BALTIMORE – U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan smoke to relieve boredom and stress in an environment that fosters smoking, according to focus group research sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The favorable smoking environment also pervades monthly drill exercises once they've returned home, and even encourages nonsmokers to smoke.
The poster was based on interviews with members of the Minnesota Army National Guard who had served in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and had smoked while deployed.
“The most important thing [learned] is that there's a very strong culture of tobacco use in the military, and it encourages people to start smoking and to continue it,” said Rachel Widome, Ph.D., core investigator at the VA Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research (CCDOR).
Concern for the effects of secondhand smoke on their children deterred smoking at home, Dr. Widome said. But the 1-weekend-a-month, 1-week-a-year drill exercises altered their habits.
Interviewees said that “it's not a problem to stay tobacco free at home, but when they get to the drill weekend, they smoke,” she said.
Dr. Widome highlighted the following responses from focus group participants:
▸ “While deployed, tobacco was a way to deal with stress, anger, boredom, and lack of control, and was a way to connect with others.”
▸ “It's such a camaraderie thing. At the drill, you can start up again if you quit before. The guys will give you crap about quitting and call you a quitter.”
▸ “Now that I'm at home and not around smokers, I have successfully quit, although I still smoke three packs a day on drill weekend … Even the nonsmokers smoke on drill weekends.”
▸ “I know people who smoke just because they get breaks every hour.”
“Innovative strategies and policies are needed” to promote smoking cessation among military members, Dr. Widome wrote in the poster, adding that focus group findings will be used to address the needs of returning soldiers at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.