What is the USNA policy on Tobacco?

usna2016

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I'm not a smoker and never will be :)
but I was wondering... what's the policy on tobacco?
 
All the academies, and services for that matter, try to prevent tobacco use. They cannot forbid its use, but they do make it difficult to use both smoke and smokeless tobacco.

So if you smoke or use smokeless tobacco I would urge you to quit. Trying to quit during plebe summer would not be fun!
 
During the summer however plebes are not allowed to use tabacco.
 
I spent a weekend at USNA last november for a Candidate's Visit Weekend (do it if you can..!)

The academy may try and discourage tobacco usage, but i was surprised by the number of mids that dipped... didn't see one smoker, but lots of smokeless.. just an interesting thing to know
 
Saw the same thing in January but noticed some smokers. Surprised me as there is such an emphasis on healthy lifestyles....LOL. Guess it is up to the individual.
 
Dippers definitely outnumber the smokers. Habitual smokers are rare, but I know of only a handful of people who would turn down a cigar on the weekend. Fall of youngster year it was regular practice for a group of us to spend the night at a bar and finish the evening with a cigar or pipe on the seawall.

As far as an emphasis on 'healthy lifestyles' I can only recall one or two briefs on nutrition or health, whereas we've had the EXACT same financial brief twice a semester every year....
 
Tobacco usage is not banned, but smoking is looked down upon ridiculously. In certain smoke pits, everyone who walks by will give you a dirty look.

Dip is supposedly banned in the Hall according to regulations, but try to find someone who enforces it.
 
In certain smoke pits, everyone who walks by will give you a dirty look.

I guess ostracizing their shipmates to the outdoors wasn't enough for these people.

I hate smoking, but I'll be damned before I give someone a dirty look for smoking in a designated area. If it bothers me that much, I just won't go past the smoke pit.


Speaking of which, where are these designated "smoke pits"? They didn't exist back in my day...
 
Just out of curiosity, if smoking is not banned, does that mean a midshipman can smoke in his room?

In my day ('79 grad), people just smoked in their rooms and nobody thought anything about it. Usually, the smokers roomed together. There was no air-conditioning in those days and the windows were ALWAYS open. The doors were ALWAYS open. There was always a stiff venturi-type breeze blowing through the halls.
 
Mids cannot smoke in their rooms, some will try hanging out the windows and such but thats why more people dip
 
Just out of curiosity, if smoking is not banned, does that mean a midshipman can smoke in his room?

In my day ('79 grad), people just smoked in their rooms and nobody thought anything about it. Usually, the smokers roomed together. There was no air-conditioning in those days and the windows were ALWAYS open. The doors were ALWAYS open. There was always a stiff venturi-type breeze blowing through the halls.

Lol. There are a lot of people who want to bring the "smoke" back in Smoke Hall.
 
Lol. There are a lot of people who want to bring the "smoke" back in Smoke Hall.

No kidding...that place is completely underused right now. The only appreciable amount of time I've spent in there was for the Distinguished grads dinner (for the free booze) and indoor tours.
 
No kidding...that place is completely underused right now. The only appreciable amount of time I've spent in there was for the Distinguished grads dinner (for the free booze) and indoor tours.

In my day, midshipmen never had any reason to go into Smoke Hall. We considered that a place where the the tourists hung out.
 
In my day, midshipmen never had any reason to go into Smoke Hall. We considered that a place where the the tourists hung out.

...and in mine, it was used as a throughway to get from the Rotunda to King Hall. The only other time it got used was for Service Selection.
 
It totally amazes me that smoking is allowed in our SA's. As thorough as the DoDMERB exam is, I can not believe that smoking is not a DQ. It definitely is unhealthy and isn't that part of why they take a medical exam - to find out if the candidate is healthy or not - to make sure that they are able "to train, be commissioned and be world-wide deployable." It is an addiction and as with all addictions you live around making sure that your "fix" is always available. I sure would hate to have a soldier be in a situation where he/she is making life/ death decisions and all the while in the back of their mind they are thinking about their next cigarette.

I also can't imagine how a plebe/mid who smokes can survive the intense PT that they have to go through seeing as their lungs are not as healthy. I just don't get it. So many kids are DQed for what SEEMS ( please note I emphasized SEEMS!) like far less but smoking is OK? Doesn't make sense to me. I don't remember, but is "smoking" asked on the DoDMERB questionnaire? And I'm not talking about the celebratory cigar that they partake in occasionally - I'm talking about the habitual smoker.

I'm sure I have ruffled some feathers. As you can tell, I am not a fan of smoking. Can someone please explain why habitual smoking is not an automatic DQ for our service academies? :confused:
 
Well, because it is still legal.

I don't see this as an issue of legal v. illegal. Taking meds for ADHD is legal but not allowed at the SA's. It is a HEALTH issue. The cadets/mids that smoke are not as healthy. DoDMERB painstakingly scrutinizes each applicant to point out any minute issues that COULD pose problems for the applicant to be successful and so that USXA can make a determination as to whether they want to take a "chance" on that candidate based on whether that condition is going to be a problem at the Academy and down the road. There are plenty of very qualified applicants out there. Why take a risk on someone who is not as healthy? Still don't get it.:confused:
 
Because smoking won't generally cause short term problems and the DODMERB process is all about weither the DOD will get their money's worth by paying to send you to college. It's all about economics because mids are simply government property.
 
Your argument is based mostly on the assumption that the DoDMERB examination is used to determine health, but it really isn't. It's essentially determining your ability to serve, and smoking generally doesn't affect one's ability to serve.

Given the fact that you are not a smoker, I also don't think that it's appropriate to assume that someone would think about lighting up in a life threatening situation.

Lastly, it really isn't that hard to run a 10:30 mile and half.
 
Still legal and not prescribed (ADHD Med) as of today and up until a certain time (during the sixtys) still issued in C-Ration and K-Ration boxes. "lucky Strikes Go To War". They were left over from WWII and Korea but we still got them passed down to ROTC Units. Use up the inventory. When someone screams "incoming" and you kiss the dirt and hug the sandbag you filled and stacked yesterday you don't care about the long term effect of tobacco ingestion.
 
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