Tobacco use terminated in technical training

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Elaine M. Larson
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Tobacco use and possession are no longer allowed for nonprior-service technical training students at any time while on base or in uniform.

The change is included in Air Education and Training Command Instruction 36-2216, "Administration of Military Standards and Discipline Training," published June 16.

The policy states that Airmen will only be allowed to use tobacco if they are off base and out of uniform. Before the policy change, students could use tobacco products on base after duty hours, provided they were out of uniform and had reached at least Phase III of the enlisted phase program.

Buying tobacco products has also become more challenging. Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials are supporting the command's initiative by removing tobacco products from shoppettes located in designated technical training areas. Student troop stores at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Keesler AFB, Miss.; and Sheppard AFB, Texas, have removed these products.

Smoking costs the Air Force more than $1 billion each year in health care and lost productivity, according to a report published in 2000 by the Air Force Medical Operations Agency's office for prevention and health services assessment.

"Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States," the report states.

Even though Airmen must quit using tobacco before entering basic military training, studies have found 82 percent of those who quit returned to tobacco use after graduation. Most return within the first month of technical training, said Lt. Col. Alan Peterson, psychology flight commander from Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB.

Another 7 percent of Airmen entering technical training who have "never had a puff in their lives" pick up the habit within their first year on active duty, said Col. Russell Eggert, AETC health promotion branch chief.

"More people are leaving technical training as tobacco users than those who enter (basic training)," he said. "It's very difficult once people are addicted to nicotine to get them to quit. We want to prevent them from ever starting."

Colonel Eggert said he hopes the change will translate into fewer people starting down the road.

"Research suggests most people who use tobacco start in adolescence or early adulthood," he said. "The longer folks hold off, the less likely they are to ever start."

The instruction does not apply to students attending Inter American Air Forces Academy or Defense Language Institute English Language Center, both at Lackland AFB. (Courtesy of AETC News Service)