Smoking in the military

Hell you can't smoke in the barracks anymore. I can remember walking into the squad bay and seeing that blue haze and having butt kits on the columns.
 
Gotta love the PC world. Still at least the doctors know that alcohol is bad for you, oh wait, red wine is good for the heart, no it isn't yes it is etc etc.

I understand about non smokers not wanting to eat smoke, but I also understand that I don't want to share body fat with the l;ard arse sitting next to me on the aeroplane.

Please let's have some sanity, it isn't good for you, I'm a smoker & I understand that, but it is my choice, I do not inflict it on others, I smoke outside and always ask permission if in a friends house. But it is still my choice, smoking doesn't define me, it is one of my vices - I don't gamble and apparently that ain't healthy for you either - when is that getting banned?
 
When I was in the UK Forces cigarettes used to come up in the ration packs along with the Rum, okay we did not get paid a lot but while we were on active service we all had a grin on our faces
 
Many times i've come to a conlcusion that prohibiting smoking in the armed forces is the most inhuman act any government can undertake against military. Even Hitler couldn't do that, albeit he wanted very much.
 
Well I don't like to tell people what to do, but I worked 4 years in the tobacco industry and I can say for an absolute fact thats its a really nasty bit of business...

If the troops were ordered to stop smoking, believe me, in the end they'd be better off.
 
Ummm, I think that soldiers are made to intervene in very serious matters that are critical for our civilizations.

So I believe that for this reason, they have to be examples of excellence and discipline. They have to be beacons to law, justice and moral codes.

So no, I say that smoking is a disgusting and wrong practice (immoral). It have no room in the life of a soldier.

We shouldnt boost troop morale with drugs and comfort... But with discipline and sense of duty.

And the "my choice" argument could be applied to a lot of things, weed, beer, alcohol, cocaine... etc...

Smoking is bad for your health. And soldiers have to be fit to do their jobs. If they lose 1% in their breathing capabilities by smoking, it might cost some lives at some points...

And it's a bad example for the youth and a pretty bad image for people working for the state.

And in a war situation, it may be hard to issue the basics supplies like food, water and ammo... The army shouldnt be wasting resources to issue smokes and comfort items while people are dying... And they may be forced to do so.... Because once they get used to smoking, they need their daily dose to function properly.

And I remember reading about some "events" in war involving smokers... Like soldiers giving their positions to enemy snipers by lighting a cigarette... Or guards losing their ability to see in the dark for a few minutes by lighting their cigarettes (eyes need time to adapt to the darkness). etc...

I'm sure there is more examples...
 
Just from personal experience....

I lost a step or two when I QUIT smoking.

No amount of logic can make a person realize how good a cigarette is after a very stressfull situation.

I know some people would like to think of soldiers as robots programmed to function without flaw....Fact is we're normal people with normal problems and normal vices. We are not superhuman. We recieve training that helps us react automatically in combat. Trust me, when adrenaline kicks in, that "1%" will go away.

The difference between tobacco and other drugs is that tobacco does not alter ones conscience reality. One can still think coherently when smoking a cigarette, not the case with "weed, coke, and other drugs".

I think soldiers should be allowed to smoke if they want to. We already give many of our freedoms up for the good of the country. Now they want us to give more. I wonder how much those that are asking us to give more have given themselves?

Is smoking bad for your health....yes....but so is being in the military. I always say "until my job becomes less of a hazard than the tobacco, I'm not gonna quit!"
 
I think that tobbacco is far more dangerous than being a soldier.

How many people died in war as professional soldiers recently? 3000 in Iraq? Something like that? Then compare it to the death toll among smokers...

In a warzone, you might get killed... But smoking will kill you for sure. You can survive a bullet, but a cigarette will kill slowly and for sure...

I dont know about combat stress... But I'm positive that they are not using tobacco to cure PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
Adrenaline is one thing, stress is something else... Stress isnt a danger if you have clear ideas and that you know exactly what you are doing...

It's dangerous for sick minds and confused minds... And such people have nothing to do in a war zone.

I'm not opposed to smoking to deny you your rights... Or to torture you, or to deny you pleasure or something of this kind...
I really believe that it's doing more damage to you, to the military and to society than anything else...

And from a discipline point of view... Smoking is a real killer. In my family as an example, smokers are seen as "bad seeds"... I dont fully share this view, but there is some truth in there...
 
Believe what you want. But I KNOW that after a firefight, or an IED explosion, a cigarette feels pretty damn good. To me, it calms the nerves and helps me sort through what just happened.

I never said anything about curing PTSD, I just said that it helps with combat type stress in my POV. It's no one elses business if I smoke or not. If I can meet the physical requirements the Army sets forth while smoking...then what's the problem?
 
More steps need to be taken to limit smoking in the military, and offer alternatives. People here have been using extreme examples, IED explosions, ambushes, etc. as times when they felt a cigarette was necessary, within the military structures there are many more examples where smoking is still a choice, but not a hard one to make. For instance, when I went through A School at NAS Meridian, the smoke pit was the only public facility open to students on duty days, once every three days the only places students could go were the school houses, galley, and smoke pit. Obviously after 1700 they would not be going to the school house and once they'd had supper the galley was off limits too, that leaves the smoke pit open as the only place to go to talk to another human being since cell phone reception was almost non-existent in the barracks and the barracks were not out fitted with internet. Offer those people an alternative to the smoke pit at least, a couple basketball courts could have done wonders to cut down on smoking there.

