Ban on tobacco urged in military

[LML]

Originally Posted by chielgirl

When I was active duty in the 70s, they had excellent electronics for military members, and at good prices.

Somewhere along the line, they became greedy and not interested in providing the military with good product at good prices.
They have only high end, high price or low end high priced goods.

I can afford to buy what few things that I want, but shop on-line when/where-ever possible.

I'd rather see Walmart than AAFES, and I hates me some Walmart.

Oh I don't know. My daughter has gotten some really good deals buying at AAFES. Besides, there are many places soldiers are that Target is not.

[chocolatepuma]

Originally Posted by th3vault

Starting officers in the military make more money than a lot of cops do. And I use officers as a reference because those standards are more similar to law enforcement standards than enlisted stndards are. $33k a year is an average starting salary for a cop here in Florida, and I believe that is similar to an O-1.

Cops live in the civilian world. A lot of expenses that are "taken care" of in the military are not in law enforcement. In terms of overall compensation, the two aren't very far off.

Wages for being on standby? You can't seriously be bashing law enforcement for that and saying the military doesn't get that. What the heck do you think the Reserves and National Guard are for?!?!

What?

If I may ask. Have you, or are you currently in the military, if so what branch, becasue each one is very different. I have to disagree with this and I just wanted to know what is your reasoning behind your opinion.

[th3vault]

Originally Posted by chocolatepuma

What?

If I may ask. Have you, or are you currently in the military, if so what branch, becasue each one is very different. I have to disagree with this and I just wanted to know what is your reasoning behind your opinion.

Law Enforcement training can run between 16- 30 weeks of academy plus 8 weeks to 1 year of FTO. Probationary period usually of the first 2 years makes it very easy to be terminated for the slightest mistake..

LE Hiring process is very complex..... including written test, physical test, pysch test, oral boards, polygraph test, background investigation, medical exam.....

LE standards usually require either military service or college degree, very hard to get around that now.... age must be 21.... no felony, no drug use, no traffic tickets, no credit issues, no misdeamnors of a certain type...

Compared to military standards:

Enlisted: HS diploma, no felony, good ASVAB score, pass PT test, 8-12 week boot camp + AIT

Officer: College degree, no criminal history, written test, pass selection committee, OTS/OCS is more intentsive and longer than BMT..

The inclusion of the oral board/selection committee is the biggest difference between miltary officer/police officer hiring and enlisted standards. Simply put, oral boards are the only subjective part of hiring in any of the processes and that makes a huge difference.

Also Officers tend to need higher security clearances than enlisted do, and I believe a top secret (correct me if I'm wrong) requires a background investigation similar to a law enforcement background investigation. More likely to need that clearance as an Officer than enlisted.

To answer your question about me: I did a bit in a USAF ROTC GMC detachment, but that particular detachment was so overcrowded with limited resources that they were looking to cut as many as possible from entering POC. My major was not one they were highy seeking at this detachment so no POC for me, and I was told to consider OTS after college if the AF started selecting non-rated and non-technical majors again for Officer posistions. Other than that I was told to enlist with advanced rank or to join Army. It was kinda funny when all the non-selected USAF cadets left the detachment...an Army ROTC guy was standing there trying to recruit all of us into his 2 year program, lol..

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale

One of the reasons for the ban is due to health care costs associated with smoking. I see so many people on this forum screaming about how they don't want "their tax dollars" being used to pay for someone else's poor choices in life. Smoking causes all kinds of health problems. By working toward eliminating dependence on tobacco in the military, it will save money for all of us.

The costs are absolutely staggering.
From the OP's link:

"Tobacco use costs the Pentagon $846 million a year in medical care and lost productivity, says the report, which used older data. The Department of Veterans Affairs spends up to $6 billion in treatments for tobacco-related illnesses, says the study, which was released late last month."

The military makes a big investment in every recruit. It only makes sense that they would want to 'protect' that investment as much as possible.

[chielgirl]

Originally Posted by LML

Oh I don't know. My daughter has gotten some really good deals buying at AAFES. Besides, there are many places soldiers are that Target is not.

I really can't see what good deals compared to ebay or stateside prices. And with an APO address you can get shipments of many things.
No one else is allowed to sell on military bases in war zones because AAFES has a monopoly. Dell and other computer companies are no longer allowed to ship to APO addresses because they were charging realistic prices for current PCs.
In Iraq, they didn't have foot lockers and padlocks but had more than enough big screen TVs for the first several years of the war.
Some Iraqi bx's still don't have deodorant or shampoo & soap, but they sure do have TVs.