To expect people to die for their country and then deny them cigarettes is disgraceful! – ©Mark
MAIL Online: It is an iconic image of movies and real life - a battle-weary GI sits down during a lull in the fighting and sucks on a calming cigarette.
It has endured through two world wars, and major conflicts such as Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq and numerous Hollywood blockbusters - John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in the D-Day blockbuster, The Longest Day and Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan.
But it could all soon be a thing of the past - because of health and cost concerns.
Pentagon health experts are urging US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to ban smoking by troops and end the sale of tobacco in PXs, the military base shops where cut-price cigarettes have always been a popular line.
And it’s all due to a new study revealing the hidden cost to America’s three million men and women serving in the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Reserve.
An investigation by the influential Institute of Medicine, commissioned by the Pentagon found that one in three members of the US services use tobacco, compared with one in five adult Americans.
The heaviest smokers - maybe, not surprisingly - were soldiers and Marines who had done most of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
About 37 per cent of soldiers used tobacco and 36 per cent of Marines.
Combat veterans were 50 per cent more likely to use tobacco than troops who hadn't seen combat, it said. The report acknowledges that it is calling for a seismic change.
The sheer number of troops smoking also had economic costs. Researchers discovered that smoking and chewing tobacco costs the Pentagon more than £540 million a year in medical care and lost productivity.
The Department of Veterans Affairs spent up to £4billion a year on treatment for tobacco-related illnesses, the report added.
In comparison, tobacco sales in PXs netted less than £60 million a year which was spent on base recreation schemes and family support programmes.
It said: ‘A ban would confront a military culture in which the image of the battle-weary soldier in fatigues and helmet, fighting for his country, has frequently included his lit cigarette.
Troops worn out by repeated deployments often relied on cigarettes as a ‘stress reliever.’ Pentagon calls for smoking ban among US soldiers >>> Barry Whigmore | Friday, July 09, 2009
