How Hard Should It Be for a Soldier to Get a Smoke?

nationalreview.com ^ | 10/10/2014 | Charles C W Cooke

[rktman]

The Defense Department wants to ban tobacco sales on bases and ships.

[Drango]

Sorry, I’m watching football and can’t help you tonight. You and google DOD department memo titled “Reducing Tobacco Use in the Armed Forces and the Department of Defense”

[xrmusn]

In fact, when I’m close to death, I will instruct my son to bring a shot of the finest bourbon and a cigarette.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Sounds like a ‘plan’.

My ‘plan’ is

I figure I went 17 years and pretty much behaved myself, smoking and drinking wise (played all 3 sports in HS and lived in small towns), went in USN @ 17 and spent the next 34 yrs honing my skills and at 51, while up to 4 packs of regular Camels and a case and half of Bud (avg) daily, I quit both ‘cold turkey’. (Had a DUI and ‘blew’ a 2.9 and had been standing around talking to the cops and I had built up such a high tolerance they couldn’t believe their own equipment).

NOW, I figure that I will go 68 yrs and pick up where I left off at 51.

(not by design all was in 17 yrs increments... So just like a locust I guess)..

I just passed my 24 yr ‘abstinence’ period.

I do have a feeling that if I were somehow not able to drive, I would probably go back to my ‘Joyful Ways’...

I do feel like ‘Rev Jim’ in Taxi though. He was going to give someone a wedding present and said he would give them ALL the money he had saved in his not drinking or drugging for the past 15 years....he had about 38 cents....

[1_Rain_Drop]

"....However, I seem to recall that the red was replaced with green on the packages sometime during the war."

I think it's the other way around. Lucky Strike was originally green. During the war, the color green was needed so LS went red.

A commentary on "Madmen" is where I probably heard this.

[octex]

I think it’s the other way around. Lucky Strike was originally green. During the war, the color green was needed so LS went red.
*************************
Thank you for correcting me! That makes a LOT more sense; changing from green to red. ....I was a war baby and only about 3y/o when the war ended, so I was only recalling the phrase of LS Green going to war.

[octex]

Thanks for the visual. It shows that 1 rain drop was correct and that my thinking was reversed. I’m straightened out now!

[Figment]

“That’s a Libertarian solution.”

Nice the way you changed that opinion to a “workplace and ownership” argument. You are nothing more than a lib that believes in forcing your ideal on everyone else. Liberaltarins are nothing more than tyranny light

[zeestephen]

I didn’t change anything.

I started with that argument.

If you don’t like your job, get a new job.

Were you in the Army?

If so, you received - and obeyed - a thousand petty, stupid, unfair orders.

Why should cigarettes be an exception?

Or is being part of the howling mob that is attacking my posts just a clever way to disguise your nicotine addiction?

[CodeToad]

Men willing to put themselves in harms way, to be killed, somehow don’t deserve to smoke tobacco. As idiotic as any liberal conclusion I’ve ever heard.

[Figment]

There is a howling mob attacking your post? You might want to get a clue

[Jet Jaguar]

Active Duty ping.

[zeestephen]

I count 20 responses to my posts on this thread, most of them personal attacks.

If that’s not a howling mob, what exactly am I supposed to “get a clue” about?

[Mr Rogers]

“I have no problem with this. / The taxpayers - current and future - pay for military health care.”

Just about everyone in the USA will end up on Medicare...so get out there and go jogging! And eat your veggies! And don’t TOUCH any fast food, ice cream, dairy products, eggs, or bacon - the US Government has decided how you need to live to reduce cost to the taxpayer!

Welcome to the land of freedom...

[Figment]

“what exactly am I supposed to “get a clue” about?”

You are a difficult person to deal with. I’m sure you’re really fun at work. You belong over at DU.

[zeestephen]

Can you smoke in your workplace, Mr. Rogers?

[jpsb]

The smoking lamp is out.

[jpsb]

FU

[Mr Rogers]

Not in the office I last worked in. Neither could I keep a cell phone with me.

A base is not a workplace. It is a “live” place. Those who have been in the military know the difference. And while I don’t deny the LEGALITY of the order, I do question its wisdom.

You seem, when I was in the military, people shot at me. And my SIL has brain damage from IEDs, in addition to damage to his shoulders and back from carrying so much weight in combat. In fact, he’s on disability for the brain damage, spine damage, shoulder damage, knee damage, and the dysentery that nearly killed him in Iraq may have permanently damaged his pancreas.

BTW - my Dad smoked. But it didn’t cost the government anything, because he was killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam.

