Ban smoking in the military?

[aps]

Will it happen?

It was interesting to see how many people opposed this in MSNBC's poll--like 75%.

A Pentagon-commissioned report urges the Defense Department to ban smoking in the military, even by combat troops in battle zones, a proposal that quickly ignited a controversy among service members.

The study, which was completed late last month by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, recommends closing “the pipeline of new tobacco users entering the military” by prohibiting tobacco use in the service academies and officer-training programs like ROTC and eventually instituting a total ban on all use of tobacco by active-duty personnel.

The Defense Department said military health officials were studying the report and planned to make their recommendations to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Proposed smoking ban angers some in military - Health care- msnbc.com

 

[Caine]

Will it happen?

It was interesting to see how many people opposed this in MSNBC's poll--like 75%.

I hope not.
Its just wrong on so many levels.

Encourage soldiers to quit? Sure.

Ban them from smoking? I disagree with it on many levels.

 

[jamesrage]

Will it happen?

It was interesting to see how many people opposed this in MSNBC's poll--like 75%.

The reason so many even in a liberal MSNBC poll are against banning smoking in the military is they probably figure that if we ask these men to risk disfiguring,crippling or killing themselves and give up a lot of their freedoms for this country the least we could do is allow them a few guilty pleasures like smoking. Myself and other vets can tell you that smoking doesn't affect job performance.

 

[aps]

The reason so many even in a liberal MSNBC poll are against banning smoking in the military is they probably figure that if we ask these men to risk disfiguring,crippling or killing themselves and give up a lot of their freedoms for this country the least we could do is allow them a few guilty pleasures like smoking. Myself and other vets can tell you that smoking doesn't affect job performance.

I see your point. I would argue that smoking does affect job performance if you're having to take time off from work to deal with a smoking-related illness.

VA no longer allows veterans to get compensation for disabilities associated with smoking.

 

[mikhail]

I see your point. I would argue that smoking does affect job performance if you're having to take time off from work to deal with a smoking-related illness.

VA no longer allows veterans to get compensation for disabilities associated with smoking.

If they are going to that they shouldnt be able to drink or eat unhealthy food.

 

[aps]

If they are going to that they shouldnt be able to drink or eat unhealthy food.

Every Marine must be physically fit, regardless of age, grade, or duty assignment. Fitness is essential to the day-to-day effectiveness and combat readiness of the Marine Corps. Furthermore, physical fitness is an indispensable aspect of leadership. The habits of self-discipline required to gain and maintain a high level of physical fitness are inherent to the Marine Corps way of life and must be a part of the character of every Marine. Marines who are not physically fit can be a detriment to the readiness and combat efficiency of their unit. Accordingly, every Marine will engage in an effective PCP on a continuing and progressive basis.

Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test Chart - Males

Wouldn't smoking go towards self-discipline?

 

[mikhail]

Wouldn't smoking go towards self-discipline?

No because chances are it wont effect their work and as i stated before if you included smoking in that you would have to include lots of other things.

Its nice you seem determind to make people in the militarys lives just alittle more unpleasant.

 

[aps]

No because chances are it wont effect their work and as i stated before if you included smoking in that you would have to include lots of other things.

Its nice you seem determind to make people in the militarys lives just alittle more unpleasant.

I haven't made a statement that I support the ban. Hmmm, if I were in the military and smoking was banned, I would see it as making my life MORE pleasant. But that's me.

 

[mikhail]

I haven't made a statement that I support the ban. Hmmm, if I were in the military and smoking was banned, I would see it as making my life MORE pleasant. But that's me.

Maybe im psychic.

 

[WI Crippler]

Wouldn't smoking go towards self-discipline?

I knew plenty of smokers that could run a sub 18 minute 3 mile run, and they could perform in all aspects of their job, and were physically fit. By the time smoking is going to have caught up and have adverse affects on their health, they would usually be retired or have left the military already. The exceptions would be high ranking officers and only the most senior enlisted which don't comprise the bulk of our forces.

