well people in the US voted for the people who run the nanny state we now have. Or should I say hired nurse Ratchet.

Considering that we collectively havwage0048: I Said: ummmm . . .

How about, since these men and women get stationed in often god awful places and face the risk of getting killed or captured by others who viciously hate them, and we already regulate alcohol which I'm sure is something many don't like (although for good reason for that substance), we just let them smoke and stop trying to be massive pains in the asses about how others deal with their own health?

Because one of the essential duties of a person in the military is to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to an emergency situation. It's kind of hard to do that when you're wheezing every time you lift your backpack.

And if it comes down to it, you send the solider back to the med tent and they deal with it on an individual basis. Outright banning something from a group of people would not only create a HUGE black market that could be exploited, but would also lead to a set of, as subby put it, 500,000 REALLY angry people...

You're not allowed cigarettes in basic training... this happens everyday, it's nothing new.

Rolled out over 20 YEARS. That's some serious wargharbl from the right over this.

And the whole "the cigarette calms them"? No, the cigarette gives them their fix, like a meth or heroin user. The "calming" is stopping the withdrawls.

They join the military voluntarily. The military doesn't let you drink on the job. It is one of their RULES. If they decide to set a RULE regarding smoking and you don't like it, don't re-up.

Blaming some mythic "librul conspiracy" is for so damn chicken shiat...

These guys are farking dying for their country, getting shot at and blown up and whatever. Let them have their freaking cigarettes.

/smoker

And Farkers will scream for freedoms, yet say it is illegal for car companies to make vehicles that use too much gas or pollute too much? Weird.

You can fight for freedom, you just cant have any.

no alcohol + no cigarettes = you can protect Iraq your damn self pentagon asshats.

/rediculous, let em smoke, let em drink.

Sgt Otter: TheGreatZarquon:
Saudi Arabian Mountain Dew? I had no idea that even existed, how does it compare to American Mountain Dew?



It's made with cane sugar and not HFCS, so it's smoother and not as syrupy. It also seems to have a much more potent caffeine kick. But it's not as fizzy. In fact, it seems like it's just about to start going flat. One of the guys who used to work for a grocery store said that he thinks that could be from the very dramatic shift in temperature, as it sits on a cargo pallet in the desert heat waiting to get shipped to the various U.S. bases in Iraq.

Acutally they dont carb it as much because non americans dont favor the high carbing. Plus I find it much much sweeter but better tasting. I usually could only drink 1/2 or 3/4. Plus the cans are 500ml not 550 like the US. With a pull tab top.

When I went through nicotine withdrawal after 3 packs of non-filters a day for over 35 years, I suffered mood swings, fits of age, psycotic reactions---all the wonderful things you see in the movies, except it is real---and it lasts for 90+ days, as opposed to 72 hours for "coke": and "smack" and all that baby-stuff.

To understand what it feels like, first stay awake 48 hours so you feel like sh*t warmed over, then eat about 20 no-doz on an empty stomach, wash it down with plenty of black coffee and then hit about 4 sheets of really bad blotter acid, one after the other every 30 minutes or so.

Then crash for 8 hours, and do it again, about 20 times in all.

Or just smoke a hell of a lot of cigarettes and quit, and you will know why I say: Nicotine is what "smack" wants to be when it grows up.

5290 days of liberation from the slavery of nicotine addiction as of today.

Man On Fire: About 37% of soldiers use tobacco and 36% of Marines

that's really not that bad. and some of that will probably be chew, because lighting a cig in the dark is a no-no.

Those stats are WAY low. In my platoon, an informal survey just came up with 4 non tobacco users. Granted we are deployed, and ussage rates go up, but 90% is a bit higher than 36%. And its both, cigaretts seem to be more popular, but they are forbidden inside and in government vehicles. The whole giving your position away at night does not matter as much anymore. when you have a dozen 30,000lb vehicles with floodlights on every side rolling around, the cherry from a cigarett is the least of your worries.

Alot of you have no idea how the military works.

