Declaring War on Smoking

In war movies, the soldiers always smoke on their breaks, after a tough battle...actually any time they can. But in the real world, the U.S. Department of Defense wants its soldiers to quit smoking. That’s why it’s started the “Quit Tobacco. Make Everyone Proud” campaign aimed at 18- to 25- year-old servicemen and women. In fact, a DOD survey found that the prevalence of smoking among that age group in the military was much higher than their civilian peers.

The campaign is based on an interactive web site, Ucanquit2.org, that helps users create a personal plan to quit smoking, keep and online journal about the goal, play online games, meet friends for support, listen to inspiring podcasts on quitting smoking and communicate privately with counselors.

What are your predictions for this program—do you think it will work, or is smoking too ingrained in the military culture to go away? [Stars and Stripes]