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.