Comment on DOD-2011-HA-0038-0001

I am in favor of the proposed rule pertaining to the smoking cessation program under TRICARE – document ID DOD_2011_HA_0038_001. Service members encounter a variety of stressors that the average individual does not, especially deployments to war zones in foreign lands for extended periods of time. In addition to deployments, service members are often underpaid, unappreciated, and overworked. As a result, many of them seek relief in various forms, but one of the most common forms of relief is cigarette smoking. While service members are old enough to understand the costs and health risks associated with this activity, I can think of many other forms of relief that would have more immediate detrimental effects as opposed to the gradual detrimental effects that are associated with smoking cigarettes. Nevertheless, smoking cigarettes enables service members to do themselves the disservice of adding insult to injury by adding more consequences to the honorable line of work that they chose. The smoking cessation program under TRICARE will benefit our nation’s heroes by providing them with the necessary tools to refrain from smoking and eventually quit altogether. In theory, this program will save the lives of many service members similarly, but not equivalent to the many lives that service members have saved.