Oh...and I’m now getting twice a year checkups from a dermatologist, paid for by the taxpayer. Something about the years spent on the flightline in places like Saudi Arabia, and the UV light while flying. They’ve removed a cancerous mole and check twice a year for others. In the military, there is more than smoking that can kill you!

You say it is reasonable so the taxpayer can save money. But you will be on Medicare someday, so we have the right to tell YOU how to live too! So why don’t you get your rear out jogging, and don’t touch ANYTHING Mr Government says is not good for you...because the government has the right to manage your daily life and what you eat. It’s to save the taxpayer money later on. It’s for the children, don’t you know! Ask Michelle for a menu.

Oh - and do NOT go outside without slathering on the sunscreen, boy. I don’t want to pay for your bad habits!

[Don W]

PERSONNEL AND
READINESS
UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
4000 DEFENSE PENTAGON
WASHINGTON, DC 20301-4000
MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARY OF THE ARMY
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE
CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
UNDER SECRET ARIES OF DEFENSE
CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S. ARMY
CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS
CHIEF OF STAFF, U.S. AIR FORCE
COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS
CHIEF OF THE NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU
ASSISTANT SECRETARIES OF DEFENSE

SUBJECT: Reducing Tobacco Use in the Armed Forces and the Department of Defense
Fifty years ago Surgeon General Luther Terry released the landmark report that
conclusively established the health hazards caused by smoking. Since that time, many public
health laws and Department of Defense (DoD) and Service policies have been enacted to reduce
smoking. It worked. As a Nation, and within the Department, we have made great progress in
reducing tobacco use. Yet, our work is far from over.
Tobacco use undercuts military readiness and harms individual performance. Lung
function is reduced, physical capabilities are diminished, hearing loss is increased, and acute
medical conditions are more likely. Wounded warriors who smoke suffer from increased risk of
surgical complications and delayed wound healing. Additional threats to smokers include higher
risk of stroke, cancer and for males, impotency. Smokeless tobacco brings similarly high risks of
oral cancers and dental disease.

Tobacco use costs DoD an estimated $1 .6 billion annually in
medical costs and lost work time.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death; one-half of smokers will die from a
smoking-related complication. For DoD, this equates to an estimated 175,000 current Active
Duty Service members who will die from smoking unless we can help them quit. On average,
smokers shorten their lifespan by ten years. Fortunately, they can regain all or nearly all of these
lost years by quitting.
The Department must take a leadership role in reducing tobacco use even further.
Tobacco use in the military remains higher than in the DoD civilian population and in the Nation
at large. Although we stopped distributing cigarettes to our Service members as part of their
rations, we continue to permit, if not encourage, tobacco use.

The prominence of tobacco
products in retail outlets and permission for smoking breaks while on duty sustain the perception
that we are not serious about reducing the use oftobacco.
The Military Health System is committed to focusing on preserving wellness. Our
military medical leaders have pledged their full support for this effort to reduce tobacco use
across the Department. Our goal is to dramatically reduce the use of all tobacco by 2020.
Individual military communities are taking action to curtail tobacco use, but we must develop
more aggressive, organization wide reforms. Structural reforms in how and where we allow
tobacco purchases to be made; as well as the need to consider tobacco-free installations, are all
matters that require our near-term attention.

We appreciate your active engagement and leadership on this issue and look forward to
hearing about your successes and best practices.
cc:
Surgeon General of the Army
Surgeon General of the Navy
Surgeon General of the Air Force
Surgeon General of the National Guard Bureau
Director, Defense Health Agency
Joint Staff Surgeon
2
~~right ~n{J.wJ

Funny thing about this particular document, it’s dated March 2014.

After reading the whole thing, all I see is another bureaucrat’s attempt at justifying its job. No actual information is contained, just opinion, agenda, and some made-up numbers...

[Drango]

The flat earthers will never accept any document or science that says smoking is bad. It’s absurd that we should degrade the fitness of our military.

[cva66snipe]

Years ago I smoked. Gave it up for good about 27 years ago except a very rare occasional cigar. On ship getting a chance to smoke and an authorized space was sometimes a challenge. That restriction was due to safety. But that said it was also a morale issue that it was allowed where possible and practical.

You were deployed for six months & working 18 plus hour days most of the time. Sitting around the shop in off time at sea, playing Spades, drinking a Coke from an unauthorized but known to all Coke mess, smoke them if you had them, and kicking back was a needed break from six months of Groundhog Day. I doubt many got more than a half a pack smoked a day.