You only have as much freedom as they give you. You agree to it when you sign up. That's how it works. Try looking up the Uniform Code of Military Justice sometime.

mediablitz: Rolled out over 20 YEARS. That's some serious wargharbl from the right over this.

And the whole "the cigarette calms them"? No, the cigarette gives them their fix, like a meth or heroin user. The "calming" is stopping the withdrawls.

They join the military voluntarily. The military doesn't let you drink on the job. It is one of their RULES. If they decide to set a RULE regarding smoking and you don't like it, don't re-up.

Blaming some mythic "librul conspiracy" is for so damn chicken shiat...

Really? Wow I bet you are a blast at parties

Ban it in the military only after it's banned in the U.S.

Thunderpipes
And Farkers will scream for freedoms, yet say it is illegal for car companies to make vehicles that use too much gas or pollute too much? Weird.


Triangles have 3 sides but squirrels are mammals.

There is a major difference between a military smoking ban and encouraging the troops not to smoke. The first is retarded and the second makes perfect sense.

/nonsmokers run faster longer
//faster soldiers live longer

WhyteRaven74: Sgt Otter: Saudi Arabian Mountain Dew

It as good as the American stuff?

Better.

Teem ftw

busy chillin': Thunderpipes
And Farkers will scream for freedoms, yet say it is illegal for car companies to make vehicles that use too much gas or pollute too much? Weird.


Triangles have 3 sides but squirrels are mammals.

Either you are for personal freedom or you are not. You are either for governmental control or you are not.

Let me get this straight. We're looking for 18-yr oldd to join an all-volunteer army who are not allowed to drink or smoke but can operate some of the most technologically advanced equipment in the world and die for their country? What sort of farking hypocrasy is this?! If we want them to quit just find the smokers at discharge and give them every means to help them quit-patches, gum, counseling, etc. And for heaven's sake add 3 years to a military ID for drinking age in the US, if these people can die for us I say they should be able to smoke and drink as they damn well please.

/whose brilliant farking idea was this?!
//yeah sequelae to smoking gets costly in old age, but they've at least done something for society in return...

mediablitz: Rolled out over 20 YEARS. That's some serious wargharbl from the right over this.

And the whole "the cigarette calms them"? No, the cigarette gives them their fix, like a meth or heroin user. The "calming" is stopping the withdrawls.

They join the military voluntarily. The military doesn't let you drink on the job. It is one of their RULES. If they decide to set a RULE regarding smoking and you don't like it, don't re-up.

Blaming some mythic "librul conspiracy" is for so damn chicken shiat...

Drinking causes a definite and immediate impairment to your ability to rationally function and think. Smoking does not. Rolling out a smoking ban over 20 years STILL creates a situation where you have a attentional problem for a huge black market to crop up.

We aren't going to be smoke free in 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 500 years you morans. People smoke. Get over it. It's their choice and their life to ruin or rule over.

Live with the fact that people make risky choices with their lives, and leave em the hell alone. The collective stupidity from all sides on this makes me farking sick.

/wish I had a lawn to tell people to GTFO

An-Unnecessarily-Long-Name: Really? Wow I bet you are a blast at parties

I am. Not sure what has to do with pointing out the obvious.

dipdunk: Let me get this straight. We're looking for 18-yr oldd to join an all-volunteer army who are not allowed to drink or smoke but can operate some of the most technologically advanced equipment in the world and die for their country? What sort of farking hypocrasy is this?! If we want them to quit just find the smokers at discharge and give them every means to help them quit-patches, gum, counseling, etc. And for heaven's sake add 3 years to a military ID for drinking age in the US, if these people can die for us I say they should be able to smoke and drink as they damn well please.

/whose brilliant farking idea was this?!
//yeah sequelae to smoking gets costly in old age, but they've at least done something for society in return...

You know whats awesome. We are the only country that doesnt drink when deployed. On top of that the Saudis, UAE and all them go to Bahrain and get loaded for the weekends. Iraq is not a dry country and never was.

Its all hypocritical bullshiat.

So let me get this straight.



