Yes I recall the 6 cent cokes and the refund when we turned the bottle in. In 57 I recall that near FT. Knox in a small town called Vine Grove, KY. We had gas wars then with 17 cent a gallon there.
13 cents was the cheapest I remember but Gasoline was only a quarter for several years and through the 50s it remained at 50 cents for years. Jimmuh put an end to that.
When you think about the price of a Coke at 5 cents and you could get 2 cents back for the bottle and there was no deposit so Coke company could not have been making much more than a penny a bottle profit. When they raised the price to 10 cents that would be more than a 200% increase in profit.
Yes, I recall the 2 cent refund. That was not peanuts to us in the 50’s. I recall mowing lawns with a push mower for 2 bucks max. I also shoveled snow out of driveways (3-4 feet) for whatever a neighbor would pay. That was 2-3 bucks max. We grew up back when work was “EXPECTED.” I would not trade those days for anything. I get so PO’d with these -”I am owed” punks.
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