Navy balances smokers' habit with health concerns

[thedrifter]

Navy balances smokers' habit with health concerns

By MATTHEW DOLAN AND DENNIS O'BRIEN, The Virginian-Pilot
? July 5, 2003

Seven minutes of freedom.

That's how Lance Cpl. Tony Scruggs explains why he smoked more at sea during the war against Iraq than he did back at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. It simply gave him a break he might not otherwise get.

Fellow air winger Cpl. Joshua Gray started smoking a few months ago for the same reason.

``It's something to do to get out of the shop and get away from those guys I work with, so that I don't kill anybody,'' Gray said. ``I'm a ball of rage -- I have to get away now and then.''

Spend a little time with the military, and you'll meet a lot of smokers, including many who say they ramped up their smoking habits during the recent wartime deployments.

In interviews, most current smokers said they are not in the mood to give up one of the few vices permitted by the Navy.

``I've actually known people who've started smoking because they get a smoke break,'' said Airman Bryan Trigg, 24.

Smoking, he said, ``breaks the day up, the monotony of the sea.''

The Navy and Marines have smoking rates significantly higher than their civilian counterparts, according to studies on the issue.

One recent study found roughly 35 percent of sailors and Marines smoke, compared with about 25 percent of the civilian population. The same data also revealed that military smokers tend to be heavier smokers, in frequency and quantity consumed.

But Navy personnel officials said this week that more accurate figures take into account the large number of young men in the military. Then, they said, the percentage of sailors who smoke is about the same as the civilian population.

``The rates are higher for enlisted sailors and younger sailors,'' said Capt. Bruce Bohnker of the Navy Environmental Health Center in Portsmouth. ``Women have lower rates than our men.''


An estimated 47 million adults in the United States smoke, and approximately half will die prematurely from smoking. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and women, and in 2002, there will be about 169,400 new cases diagnosed in the United States. More than 80 percent of lung cancers are thought to result from smoking.

In recent years, the civilian world has cracked down on smoking in public spaces. One of the most dramatic developments came last year when New York City banned people from lighting up in bars and restaurants.

The military has called smoking a health issue but also one that affects troop readiness to fight. The Navy's policy calls for reducing tobacco use and protecting nonsmokers from involuntary exposure to smoke.

``Where conflicts arise between the rights of nonsmokers and the rights of smokers,'' the policy states, ``the rights of nonsmokers to a smoke-free air space shall prevail.''

No surprise, then, that the days of ration packs filled with a box of unfiltered cigarettes have passed.

In recent years, military officials have promoted smoke-free workplaces and stop-smoking programs. Bases prohibit smoking in most buildings, sending smokers to outdoor gazebos to accommodate their habit.

By early December 2002, all base clubs needed to be smoke-free to comply with federal regulations. Smoking booths -- glass-enclosed spaces with separate ventilation systems -- have been installed at four out of Hampton Roads' 11 Navy clubs.

Dick Carlsen of the Navy's morale, welfare and recreation department said the response has been mixed to the smoke-free environments.

``I've heard that it's really hurt some business at the clubs,'' Carlsen said. ``Outside the gates, the clubs off-base say they're laughing all the way to the bank.

``But there has been a lot of new business at the bowling centers. Families don't like a place that's going to leave a smoke residue on them.''



The smell of cigarettes and cigars could be more than a nuisance for the Navy. Smoking costs the U.S. military more than $130 million a year in lost training because of the high early discharge rate among smokers, according to researchers at the University of Memphis in Tennessee.

A study of 29,000 Air Force trainees by scientists at the University of Memphis showed that the dropout rate among smokers was nearly double that of nonsmokers and cost the Air Force $18 million a year in excess training costs. Estimated costs for all the U.S. military services came to $130 million a year.

Sailors in boot camp are prohibited from using any tobacco products during their eight- to 10-week stay at Great Lakes, Ill. Separate research has shown that recruits who smoke have double the attrition rate of nonsmokers, and boot camp attrition is expensive. For every recruit who leaves before graduation, the Navy loses about $10,000 in training costs.

About one-third of Navy recruits say they had been smokers before boot camp.

The Center for Naval Analysis suggested providing recruits who smoke with a nicotine replacement, such as a patch. If boot camp attrition for recruits on the patch is halfway between the rate for smokers and nonsmokers, the Navy would save $8 for every $1 it spends for the patch, researchers found.

But Cmdr. Kevin Kennedy, a clinical psychologist and head of the behavioral health section at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Tennessee, said drawing a direct correlation between smoking and attrition rates may not tell the whole story.

``We don't know whether there is another factor involved here,'' Kennedy said. ``I think you need to be skeptical of correlation analysis.''

He added that recruits can receive stop-smoking treatment through a medical provider.

Steve Heaston, a health educator on smoking issues for the Navy Environmental Health Center, said every command has access to programs to end smoking. But he said the Navy did not keep track of how many sailors successfully have completed those programs.

The Pentagon has a working group to examine smoking policies in the Navy, although banning smoking altogether is not one of the options under consideration, Kennedy said.


On the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, Petty Officer 2nd Class Abe Slocum, 23, said he smokes two packs a day at sea but less on shore. The sailor, said he started 3 1/2 years ago when he signed up for the Navy.

He likes hanging out on the smoking deck because ``it's a place to get off watch and take a break,'' he said. ``This is where you hear all the good rumors.

``You could be having a bad day, come out and talk to a stranger, and the day gets better.''

As a port call approaches, Slocum said his smoking rate increases because ``you're with the guys, talking about what you're going to do.''

Slocum said he tried to quit before. It stuck for a few days, he said, but quitting smoking is easier at home.

``You don't want to get your clothes dirty,'' he said.

At sea, he added, sailors are dirty anyway, so it doesn't matter.

On the Bataan, Gray works with arming bombs in the ordnance shop of VMA-223, a Harrier squadron. The ease of puffing, he said, depends on a ship's commanders.

The Bataan's smoke deck used to be on the weather deck -- one ladder down from the flight deck and overlooking the water. Recently it has been changed to more confined quarters -- the well deck ramp between the hangar bay and the upper vehicle storage deck.

On the Kearsarge, smokers congregate on a resupply sponson, essentially a balcony off the hangar bay. When the ship is taking on supplies, smokers are often relegated to the pipe shop, a small room above the hangar that is nicknamed the ``crack shack.''

Though a brand-new smoker, Gray has already tried -- and failed -- to shake his pack-a-day habit on the Bataan by going cold turkey.

``But once again I started spending way too much time in the shop and had to find a way to get out,'' Gray said. ``But the day I get off the ship is the day I smoke my last cigarette.''

Staff Writer Matthew Jones contributed to this report. Reach Matthew Dolan at mdolan@pilotonline.com or 446-2322.


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