Harmful to your health, not allowed, not yours, you cannot have!



Part of your job description, man up nancy!

mediablitz: Rolled out over 20 YEARS. That's some serious wargharbl from the right over this.

And the whole "the cigarette calms them"? No, the cigarette gives them their fix, like a meth or heroin user. The "calming" is stopping the withdrawls.

They join the military voluntarily. The military doesn't let you drink on the job. It is one of their RULES. If they decide to set a RULE regarding smoking and you don't like it, don't re-up.

Blaming some mythic "librul conspiracy" is for so damn chicken shiat...


You know, nicotine is a depressant (and a stimulant, too, depending on dosage), meaning that it RELAXES you.

An-Unnecessarily-Long-Name: Acutally they dont carb it as much because non americans dont favor the high carbing. Plus I find it much much sweeter but better tasting. I usually could only drink 1/2 or 3/4. Plus the cans are 500ml not 550 like the US. With a pull tab top.

Drinking one right Now so I am getting a kick out of your replys ect.

It's obvious that the Pentagon just has the health and well being of our nation's soldiers in mind. Smoking is just too hazardous an activity for you.

Now, put down those dangerous cigarettes and get back to being blown up and shot at!

I hope Shinseki was informed about this. I could see this being pushed by the VA and DOD bean counters.

Bio-nic: Live with the fact that people make risky choices with their lives, and leave em the hell alone.

Um, WTF dos that have to do with them VOLUNTEERING to join the service and VOLUNTARILY agreeing to follow the UCMJ and all other rules?

I spent 6 years in the military. I understood there were a lot of things I couldn't do because I was in the military. WHY is this different?

"Drinking causes a definite and immediate impairment to your ability to rationally function and think. Smoking does not. "

Yeah. Uh huh. Nicotine isn't one of the most dangerous addictive drugs on the planet. It doesn't immediately affect heart rate at all.

Make all the risky choices you want when you are a civilian. Join the military? Abide by their rules. Pretty farking simple.

Thunderpipes
busy chillin': Thunderpipes
And Farkers will scream for freedoms, yet say it is illegal for car companies to make vehicles that use too much gas or pollute too much? Weird.


Triangles have 3 sides but squirrels are mammals.

Either you are for personal freedom or you are not. You are either for governmental control or you are not.


Right. People are simple. And everything is black and white. Sh*t...I guess you may have a point.... But generalizing everything down to some absolute just gets messy and becomes intellectually dishonest.

/I looked for absolutes and there's absolutely none.

Thunderpipes: And Farkers will scream for freedoms, yet say it is illegal for car companies to make vehicles that use too much gas or pollute too much? Weird.

I scream for freedoms as well, but when you have companies colluding to manipulate the market and the side effect is farking the environment, something needs to be done.

It's no secret that we've been able to build cars that get 50MPG and are reliable as hell since at least the early 70's. It's also no secret that the more wasteful the car, the more profitable it is. Their solution for reduced demand of SUVs was to stop making as many lines of cars, and add a few lines of SUVs.

mediablitz:
Rolled out over 20 YEARS. That's some serious wargharbl from the right over this.

...and in a couple of years, when the same leftists decide that the rest of the US could follow the same "over 20 years" program (to save money for their national insurance programs), you'll be fine with it, I'm sure.

Then we'll have Prohibition II, since alcohol does so many horrible things.

We've already got some of the Democrat idiots in California basically trying to blame their budget woes on fat people (pointing out, with lots of assumed-not-proven figures, that overweight Californians "cost" the state about twice the current deficit). How long until they start "phasing in" programs to handle that particular problem?

The military has often been the test bed for various social issues in the US, this is just another in a long list.

I Said: wage0048: Because one of the essential duties of a person in the military is to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to an emergency situation. It's kind of hard to do that when you're wheezing every time you lift your backpack.

Irrelevant. If the person is unfit they are in trouble, regardless of why they are unfit.

Fitness standards /= "you can not smoke"

If you don't like the rules, don't join the military. They tell you what to eat, what to wear, when and where to take a shiat. it should come as no surprise that they tell you whether you can smoke.

