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WASHINGTON — Pentagon health experts are urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end its sale on military property, a change that could dramatically alter a culture intertwined with smoking.

Hmm... no.



Although on second thoughts, maybe there is a point...... nah, still no. Anyone who signs up for potential acute lead poisoning shouldn't be nannied like that.

Yeah, because smoking will kill you. Oh wait...

Do the military already offer help to people who want to quit?

Never happen.

Not instantly to be sure.

Tried this stupid shit in the early 80s.

Admittedly, smoking is bad for you. OK, we smokers get it. There are programs to help.

But you ain't gonna tell some General he can't smoke a cigar in his command track after a fire fight. Simple as that.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It damn sure ain't my Army anymore.

ANCFlyer wrote:Never happen.

Not instantly to be sure.

Tried this stupid shit in the early 80s.

Admittedly, smoking is bad for you. OK, we smokers get it. There are programs to help.

But you ain't gonna tell some General he can't smoke a cigar in his command track after a fire fight. Simple as that.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

It damn sure ain't my Army anymore.

Hell, a retired smaj I work with tells stories of beer vending machines in the barracks in the post-Vietnam Army.

I would say their heart is in the right place.. But when people are working long hours on short sleep for months at a time we need to look the other way on some things that are perfectly legal and really don't hurt anyone's ability to do their job. Next thing you know we are going to tell doctors and nurses to stop smoking (I know every doctor and nurse I know smokes).. Hell, I know an ER surgeon who rides a Harley without a helmet.

They would have to smoke a shitload for them to start having real health problems from it before the government gets their 20 years out of them.

captoveur wrote:Hell, a retired smaj I work with tells stories of beer vending machines in the barracks in the post-Vietnam Army.

I take it they are dry as a desert now?

captoveur wrote:Next thing you know we are going to tell doctors and nurses to stop smoking (I know every doctor and nurse I know smokes).. Hell, I know an ER surgeon who rides a Harley without a helmet.

That's one thing that is not going to change - of all the people who smoke, nobody is going to stop hospital doctors and nurses. They give at least 100% every day and they know the possible consequences of smoking, so they make as much use of their personal liberties as they like and decide to take the risk. Sounds a wee bit like soldiers, doesn't it?

aloges wrote:

captoveur wrote:Hell, a retired smaj I work with tells stories of beer vending machines in the barracks in the post-Vietnam Army.

I take it they are dry as a desert now?

Yup, I remember them well . . . but they generally had only Dudweiser in them . . . for .50 a can. I don't recall ever using one. I got 'real' beer at the Class 6.

They removed them when the military went along with the idiots in DC and raised the drinking age to 21. It's okay to take incoming but not okay to have a beer . . . that's frackin' retarded.

ANCFlyer wrote:They removed them when the military went along with the idiots in DC and raised the drinking age to 21. It's okay to take incoming but not okay to have a beer . . . that's frackin' retarded.

Ah... yes, I never understood that one either.

The entire drinking age charade ought to be ended right away... THAT would be something for a Democratic White House and filibuster-proof Congress! Putting it at 21 years has got to be the most dire idiocy since the prohibition - keep people from finding their limits the right way by making them drink in hiding, the only result of which can be massive boozing. And when they finally turn 21, they blast themselves into a coma. Hooray!

ANCFlyer wrote:

aloges wrote:

captoveur wrote:Hell, a retired smaj I work with tells stories of beer vending machines in the barracks in the post-Vietnam Army.

I take it they are dry as a desert now?

Yup, I remember them well . . . but they generally had only Dudweiser in them . . . for .50 a can. I don't recall ever using one. I got 'real' beer at the Class 6.

They removed them when the military went along with the idiots in DC and raised the drinking age to 21. It's okay to take incoming but not okay to have a beer . . . that's frackin' retarded.

At Laughlin AFB it was legal at 18. Base Commander made that call since he thought it was better to have them drink on base rather than go get drunk in Mexico. It changed back to 21 recently, but I don't know why.

ShyFlyer wrote:
At Laughlin AFB it was legal at 18. Base Commander made that call since he thought it was better to have them drink on base rather than go get drunk in Mexico. It changed back to 21 recently, but I don't know why.

Change in command.. Pressure from his bosses.. Or some clown at MADD found out about it.

I have serious issues with MADD and the 21 drinking age.

The drinking age needs to be 18.. Same with the driving age. Making it 21 just encourages binge drinking, drunk driving, and otherwise stupid behavior. It is a fact of life that high school and college aged kids are going to rebel, and the easiest (and dumbest) law to break is the drinking age.

I have a long rant I wrote about that but I will spare you all- because the thread is about smoking.

Anyway. MADD needs to take a step back and think if it is really worth ruining someones life over driving right at the limit. Is it dangerous? Yep. Can people die? Yep. Is it preventable? Yes. I am all for throwing someone in jail for a long damn time and making sure its years before they have a valid DL for the second one. However, I am not for ruining someones life on the first mistake if they are under .10, and weren't in an accident. Taking their DL for 6 months, towing their car, and letting them sit in jail overnight is no small matter for the average first time DWI offender. Many of the DWI offenders we bag have ZERO criminal history.. and usually the night in the real jail next to bubba is a big eye opener.

The punishment needs to take into account how high someones BAL is.. I had a few other ideas but I am finally starting to get tired.

Anyway, the drinking age is never going down and the driving age is never going up.. But we would all be safer if both did.