The High Smoking Rates Among Military Personnel

The United States military exhibits smoking rates higher than average, with a Department of Defense report from 2011 showing that 24% of active-duty personnel smoked compared to 19% of civilians. Additionally, 38% of military smokers started after enlisting.

Even worse, Big Tobacco specifically targeted young service members. This discovery is part of the Truth Initiative’s latest campaign on the tobacco industry’s influence on the military. The nonprofit, which focuses on smoking cessation efforts among young people, used a searchable database maintained by the University of California, San Francisco, containing tobacco industry documents made public during litigation. These documents referred to military members as "the plums that are here to be plucked" and highlighted the group's appeal to tobacco companies due to their "lower education" and "limited job prospects," among other factors.

"They saw this as a market ripe for expansion," says Truth Initiative Chief Operating Officer Dave Dobbins. "Then we uncovered that they had previously distributed samples to military personnel, featured military members in ads, and organized events on military bases. These connections to military culture continue to flourish today."

Dobbins compares this to the enduring tobacco use among professional baseball players, noting that "early baseball was heavily supported by tobacco. In fact, the first baseball cards were packaged in tobacco products." He adds, "Once you embed yourself deeply enough, your customers become your advertisers, making traditional marketing unnecessary. It's the original form of viral marketing."

Mike Jenkins, a U.S. Navy member from 1968-1971, recalls widespread cigarette consumption: "While stationed on nuclear submarines for over two months at a time, a carton (200 cigarettes) cost only $1.05. Almost everyone smoked since it was affordable and helped pass the time." Even as late as the 1970s, the military distributed cigarette rations to troops, believing they calmed nerves and alleviated boredom.

Greg Cope White, who started smoking after enlisting in the Marines in 1980, says, "I picked up the habit out of boredom and because some friends smoked. It was a way to bond." White, author of 'The Pink Marine,' quit after leaving the military: "I was concerned about the long-term health risks, I knew it was bad for me, and the smell was off-putting to my dates. Most civilians I knew didn’t smoke."

Paul Fitzpatrick, program manager for the Quit Tobacco-UCanQuit2 initiative at the Defense Health Agency, explains that peer pressure plays a big role in military smoking: "Young recruits away from home for the first time often look for ways to connect with a new social group. Smoking provides a common bond for these otherwise diverse groups." He refers to a 2008 study on cigarette smoking in the Air Force, the only research focused on tobacco use during military training. (Smoking is prohibited during boot camp but permitted afterward.)

"Although tobacco use in the military has shown a slight decline since 2009, the change is minimal. This suggests that the data in this study is still relevant today," comments Fitzpatrick.

The Department of Defense faces a yearly cost of over $1.6 billion due to tobacco-related hospitalizations, medical care, and lost workdays. Efforts to curb the habit include TRICARE offering smoking cessation coverage, banning tobacco companies from distributing branded items or sponsoring events on bases, and restricting tobacco sales at Navy base commissaries, says Fitzpatrick.

In 2016, former Defense Secretary Ash Carter introduced policy guidelines aimed at reducing smoking in the military. These included regulations ensuring that tobacco products sold on bases are priced equally to those in nearby retail stores and that military services create policies to limit or eliminate tobacco use in base housing.

"My goal isn't to criticize the Department of Defense or any branches," says Dobbins from the Truth Initiative. "I’m more focused on understanding the culture of smoking, though the facts speak for themselves. Reducing smoking would enhance readiness, cut down on hospitalizations, and prevent diseases, much like in the civilian sector."