[same old song]

... wow.

[DBrow]

What about other intoxicants? Lots have no easy tests, requiring blood samples and complex labwork.

[FlingWingFlyer]

All this while welcoming the AIDS crowd aboard. It’s a crazy Navy Charlie Brown.

[freedumb2003]

So, the USA wants to have no human beings in the Navy.

Zero tolerance in a 100% volunteer service.

I guess Secnav can’t do the math.

[arderkrag]

This country was built by hard-smoking, hard-drinking men. Where are they now?

[max americana]

wasn’t Mabus the same clown who approved the USS Giffords?

[tcrlaf]

What a f**ed up world we live in, now.

[gaijin]

Just another example of libs trying to use the military as a lab for the quixotic theories of sociologists.

Since they’re less free by design, the military is a natural mine canary signalling for what Our Betters have planned for the rest of us.

The higher health payments required of military people —oh I’m SURE they wouldn’t do that to US, you know...?!

[W. W. SMITH]

Most mouthwashes are 40 proof. So brush your teeth, rinse with Listerine and get tagged as an alcoholic. What a great way to start a new day!

[Mariner]

The Navy has always forbade alcohol on ships. And, has always busted sailors that showed up for duty after drinking.

However, I fear this is about catching the hangovers at quarters in the morning.

THAT will put a lot of sailors in the cross hairs.

[Rembrandt]

Given a vote, I’d vote for a Naval force more hardened for battle rather than a force more regulated against enjoyment.

[Still Thinking]

[eyeroll]

[dfwgator]

But smoking poles is now officialy “Okey-Dokey.”

[Ozymandias Ghost]

If someone in the chain of command needs a friggin’ breathalyzer to determine if a Sailor is fit for duty; maybe THEY are more of a problem than drunken Sailors.

[mylife]

When I was in, drinking was a command sanctioned sport.

[a fool in paradise]

What about those homosexuals who snort poppers?

[nathanbedford]

There is another thread not far from here in which FReepers are deriding Tony Bennett for calling for legalized drugs.

On that thread we react favorably to the federal government intruding in the private lives about what we are permitted to ingest and not ingest on pain of criminal sanctions. It does so without constitutional warrant.

Here, we are dealing in an area in which the federal government has and should have extreme sweeping power over the private lives of its sailors to maintain combat effectiveness and yet in this area we have resistance from FReepers. Here the federal government is fully authorized by the Constitution to act but it has refrained from imposing criminal sanctions.

If we are conservatives, it seems to me we ought to judge matters first on their constitutionality and then on whether we like the policy rather than determining constitutionality by whether we like the policy.

[GATOR NAVY]

The department is ending the subsidy of cigarettes and other tobacco products sold at base commissaries and exchanges. The Navy is also making available smoking cessation materials to all personnel at no cost.

I was under the impression they had done this years ago when I was still active duty. I used to smoke Japanese cigarettes when I was stationed in Japan-they were cheaper than smokes on base. Sea stores are long gone. And I know the smoking cessation stuff was available. I was going to go through a program and then ended up quitting cold turkey on my own.

The alcohol crackdown doesn't surprise me a bit-it's all part of the "intrusive leadership" initiative. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not in anymore. At the end of this month I officially go on the retired list. They won't even be able to recall me anymore.

[Smokin' Joe]

Well, I guess there's still 'buggery and the lash'...

Oops, wrong navy...

[octex]

The liberals now in charge of our military are truly nuts!

I served aboard a CVA and cigarettes were $1 a carton, although we had ration cards that only allowed two cartons every two weeks (paydays). .....When in the Med, our V-2 division CMDR arranged a day off for us when we were on “holiday routine”. Liberty boats took us to a small island nearby, along with food and cases of beer. We played baseball, ate, smoked and drank a lot of beer, while getting sunburned because we didn’t wear our shirts.

During all my time aboard ship, I don’t recall smoking or drinking causing anyone to have to go to sick bay.

[SoFloFreeper]

Ray Mabus is the kook who used to be governor of Mississippi. He is an Obama arse licker.