Feature Story

 

Thanks to a controversial mandate by Capt. Andy Blomme, commander of Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, Fla., many Coast Guardsmen are breathing more easily this summer. Blomme has prohibited all tobacco use aboard any unit within the sector.

Smoking has been an accepted part of military culture since the Civil War. During World War II doctors would use tobacco to relax and ease the pain of their wounded soldiers and until 1975 cigarettes were often given to soldiers in rations. According to the National Cancer Institute, smoking rates in the military are currently 12 percent higher than in the civilian population.

Service members who use tobacco credit it to reliving stress, passing the time and for social comradeship.

“I actually smoke more when I am at work. It is nice way to catch a break and sit down for five minutes,” said Petty Officer 3^rd Class Anthony Weaver, a food service specialist from Coast Guard Station Port Canaveral, one of Sector Jacksonville’s outlying units.

Blomme disagrees.

If people can, and do, quit during basic training there is no reason to start back up again, he said.

The Coast Guard has pushed full force into an anti-smoking initiative by increasing education effort for its members and offering numerous smoking cessation programs and resources. Blomme has taken it even further.

In a bold stance to ensure justifications for smoking in the military become part of the past, Blomme announced his impending instruction Jan. 25, 2010. Standing in the crowded galley during morning quarters, he said his number one job is to keep his members healthy and Jacksonville’s Coast Guard units at their highest level of readiness.

“I do not want Sector Jacksonville to enable smoking. There will be no more smoke breaks,” he said.

Blomme continued to explain to the Coast Guardsmen, whose faces displayed a range of emotion, that by allowing smoking aboard Sector Jacksonville he is doing far worse than failing to show concern for everybody’s health, but actually enabling a dangerous and expensive habit.

At the time of the announcement tobacco users had until June 1 to kick their tobacco use.

Weaver, who is now thirty years old, said he has smoked about a pack-a-day since he was eighteen. When he first heard about the deadline to quit he was very irritated.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Capt. Andy Blomme, commander of Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, signs a new instruction for Sector Jacksonville personnel June 1, 2010. The instruction prohibits using tobacco products on Sector Jacksonville property, including aboard vessels and at outlying units. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cindy Beckert.

He said he did not like, or understand, how one of his legal freedoms could be taken away from him.

“I am never late to work, my meals are always prepared and served on time, I did not think it was even fair to do,” Weaver said. “I do not agree, but I will follow the rule. I know better than to defy the rule of a captain,” he said.

In preparation for the great Sector Jacksonville smoke-out members were offered several resources and opportunities to get help quitting. These included involvement with Tobacco Cessation Programs, the Get Quit campaign, health fairs, counseling, online support and gum. None of which Weaver said he used or participated in.

With the quit-date looming, gossip swirled around the sector. Both support and opposition were expressed for the June 1 deadline. Smoking members insisted it could not be enforced, it was illegal and they would find a way. But the bottom line stood firmly, it is Coast Guard policy to discourage the use of all forms of tobacco products.

Of course Blomme could not control what people do on their liberty time and in their homes but he said his hope is that having to quit and go through the withdrawal at work every day, over and over, would be enough for people to quit 100 percent of the time.

Blomme said he knew people would be upset but he saw a greater goal.

“I genuinely care about you,” he told his shipmates in a sector-wide e-mail explaining the new instruction in further detail.

Between the initial announcement and June 1, Blomme visited Jacksonville-area units and explained that in his reviews of all the missions, cases, inspections, responses and escorts he is constantly reminded of the outstanding work everybody does for their units, the Coast Guard and the American people. He said he cannot rationalize enabling a habit that is so certain to have such severe consequences.

Another major deciding factor in the prohibition was money, Blomme said. Forecasts for next year’s pay increase are for a 1.4-1.9 percent raise. That is $44 to a petty officer 3^rd class.

"I just checked the price of one pack of cigarettes at the store:  $7.21.  Most smokers I have spoken with smoke at least a pack a day, sometimes more.  So to save you the math, if you are a pack-a-day smoker and you quit today, on July 1 you will have a little more than $216 more to spend on something that is not likely to kill you," said Blomme.

When further research was done by some frustrated tobacco users, chapter 3 of the Coast Guard’s Health Promotion Manual, COMDTINST M6200.1A, was brought to the attention of the captain. Inside it states “…commanding officers and officers-in-charge shall designate a smoking area.”

Blomme clarified the policy in his all hands e-mail with a three-part rebuttal. He pointed out the manual also states the smoking area may not be visible to the public. This is not feasible at Sector Jacksonville or many of the outlying units because unless indoors many of the properties have 360 degree vantage points to the public. Second, Blomme said he had appointed a designated smoking area, and that was anywhere not on sector property. Finally, the manual states that “…in all instances, the rights of the non-smoker shall prevail.”

Blomme signed the instruction at his desk June 1, 2010. It was months earlier he had first imposed the new policy and what was left of the lingering gossip had since faded.  It was now up to each unit’s officer-in-charge and commanding officer to enforce the commander’s new policy, and any member in violation of the new instruction could be subject to non-judicial punishment as last resort. The ultimate goal of this policy is the members' health, not punishment.   

Although frustrated with the situation, Weaver said he has quit smoking entirely now that he cannot smoke at work. In the short time he has been tobacco free he already feels better and his family is enjoying the extra money. He still does not like decisions being made for him but at the same time is thankful for the motivation.

Blomme understands merely signing this instruction will not get every tobacco user to quit.

“…But it is my sincere hope that this will provide the push, nudge or reason to encourage someone who is close to quitting, over the edge to be tobacco-free. If that can happen in just a few instances then this will have been a smashing success,” said Blomme.