They won’t be if some doughnut stuffing slobs in the pentagon have their way.
Everybody knows that smoking is bad for you. Everyone knows the risks. At the same time, al Qaeda shooting at you, roadside bombs around every corner, suicide bombers-whoever they may end up being are dangerous also. If you’re going to throw a 20-year-old kid into the middle of that kind of environment, the kind of environment they may not live to tell about, you would have to think that there’s more than a little stress. A smoke will help to relieve that stress. Any smoker will tell you that. To take a short-handed military and impose this kind of restriction will just make the shortage even more extreme.
Back in WWII they used to hand out condoms to the troops. Why? They understood at the time that if a soldier’s mind was preoccupied with something else, they may not be focused on the battle at hand. Well, they don’t hand out condoms anymore, but they do have cigarettes. Obviously not the same thing exactly, but the results are similar. Bringing a soldier to a state of equlibrium-even for a short time can be a life saver where battles can last a matter of minutes. Troops need to be focused then and there. Maybe there’s an alternative the pentagon has in mind? Sure. Good grief, it’s a shitty job, and they certainly aren’t doing it for their own health. Let the man have a smoke.
Well, maybe the would-be recruit will pass on the military in the future, instead preferring some other form of service to the country. Like community organizing, or a civilian security force. Yeah, maybe they’ll do that instead.
This is just another taking the freedom away from the American people by Obama. If this is allow then he is taking a freedom away from young men and women that are fighting for those same freedoms! Again larrys is trying to defend <stronghis savior Obama without any thing to use in his defense!
Obama is the president and commander and chief of the Armed forces larrys so yes he’s behind anything they do!
If smoking cost the armed forces billion so they want to take away that freedom from the GIs then Obama is costing us tax payers a hell of alot more so maybe he should go!
These GI’s are fighting for the freedom of us all and to take away even one of their freedoms is totally wrong!
I would be ashame if I were you to support Obama when it comes to taking any freedom of our military men and women who is risking their lifes for their country! Not much of a president I would say!
[...] won’t be banning smoking in combat zones, citing the stress relieving properties of smoking. I could have told him that. But the fact that he specifically mentioned combat zones left the door open to banning smoking in [...]