Will the military ban smoking?

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A new study commissioned by the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs provides the military with a comprehensive and detailed plan to eventually transform all branches of the military into tobacco-free institutions, beginning with new recruits at military academies and officer training programs.

The report was prepared by the Institute of Medicine and calls for the implementation of incremental steps over the next few years, resulting in a complete ban of tobacco use in the military within 20 years or sooner.

The stated goal of the DOD is to eventually have all military installations and active-duty personnel tobacco-free.

New recruits would be targeted first, with new enlistees informed during the recruitment stage that they would be required to remain tobacco-free during their entire military careers.

The report also recommends that Army and Air Force commissaries ban the sale of tobacco products and put an end to heavily discounted tobacco products sold at other military stores.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 20 • Views: 4,097 • Replies: 48

@dyslexia,

how are folks gonna make it through basic training now?

1 Reply

Never gonna happen.
Smoking is a way to stay alert in combat situations, it helps stay awake, and it also can help someone "come down" after a combat situation.

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The military used to give out free cigarettes until fairly recently. My husband's cousin got his first cigarette from Uncle Sam during the Vietnam war. There's even a picture showing the event with him holding some kind of machine gun in one hand and the cigarette in the other. He was about 19 years old. He died of lung cancer in 1998 and that picture was on display at his funeral.

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@Green Witch,

true enough, when I was in southeast indo-china I was never without a supply of cigarettes but I never spent a dime for cigarettes either. times are changing.

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I think it would be silly to ban law abiding*, sane* adults from buying a legal product.

(*Hoping to avoid the gun nuts jumping in on this comment.)

I think smoking is already heavily regulated on base.

By 2020 tabacco will probably not be legal anyway.

I think you'd see a lot of soldiers take up smoking to get out of service. My brother told me about soldiers who tried "to eat their way out of the army" when they started enforcing stict rules about weight and physical fitness.

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@Green Witch,

good point GW. Since WWII, the military has done it's share to start teenagers in this vile habit that I share.
For awhile bennies too were issued for alertness.

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@mysteryman,

That's what the prison guards here argued. They lost.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

There is a big difference in being a prison guard and being somewhere where you are getting shot at all the time.

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@mysteryman,

Prison guards (who are often ex-military) would not necessarily agree with you.

In any case, it's a DOD report, and they'll handle it as they see fit.

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@mysteryman,

Neither of you seems to know much about prisons - or the fallout from New York Mayor Bloomberg's recent tax hikes on cigarettes.

The price of a pack of cigarettes at Rikers Island (that's a prison) stands at $100, and supply isn't a problem for anyone who can pay. Most of the rest of the city now buys cigarettes at one of many nearby Indian reservations (free transport by bus to reservations with casinos) or via friends with access to tax-freee shops at airports. Proceeds from cigarette taxes have, naturally, dropped precipitously, but not even Bloomberg claims that's due to New Yorkers actually stopping smoking.

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@dyslexia,

No. We got a whole lot of other problems to deal with first, like soldier suicides that now stand at record levels. First things first, second things never Smile

http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:6oxRfDHNoGsrVM:http://securingamerica.com/ccn/files/community/marlboro_marine_390.jpg

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@dyslexia,

As I predicted to Phoenix long ago, this is NOT about smoking. It is about government getting their foot in the door. If you don't smoke, fine for now, but just wait until the government decides to make something that you do enjoy illegal.

1 Reply

@Letty,

Hi Letty! You're exactly right - you'd think someone in the military would have heard that the 18th Amendment is the only one ever to be repealed in its entirety, not to mention that its only long-term effect was to create organized crime gangs who diversified into other lines of business after the end of Prohibition. Aren't "illegal" drugs also banned in the military?!

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Smoking on duty was prohibited in the German Navy even in 1970, only allowed with special order of commanding officer and in only in the decks.
(Smoking as guard resulted usually in arrest. Or in guarding US-facilities like cinemas, masses, church rooms etc over the Christmas period - as [than] seaman Walter can report [1959, Bremerhaven].)

Since 2006, it's generally forbidden besides in breaks in extra smoking 'corners' ... in the complete forces.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Smoking and drinking (except water, coffee etc) while on duty is banned everywhere, as far as I know, Walter. If breaks are allowed soldiers can smoke, but not drink alcohol.

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@Rockhead,

Rockhead wrote:

how are folks gonna make it through basic training now?

Well, I don't know what happens in the basic training you know about, but in June of 1990 we had to give up smoking during basic training. I finally snuck a smoke after the 6th week, but it definitely was a practice that was banned.

1 Reply

@snood,

had many friends take up the habit in basic, but that was before 90 by almost a decade.

I defer, sir.

1 Reply

@Rockhead,

Yeah, I think it had become not politically correct somewhere during the "just say no" 80s, Rock.

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In 1962, we smoked to our hearts' content. Never got any free ones, but, three miles out to sea, they cost a dollar a carton. The poorest man could afford that. Of course, with filters cost an extra dime.

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Will the military ban smoking?

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