Military Smoking Ban On the Way?

In case you missed your copy of the most vacuous and irrelevant newspaper in the country on Friday, USA Today had a front page headline on efforts by our Commander and Chief to outlaw smoking in the military.

Now, I have never been a smoker (despite having two grandparents that worked at the American Tobacco plant in Durham, NC that got two cartons a week free) but I have pretended to be one occasionally while at Uncle Hyman's preschool for wayward boys and in the fleet in order to get the much loved smoke-break. I despise smoking and smokers. They have no regard for the rest of us in the world and constantly intrude into my personal space with their smoke, ashes and odors.

Having said that, there is no way I have the right to tell anyone what they may or may not do with the bounds of legal behavior under the Constitution of the United States and the UCMJ. Unfortunately, it looks as if Obama doesn't share my belief.

So we will have a military where homosexuality can't be banned but smoking can be. This situation reminds me of a Lincoln story about soldiers and their vices.

"Grant is a drunkard," asserted powerful and influential politicians to the President at the White House time after time; "he is not himself half the time; he can't be relied upon, and it is a shame to have such a man in command of an army."

"So Grant gets drunk, does he?" queried Lincoln, addressing himself to one of the particularly active detractors of the soldier, who, at that period, was inflicting heavy damage upon the Confederates.

"Yes, he does, and I can prove it," was the reply.

"Well," returned Lincoln, with the faintest suspicion of a twinkle in his eye, "you needn't waste your time getting proof; you just find out, to oblige me, what brand of whiskey Grant drinks, because I want to send a barrel of it to each one of my generals."

Let's try to remember what the purpose of the military is; To Kill Certain People and Break Things. Who cares if they want to smoke a damned cigarette?

The Obamanation's experts all whine about how much smoking costs the DoD and the VA. You think healthcare costs are high now? Wait until all of those potential chain smokers that die off at 55 stick around until they are 80!

Smoke'em If You Got'em!