I thought it was bad ass to get a pack of smokes in your meal. think about it, your in the field and you are stressed all to hell by combat. then you take a puff and you clam down and get ready for another patrol. i really feel for our guys in the desert because you are stuck out there and if you did not pick up smoke ether at the PX or from a buddy your are literately "F"ed out there. smokes should be reinserted into the MREs. that my opinion.
Imagine the lawsuits .... The Army gave me cancer..They issued us with cigarettes!
Lots have sued the British army for the effects of DU rounds in the first gulf war also the Gulf War syndrome caused by either the DU or the Shots against chemical warfare.
Back in the day...
I never worried about 20-30 years in the future, just getting through the day was good enough!
I rather enjoyed the 4 pack in the MCI/c-rats. (except Benson and Hedges - Blech)
Besides, smokes were $ 1 per carton then (tax free) and about 90% of the troops smoked...
long days and nights made bearable by caffeine and nicotine...
I was smoking for 20 years (Camels) and quit 3 years ago "over night".
I know how "good" it could be/feel to have a cigarette to "calm down", as a "dessert" after a delicious meals, the cigarette "after" etc.
BUT:
The enemy could/will smell it.
(Vietcong could smell US troops by their smokes and by their after shave!)
If do you "allow" a smoke with the rations, the next one is asking for a beer, a drink, a...
You can see a cigarette at night for 1000mtrs!
Smoking will decrease the physical working capacity (a smoker is getting "out of air" faster than a not-smoker)
and many more reasons why NOT...
I someone wants/ needs to smoke, let him. Its his buisness!
(Also if he dies from cancer, headshoot, running to slow also... )
He/She can buy where ever and how much they want, but I wouldn´t supply them with.
I'm not trying to be funny: did they ever issue smokeless tobacco (e.g. Skoal) with rations 'back in the day'? WW2/Korea maybe? I ask because I've known a few US military types who like a 'dip'.
I've never heard of it being issued. But I do have some friends who chewed - even though the stuff wasn't allowed on ships, it was easier to smuggle aboard (and use) Skoal/chew than it was cigarettes.