No More Smoking On U.S. Submarines

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Navy Bans Tobacco Use On Its Submarine Fleet -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — The smoking lamp is going out all across the Navy’s submarine fleet, where the mission to “run silent, run deep” now will be carried out by sailors ordered to run undersea operations without cigarettes, cigars or pipes.

This is the latest front in the long war against tobacco declared by the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Their programs to help military personnel kick the smoking habit are intended to protect the health of the current force — and to save the government hundreds of millions of dollars a year in health care costs for those who have served, and smoked, in uniform.

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My Comment: 40% of submariners admit to being smokers. My prediction .... a few months after the smoking ban goes into effect, a good portion of them will seek reassignment, some will quit, and the rest will stay in their jobs but they will be "jumpy", short tempered, grumpy, unhappy, and difficult to work with. My analysis comes from personal experience .... those who I know who quit smoking were difficult to be with until they fell of the wagon and resumed smoking again.

But as much as this smoking ban is going to impact the submarine fleet, the removal of this ban will impact the U.S. submarine fleet even more.