One thing I never understood though, was that in Marine Corps boot camp, you cannot smoke at all, ever. So for 3 months, the smokers that come in have kicked the physical addiction and cleared out their lungs(you should hear them at night hacking and coughing in their racks for the first month of bootcamp). The first thing many of them do when they graduate? By a carton of cigs and light up. Makes no sense to me.

 

[aps]

I knew plenty of smokers that could run a sub 18 minute 3 mile run, and they could perform in all aspects of their job, and were physically fit. By the time smoking is going to have caught up and have adverse affects on their health, they would usually be retired or have left the military already. The exceptions would be high ranking officers and only the most senior enlisted which don't comprise the bulk of our forces.

One thing I never understood though, was that in Marine Corps boot camp, you cannot smoke at all, ever. So for 3 months, the smokers that come in have kicked the physical addiction and cleared out their lungs(you should hear them at night hacking and coughing in their racks for the first month of bootcamp). The first thing many of them do when they graduate? By a carton of cigs and light up. Makes no sense to me.

Very interesting about no smoking at all during boot camp.

 

[jamesrage]

One thing I never understood though, was that in Marine Corps boot camp, you cannot smoke at all, ever. So for 3 months, the smokers that come in have kicked the physical addiction and cleared out their lungs(you should hear them at night hacking and coughing in their racks for the first month of bootcamp). The first thing many of them do when they graduate? By a carton of cigs and light up. Makes no sense to me.

Many people going to basic training say they are going to use that as an opportunity to quit and then pick the habit back up once they get out of basic.US army infantry basic training is 3 months(which is combined a little with AIT training) and plus what ever additional AIT training there is. I know when I got out of basic and was in 11M school I bought me a pack of Marlboros from a little gas station off post the first chance I got,those were the stalest tasting cigarettes ever but they were the best. I guess its one thing when you quit out of your free will and its another thing when you are forced to quit.

 

[Tucker Case]

One thing I never understood though, was that in Marine Corps boot camp, you cannot smoke at all, ever. So for 3 months, the smokers that come in have kicked the physical addiction and cleared out their lungs(you should hear them at night hacking and coughing in their racks for the first month of bootcamp). The first thing many of them do when they graduate? By a carton of cigs and light up. Makes no sense to me.

Makes all the sense in the world to me, but I'm a smoker who has quit for a fairly long-period of time and then backslid.

There is a feeling from smoking a cigarette that only the addicted could understand.

 

[Donc]

Hell, in boot camp was where I started smoking. Anyone here remember the term “the smoking lamp is lit”? For those that don’t know what that term means. It is when you finish whatever (usually in my case, in boot camp, running a couple of miles in formation) your were doing you could light up if you had them. Well… in my nineteen-year-old brain that kinda looked like the smokers were being rewarded and I wasn’t. I was standing around twiddling my thumbs while the smokers lit up.

Oh, for the original post, it will never happen in my opinion. What’s next banning drinking? :roll:

After all that’s more than likely more destructive to health than smoking, at least in the short term.

 

[Caine]

Very interesting about no smoking at all during boot camp.

The army is the same way, in fact I think most if not all basic training sessions are this way.

 

[Oozlefinch]

VA no longer allows veterans to get compensation for disabilities associated with smoking.

That does not mean a lot. The VA tries to deny compensation for any dissability they possibly can.

 

[Oozlefinch]

The army is the same way, in fact I think most if not all basic training sessions are this way.

It is. It was baned for the Marines before 1983, because that is when I went through. And even then smoking was not allowed.

I have seen the wave of "no smoking" get stronger over the years. In 1991, they banned smoking in work spaces. I even had an old Chief Warrant Officer who refused to stop smoking in his office. So we continued to smoke. But we worked on the rifle range, and nobody came in our office without a good reason.

When I returned to the military in 2007, it had spread to the barracks. And there have been attempts to ban smoking in base housing.

I can't see a smoking ban passing the Supreme Court. Because I can guarantee that less then 24 hours later, a lawsuit will be made asking what right the military (or President if by Executive Order) has to ban a legal substance.

