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2007-04-29 Home Front: Culture Wars

Air Force tobacco bans are gaining steam

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-04-29 12:24|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Another idiotic anti-freedom move by imposing totalitarian ideology on those that are supposed to defend individual freedom. My wife smokes. The price of cigarettes in the commissary is higher than it is on the civilian economy. All of the local base is supposed to be a smoke-free environment, except in very limited "smoking allowed" areas. I don't give a damn if There is not one positive health benefit from using tobacco - Not one. Smoking isn't illegal. Restricting personnel from engaging in a legal act is tyranny, whether it's smoking or anything else. The Air Force needs to understand that its duty is to protect individual freedoms, not trample them.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2007-04-29 16:03|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2007-04-29 16:03|| Front Page Top

#2 The Air Force is using smoking as an excuse to RIF lots of personnel, because they are way over their projected needs. If they can force them out because they smoke, it's a lot cheaper than paying them to leave.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-04-29 16:08|| 2007-04-29 16:08|| Front Page Top

#3 Hmmmm, it seems to me that banning smokes or other forms of tobacco use on AF bases is probably a bad idea. I mean, think about the implications - do you really want someone with the shakes from nicotine withdrawal working on anything from bombs to airplanes to refueling tankers just because they can't take a break for a smoke or a chew?

Personally, I want military personnel as relaxed and focused as possible - and nicotine opens brain synapses, allowing clearer, calmer thought processes and also eases tensions and stress (all at the same time it's trying to kill you, of course, but then there's that pesky job and the enemy trying to do the same thing).

Posted by FOTSGreg">FOTSGreg 2007-04-29 19:16|| www.fire-on-the-suns.com]">[www.fire-on-the-suns.com] 2007-04-29 19:16|| Front Page Top

#4 What would General Jack D. Ripper say???

Posted by borgboy2001 2007-04-29 21:41|| 2007-04-29 21:41|| Front Page Top

#5 Hitler, too, wanted to enforce a no smoking ban!!!

Posted by borgboy2001 2007-04-29 21:42|| 2007-04-29 21:42|| Front Page Top

#6 Moose, unfortunately, has more than a grain of truth in his assessment. PBD 723 mandated a reduction of approximately 40,000 over 5 years. A key element of the AF's approach to this transformation was taking a significant number of aircraft off flying status. Congress was having none of it. So, when you can't get rid of whole squadrons, it gets a little more difficult to meet your manpower goals. Using tobacco use an excuse to reduce the force is just a convenient, and, for many senior officers, pleasing mechanism. Too many senior officers forget that the AF mission is "to fly and to fight" rather than control the private lives of its airmen.

The tobacco ban is typical of the moralistic bent of AF senior command. This has been done before. First, slot machines were removed from the clubs and then drinking became demonized. The result was the virtual death of service clubs. So now, if anyone wants a drink, they go off base. Another example of the AF as nanny is the neverending fixation on weight as opposed to physical fitness, but that is a rant in and of itself.

Posted by RWV 2007-04-29 22:01|| 2007-04-29 22:01|| Front Page Top

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