Why are men and women smoking cigarettes while serving in the military?

The following is a recent interview with retired Navy Commander Donald E. Minnich, who smoked during service for 20 years, and who served in three wars, including WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Reporter: "So you were in WWII and you smoked? When did you actually start smoking?" CDR Minnich: "I served in WWII, at the end, aboard the U.S.S. Pine Island (AV12) in Antarctica, in 1946. I started smoking before I joined the Navy at age 17. At enlistment, I was up to about half a pack a day - they were Camels. In Hawaii, around 1951 - 1952, I quit cold turkey, mainly because I was on the swim team and going to the gym. In 1955, though, I began again, and increased how many I smoked due to my stressful job in engineering - running the plant on the ship. Over time, I was on three different destroyers, and got up to smoking two packs a day." Reporter: "And how about when you were in Korea and Vietnam?" CDR Minnich: "I was in Korea around 1950, on a ship headed to the Philippines. I got stationed at the American Embassy. I was smoking a pack a day then - Camels, no filters. I was then stationedon USS Genesee, a gas tanker, which had a crew of about 80, of whom at least 60 percent smoked, and they were all pack-a-day smokers. Smoking was never allowed on deck, only inside. I was commissioned (as officer) in 1955. I quit smoking in 1963 in Washington, D.C., while on shore duty. At that time I was smoking two and a half packs a day, but I quit cold turkey. After that, I never smoked again." Reporter: "What about smoking on the ship and on land, isn't it a hazard that would give away position, from the heat, the smoke, the light from the lit end?" CDR Minnich: "The Navy has what is called a 'smoking lamp,' which signifies when the crew can smoke and when they cannot. Reporter: "How do the military get their cigarettes?" CDR Minnich: "Oh, well, cigarettes are pretty easy to come by, I mean, they're at the bases, at ports and in towns, where they were pretty cheap, and just about everywhere." Dangers and statistics
Let's reflect on that conversation and the medical tribulations of serving and smoking in today's wars. If the commanders and other leaders don't mind, and they can smoke themselves, does that make it okay? One cold, hard fact is that quitting smoking before the mid 1960s was much, much easier than it is today. Cigarettes are juiced up with ammonia now to make the nicotine up to 35 times as strong and addictive. This is the major "toasty vapor" hook that sucks "ex-smokers" back in when they try to quit cold turkey nowadays. Active duty military personnel smoke at much higher rates than the general population: 32 percent compared to 21 percent, respectively. Smoking compromises troop readiness. Smoking imposes high health costs for Dept. of Defense and the Veterans Affairs. Smoking is one of the best predictors of military training failure, especially during fitness evaluations. Smokers are more likely to sustain injuries, especially musculoskeletal ones. Smokers increase their stress instead of decreasing it by lighting up. Surprise! It lowers visual acuity and night vision. It decreases cognitive ability and impairs respiratory function which in turn affects aviation performance and diving.