Weaver95: I Said: ummmm . . .

How about, since these men and women get stationed in often god awful places and face the risk of getting killed or captured by others who viciously hate them, and we already regulate alcohol which I'm sure is something many don't like (although for good reason for that substance), we just let them smoke and stop trying to be massive pains in the asses about how others deal with their own health?

Nope. we live in a puritan, intolerant culture. We put those men and women in a situation where they might have to kill someone, or where they might be killed themselves. But we don't want to let them smoke.

Think about that for a moment. Society is just fine with soldiers out there in danger...but letting them smoke gets people upset. the mind set required for that sort of slobbering idiocy is staggering.

Can't add anything to this.

I think the military should demand every soldier to light up a cigarette and blow the second hand smoke towards the enemy.

Sgt Otter: So they'll just start buying more of the shiatty Iraqi cigarettes, like packs of Miamis or Aspens. Which probably use fiberglass filler or God knows what else.

/$1 a pack at the Daura Market.

One of the guys I send packages to begged for Marlboro smooth. I sent him a carton a few weeks ago. He was so happy, I thought he was going to jump through my computer screen and hug me.

/Marlboro smooth and Zebra cakes. You soldiers are easy to please!

What about "Mecca-Cola"?

/Islam discovers the sell-out
//we are now brothers!

Not amused.

Stackerlee: You know, nicotine is a depressant (and a stimulant, too, depending on dosage), meaning that it RELAXES you.

Tell me how being impaired EITHER WAY is a good thing as it pertains to the military. Also, the link between nicotine and depression is well established. So it is good to put people in high stress situations, then let them take a drug that either stimulates them (as cigarettes usually do) or depress them (as long term usage does)?

It we were talking about meth, no one would bat an eye agreeing they shouldn't be taking it. But somehow saying "cigarettes" instead of nicotine makes it okay.

And quit pretending: People smoke because they are ADDICTED. No one smokes their first cigarette and feels relaxed. Over time, yes, it can be a depressant. But people smoke because nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet.

The first time I ever smoked was in a foxhole in a tiny fob in Afghanistan, I was having trouble staying awake and didn't want to dip like everyone else, so I bummed a cigar off of a warrant officer. Don't inhale, still run fast, still smoke cigars.

ArgusRun: /Marlboro smooth and Zebra cakes. You soldiers are easy to please!

I hope you send him a little BIE, too.
/they deserve it.

Thunderpipes: busy chillin': Thunderpipes
And Farkers will scream for freedoms, yet say it is illegal for car companies to make vehicles that use too much gas or pollute too much? Weird.


Triangles have 3 sides but squirrels are mammals.

Either you are for personal freedom or you are not. You are either for governmental control or you are not.

Gotta be a troll. That's too stupid a statement not to be.

wage0048
I Said: wage0048: Because one of the essential duties of a person in the military is to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to an emergency situation. It's kind of hard to do that when you're wheezing every time you lift your backpack.

Irrelevant. If the person is unfit they are in trouble, regardless of why they are unfit.

Fitness standards /= "you can not smoke"

If you don't like the rules, don't join the military. They tell you what to eat, what to wear, when and where to take a shiat. it should come as no surprise that they tell you whether you can smoke.

That is a true point...but the bottom line is money. And with all the money they save in health costs they can buy half a jet!

It's already happening, depending on where you're stationed. I know a couple of facilities locally that are completely smoke-free (even outside).

And banning cigarettes on Navy ships has been going on for several years now. It's captain's discretion, but I'm a bit surprised it's not happening more in light of what happened aboard the USS George Washington. (Yes, this was lax discipline, which is why the captain was relieved, but it's kind of one of those "why even risk it?" things.)

Overall, though, I think it's probably the wrong time to do this service-wide. Phase it in command-by-command, while units are stateside, and provide plenty of NRT and support. Don't farking do it to folks who are deployed, or are about to deploy.