And how will they enforce it? UCMJ for those that smoke? How will you detect it, piss test? Will they ban snuff and chew also? Will they ban smoking for the civilians that work on base? I bet that would go over with the Unions like a lead balloon.

 

[ReverendHellh0und]

Very interesting about no smoking at all during boot camp.

You couldn't in boot camp in the USAF either.

 

[MSgt]

I knew plenty of smokers that could run a sub 18 minute 3 mile run......

When I was a Sgt I had a Gunny that would make the turn around guy have a cigarette ready for him. He would take a few puffs and run the last half. 19 minutes. Still faster than me. It frustrated me so much I almost took up smoking.

 

[MSgt]

Very interesting about no smoking at all during boot camp.

Recruits are told when to breathe, how to eat, and when to go the bathroom. They have no time to do anything that a Drill Instructor hasn't set up for them. There simply isn't time in the schedule to allow them to light up. Recruits also can't drink. There are no off duty hours. No freedoms to choose to go watch a movie or eat at a Denny's for breakfast. Hell, the freedom to scratch your face better come when the Drill Instructor is isn't looking or he gives the OK to "terminate sand fleas."

But then they graduate and get to join the human race again where they can at least enjoy most of the freedoms they fight to defend for those who whill always have more than them. Being ambassadors of our nation, the troops absolutely have to be held to a higher standard - morally, physically, and socially. But allowing them to smoke is an unneccessary vice to take away.

Personally I find cigarettes disgusting. But until all of America kicks the habit, the troops are free to encourage their own self-inflicted cancers. And screw the VA. It is constantly looking for reasons or excuses not to do their jobs.

 

[Oozlefinch]

When I was a Sgt I had a Gunny that would make the turn around guy have a cigarette ready for him. He would take a few puffs and run the last half. 19 minutes. Still faster than me. It frustrated me so much I almost took up smoking.

At my first duty station (Marine Barracks, Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station), we had a Gunny that was a marathon runner. When the 1st LA Marathon was held in 1986, he entered. And every 5 miles, he would light up a cigarette and smoke as he ran.

There was even a picture of him in one of the local papers, crossing the finish line with a cigarette in his mouth. He had a copy of it on the wall of his office.

But I understand your frustration. In my prime I did a 19 minute 3 mile also. Now I am older, heavier, and a smoker. And it can be a chore to do a 2 mile run in the same amount of time.

 

[WI Crippler]

I was right around an 18 minute 3 mile. Sometimes I'd get in under, sometimes a little over. My CO was in his mid 40s, and could run it in well under 18, almost under 17. It sucked, because he was old, and short and he's outrunning me by a good clip. I'm getting older, but not faster.

 

[Strucky]

It is my firm belief that the Pentegon has no business telling me if I can or cannot smoke.I can understand if they want to ban indoor smoking...As they have already done,but I dont understand why they would do it for outdoors also...It's sounds more like a directive coming from politicians.

 

[Oozlefinch]

It is my firm belief that the Pentegon has no business telling me if I can or cannot smoke.I can understand if they want to ban indoor smoking...As they have already done,but I dont understand why they would do it for outdoors also...It's sounds more like a directive coming from politicians.

I agree with you fully. It is getting to the point where you care only able to smoke in selected areas if you are in the military. Civilians on the other hand still smoke wherever they please. And why not, it is not like they can get a UCMJ action.

Where I am currently stationed, smoking areas are few and far between. And it is not like there is anything to burn, it is all sand and rock. But you often have to walk 400 yards from where you are just to have a cigarette in an authorized "smoking area" (which is never covered, in 135 degree heat).

 

[Orion]

The military doesn't have the same freedoms as civilians, so rights are irrelevant.

Second, I don't see how it's logical to allow consumption of such a cancerous product in an institution that requires its personnel to be fit and ready for combat at a moment's notice.

We all can think of examples of people whose physique defies their addiction, but this isn't a reason to overlook the basic facts of tobacco use.