For clarification, the smoking areas at VA hospitals (AFAIK) are always out of doors and always some bit removed from any entrance so non-smokers might come and go without being inconvenienced.
I’m an anti-smoking nazi and I think if anyone has earned the right to stupidly smoke cigarettes, it’s anyone who is eligible for treatment at a VA hospital. Not to forget, the government saw to it that field rations included cigarettes up until the year that Saigon fell, 1975. So quite a number of the Vets still receiving care at these facilities came by their addiction with government approval and support. So it seems a bit hypocritical that the VA should even consider denying them their nicotine fix during those absurdly long waits at the VA. Lord knows there’s been many a time when I wished I DID smoke so there’d be something to do to break up the monotony.
Indeed thank you for the reminder and the history.