/they're gonna have to replace the chicklets inside MREs with nicorette

cirby: ...and in a couple of years, when the same leftists

Uh, whenTF did the U.S. military and the Pentagon become "the leftists"? The MILITARY asked for this study. The PENTAGON is making the recommendation.

Why do you hate the military and the Pentagon? Why do you hate the VA?

olddinosaur first stay awake 48 hours so you feel like sh*t warmed over, then eat about 20 no-doz on an empty stomach, wash it down with plenty of black coffee and then hit about 4 sheets of really bad blotter acid, one after the other every 30 minutes or so.

or what we around here like to call "July"

I'd also like to say that soldiers don't deserve the right to smoke any more than anyone else, *everyone* should be able to make that choice for themselves, we are rapidly heading into yet another round of silly assed prohibition, with predictable results.

the new flag of fascism?

Weaver95: I Said: ummmm . . .

How about, since these men and women get stationed in often god awful places and face the risk of getting killed or captured by others who viciously hate them, and we already regulate alcohol which I'm sure is something many don't like (although for good reason for that substance), we just let them smoke and stop trying to be massive pains in the asses about how others deal with their own health?

Nope. we live in a puritan, intolerant culture. We put those men and women in a situation where they might have to kill someone, or where they might be killed themselves. But we don't want to let them smoke.

Think about that for a moment. Society is just fine with soldiers out there in danger...but letting them smoke gets people upset. the mind set required for that sort of slobbering idiocy is staggering.

thread over, as far as i'm concerned. there isn't a font size big enough to express my WTF reaction. i quit smoking, i'm glad i did, it's bad for the health and there's second hand smoke, but for serious, LEAVE THE GODAMM SMOKERS ALONE! especially soldiers.
/just got back from second tour in Iraq
//managed to smoke less than a pack over 14 months
///the stress over there is insane, and people you know suddenly die sometimes, so let 'em smoke! man this article has pissed me off.

FTAC:
Any employer that is providing a employee with any portion of health insurance should have the right to ban it, or the right not to offer health insurance to these employees.

Smoking ruins lives, runs up the cost of health care and is a very invasive habit. There is not one benefit to it. It is defnitely a choice, and why should others pay for someone else's choice?


Hey guys, lets totally go party with this cool dude!


This twatwaffle is worried about health insurance costs for active duty soldiers that smoke, while some of these people require million dollar physical therapy for life after they have a few limbs blown off. I need a smoke, oh shi--

When I was in the military, the told me what to wear, how to cut my hair, where I had to sleep, where I had to be, when to wear a hat, what I had to eat, etc. etc.

They hate freedom!

Yeah, smoking is SUCH a freedom issue for the liberty minded rules of the military

mediablitz: Tell me how being impaired EITHER WAY is a good thing as it pertains to the military. Also, the link between nicotine and depression is well established. So it is good to put people in high stress situations, then let them take a drug that either stimulates them (as cigarettes usually do) or depress them (as long term usage does)?

Let me put it this way. When I was in garrison (back chilling out all safe in the rear), a fair bit of my platoon smoked, but most of them were either cutting back signifigantly, or had quit. We were all aware that smoking slows your running down (and we got our dicks run into the dirt every day by our overly motivated leadership) and overall does nothing for your physical fitness and long term health. Now that we are in theater, nobody gives a damn and everyone that had used tobacco at any point is probably dipping and smoking more than they ever have in their life. I dont know why it is, (I have never used the shiat) but I am loath to take it away.

Merkin Muffley: FTAC:
Any employer that is providing a employee with any portion of health insurance should have the right to ban it, or the right not to offer health insurance to these employees.

Smoking ruins lives, runs up the cost of health care and is a very invasive habit. There is not one benefit to it. It is defnitely a choice, and why should others pay for someone else's choice?


Hey guys, lets totally go party with this cool dude!


This twatwaffle is worried about health insurance costs for active duty soldiers that smoke, while some of these people require million dollar physical therapy for life after they have a few limbs blown off. I need a smoke, oh shi--


Oh also, JOINING THE MILITARY WAS A CHOICE.