April 17, 20188 yr Gday Im ex Royal Australian Navy. Served 21 years, swallowed the anchor 19 years ago. What about smoking in the military? I goggled a bit and came across this. Made some interesting reading! written by smokers( who gives a shit as I was one once I can relate ) Offers a diferent perspective ..... especially considering, the old saying " to the victor goes the chance to write the history! https://smokingjacketmagazine.com/2014/11/11/smokes-for-the-boys-a-history-of-smoking-and-the-military/ Least we forget! regards Chris
April 17, 20188 yr Hey Chris, first thanks for ya service. That was actually a great article, my Grandad was in the 2/8 during WWII, When he enlisted he didn't smoke but as they were in his ration packs and 'he was bored' he left the war a heavy smoker. He quit in the early 80s but the damage was done and we lost him to emphasima. Are you marching or doing anything significant next Tuesday?
April 17, 20188 yr 10 years in the US Navy. Can't blame them for my smoking, as I had been smoking for years before I enlisted. But man, did they make it easy! I ended my relationship with the military in 1991, right after Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and can speak to the article's mention of the tobacco companies losing their minds over the US Military taking steps to reduce smoking. In the article, they talk about boredom, and cheap easy access to cigarettes. They left out (or I glossed over it) that many of us in the military kind of accepted that we may die in the normal course of doing our jobs...dying from smoking just didn't seem that exciting. Also, we were (for the most part) very young and still "invincible"! Thanks for sharing the article!
April 17, 20188 yr Oh, and once we left US territory (12 miles off the coast - and there was a line at the ship's store!) we no longer had to pay US taxes, and smokes were $5/carton for name brands, and $3/carton for generics.
April 17, 20188 yr Very interesting article, thanks for sharing it. And Thank you Chris and Barry for your service.
April 21, 20188 yr Barry so in the 1980's it was about 50 cents a pack? Even with inflation it is hard to imagine them that cheap. Especially cause one of my favorite brands is now $8.50 a pack. My dad said he got kind of urked when they went up to 55 cents a pack at some point.
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