Smoking shouldn't be banned in the military until it is banned throughout the entire country, that's my ultimate opinion on the straight up ban/don't ban question. Having said that, there are certainly steps that could be taken to cut down on the culture of smoking within the military. Smoking is not for me, but so long as its legal, I don't see why a person shouldn't be allowed to smoke so long as it is not effecting others, which means smoking in designated areas only because smoking in the barracks is clearly effecting and doing harm to non-smokers in the room. I don't know what it is like for the other branches, but my dress whites show everything, even the slightest stain is incredibly noticeable, I wouldn't want to store my uniforms in a locker where cigarette smoking is drifting in and out, they'll smell like crap and probably seem a little yellowish.

One thing I do have a problem with is the idea that smoking is a death warrant. My grandpa was born in 1929 and had been smoking since FDR was in office up until sometime in 1999. Sixty years of smoking and the only form of cancer he even developed was prostate, which was detected early and he's been cancer free for three years now. Not only that, he was hit with a mortar shell in 1951, spent 18 months in VA hospitals, has only three feet of small intestines, and is still alive today. Smoking is not a guarantee of dying at the age of sixty and I think the health impacts are exaggerated to scare people away from smoking.

Certain steps can and should be taken to reduce the culture of smoking within the military, but right now I would rather we focus on preventing deaths due to bombs, bullets, and bayonets and once we're no longer operating in Iraq and Afghanistan worry about smoking.
 
Let me just say that after working 4 years in the Tobacco industry, take it from me you really want to quit. While not to denigrate our brave people serving overseas...relatively quickly from combat holds greater appeal than dying very slowly and painfully from lung cancer (cigarettes) or worse throat and mouth cancer (cigars, chew, snus). Its a extremely unpleasant way to die.

And remember smoking does catch up with you. Both my Grandfather and Great-Uncle died (72 and 87 years old) of Lung cancer from when they smoked as young men during WWII. Just because you quit doesn't mean you are out of the woods...
 
Along the PC no-smoking line, I’ve just found out it is against Regulations to pay for sex in Korea! Soldering is hard enough now you can’t even use a hooker.
"Sooner or later, political correctness is going to cause the deaths of hundreds, or even thousands of Americans." Douglas MacKinnon, White house, Pentagon and Congressional Official and conservative author
 
It may save lives as well...

Think about STDs... And think about discipline.

If you have family men in your units, they will be more disciplined than young men using hooker services... And prostitution is a nasty business, drug dealers are never far.

And think about the Vietcong using the hookers as spies to gather informations... Alcohol, and sweet pillow talk about combat operations...

And let's not forget the poor image of women they would have by spending times with hookers... It's the best way to build an army of rapists who see sex as a merchandise...

Listen carefully. Sane army are built with sane men. And sane men dont hire hookers, and they dont use drugs nor smoke...

Put this in the bank. What little sense of morality you must have to spend time with a prostitute...

In particular when you are in a poor country... This is abusing misery for sex.

If you want to spend a little time with a woman, it's so so so easy... You offer her a drink, you tell her how beautiful she is, and you learn to know her a little... Press the right buttons, and she is yours.

How hard can it be... Prostitution is for losers...

And dont go doing this **** in a Muslim country... You know how dangerous it can be?
And what if the locals learn that US soldiers are spending time with prostitute? You dont want such men battering the doors of honest people... Or just walking next to honest women from honest families...

It would be a WONDERFUL reason to spray machine gun fire on them... They are not trustworthy, and they shouldnt be next to their wives and sisters...

Many soldiers can get killed because of that... In these cultures, reputation have a LOT of value. And you build it by respecting moral values and by making sacrifices to respect moral values.
 
Yes, lie to women, that is a huge improvement over paying them for sex. Love the stereotypes in the above statement, but Korea is a little different from Iraq or Afghanistan in many ways, cultural, economic, geographic, you name it, they're different. I can't believe I'm about to quote Desperate Housewives, but here goes, "Men always pay for sex, the smart ones pay with cash." Plus, when you are a US serviceman or woman (we have those in our military) and thus a walking target (noticeable in a crowd for numerous reasons, not least of which is that we tend to stand a few inches taller) it is so much safer to go out on the town alone to meet a woman or man than it is to go to a registered brothel. I find that not going paying a hooker and instead sleeping with random women and not calling them afterwards serves two purposes: A.) Everybody knows women like that. B.) It's much more honorable and hence better for America's reputation.

I believe all US Army establishments in Germany are a direct contradiction to the idea that family men are more disciplined than young men. Every American that's been in Germany more then six months is guilty of adultery.
 
Damien, I dont agree with this statement.
There is a difference between paying to spend time with a woman, and paying a woman...

There is a huge difference between offering a drink, or taking the check in a restaurant, and asking a woman "how much I owe you baby?" after you are done with her...

Believe me, I'm very open minded. I can go very far in a new idea. But there is a difference between a man spending money on a hooker and a man spending money on the mother of his children or on the woman he loves.

I'm very happy for the guys who you feel comfortable being macho and pretending to not care about women... But as far as I'm concerned, only homosexuals men cant love women.

They are the salt of this life. And spending time with hookers is just plain wrong for their intellectual and psychological development.
In particular when they are young men with no experience.

And sex should be about love and emotions... And this is not just some romantic BS... There is a reason. When sex is just a physical practice... We have to change the dose because we lose our ability to find pleasure, comfort and satisfaction... You start with sex with a hooker, then you try two, then you try some sodomy, some SM, then you invite a buddy or two, then you pass to the next step...

And believe me, it can get really nasty at the end, in particular when stress and violence are in your direct environment. When you think that you might day the next day, you dont care much about consequences...

Once again, the military intervene in key situations. They have to observe a strict discipline built on high standards of moral values.

Civilians should too...
 
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