# Were cigarettes (+lighters?) issued to WWII G.I.s? Vietnam? Iraq, Aphgan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450 "2011-09-07T01:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/41 "2011-09-15T17:30:18Z")
Good discussion. My thanks to everyone in the thread who served this great republic. A funny Army rations story: [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/07/25/2009-07-25\_army\_colonel\_henry\_a\_moak\_samples\_40yearold\_pound\_cake\_ration.html](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/07/25/2009-07-25_army_colonel_henry_a_moak_samples_40yearold_pound_cake_ration.html) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/42 "2011-09-18T04:14:49Z")
I showed this thread to my dad, who served with the 8th Infantry Division near Munich in the mid-Fifties, and he wrote: \*I have no recollection of ever getting cigs in our field rations - but if I did, I gave them to other GI friends. I didn’t smoke then, nor since. I do remember that we hired Germans to do KP duty for us, and they were always grateful to get a cig from a cook or other soldier. We did have guys who would swap 5-gallon gas cans for cases of beer, when we were on maneuvers - strictly forbidden, but sometimes done.\* ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/43 "2011-09-19T15:14:05Z")
My mom added: \*I was a small girl, under ten years old, when Mother and I would be camp followers to Father, a Capt. in the Army [during WWII]…and he smoked…My strongest memory is that each time he finsihed a cigarette, he would “field strip” it…there were NO filters then, so he would put the embers out, and then split open the rest of the white paper sleeve, scatter the rest of the tobacco, and roll the white paper into a tiny ball, and toss it…Have no idea why this is so vivid in my mind, but it is. Early “living green” I guess. Another thought; during WWII, if Mother bought a pack of cigarettes out of a machine, for a quarter, there were always two or three pennies inside the cellophane wrap, and that was how you got your “change” for a 23 cent pack of cigarettes!\* ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/44 "2011-09-19T22:23:36Z")
Most likely he wasn’t “field stripping” the cigarette butt for environmental reasons: There are very few animals in the wild who leave behind cigarette butts. It’s typically presented as an excellent way for an enemy to discover where you have recently been, especially if your smokes are branded in some distinct way (I don’t know if any cigarette companies do or ever did this on cigarettes though). ---
**Author:** ![Kadgarth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e95f7d/32.png) [@Kadgarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kadgarth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/45 "2011-09-19T22:42:15Z")
I’m in Afghanistan right now. I can tell you any major FOB with a PX sells tobacco products. We ran out a few months ago due to customs issue at the Pakistan Border…was a pretty shitty two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/46 "2011-09-19T22:55:30Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Most likely he wasn’t “field stripping” the cigarette butt for environmental reasons: There are very few animals in the wild who leave behind cigarette butts. It’s typically presented as an excellent way for an enemy to discover where you have recently been, especially if your smokes are branded in some distinct way (I don’t know if any cigarette companies do or ever did this on cigarettes though). Also: Tank tread tracks, tire marks, boot prints, spent shells, used rations. I don’t think armies in those days (nor now) moved with much subtlety. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyMarine2092](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyMarine2092](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyMarine2092)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/47 "2011-09-20T00:47:33Z")
> [@Kadgarth](#): > > I’m in Afghanistan right now. > > I can tell you any major FOB with a PX sells tobacco products. > > We ran out a few months ago due to customs issue at the Pakistan Border…was a pretty shitty two weeks. If my FOB ran out of dip, I’m pretty sure we’d start stabbing each other. To answer someone’s questions of where do we put packs of cigs? On the Army issued ACUs there’s a pocket on the bottom of the trouser legs that’s a perfect side. I don’t like putting anything heavy down there, so my dip is perfect. I’ve seen smokers do the same. When I was in the Marine Corps, I would keep my smokes in one of my shoulder pockets. My Gunny kept them _inside_ his pants, down by the boots. When you’d blouse them it would keep the pack from falling out. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/48 "2011-09-20T08:59:37Z")
> [@kombatminipig](#): > > Also: Tank tread tracks, tire marks, boot prints, spent shells, used rations. I don’t think armies in those days (nor now) moved with much subtlety. Well the tank treads could be a really obese sidewinder snake. The cigarette butt would just be a giveaway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/49 "2011-09-20T12:58:34Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Well the tank treads could be a really obese sidewinder snake. The cigarette butt would just be a giveaway. 😃 I just got a mental image of a German officer commenting on the uncanny size of this year’s snakes (amongst burning M4s, strewn Garands and shell casings galore) and then finding a cigarette butt and exclaiming: “Aha, Amerikaner!” Dammit, I have to write a film script in to fit this scene in now. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450/50 "2011-09-27T05:59:01Z")
From the internet: > [@](#): > > Until 1976, cigarettes were routinely included in K-rations and C-rations and for decades sold at deeply discounted prices in commissaries and exchanges. Tobacco products are still sold at discounted prices on military exchanges and commissaries (except for Navy and Marine commissaries). Military induced smoking accounts for a significant percentage of the higher lung cancer rates, perhaps as high as 50-70% of the excess deaths. The percentage of active duty military who ever smoked was highest during the Korean and Vietnam Wars (75%). Currently overall 32.2 % of active duty military personnel smoke versus 19.8% of adults in the civilian population and 22.2% of veterans. [http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/facing/FocusOnVeterans\_Smoking.html](http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/facing/FocusOnVeterans_Smoking.html) Also: > [@](#): > > Over the years studies have indicated higher rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality among veterans. > > World War II and Korean War Veterans > > According to a study looking back on 33 years of cause of death data for people born between 1920 and 1939, the mortality rate for lung cancer among veterans has been nearly twice that of civilians. 2,000,000 World War II and Korean War veterans died an average of 11.1 years sooner than their civilian counterparts, making the toll of premature deaths in terms of “years of life lost” greater than that of all combat casualties from both wars. In addition to higher smoking rates, veterans of these wars were exposed to asbestos which was widely used in submarines, Navy ships and as plumbing and heating insulation. > > Vietnam War > > A 1987 study of the death records of 52,000 veterans of that era showed that Marine ground troops who served in Vietnam died of lung cancer at a 58% higher rate of lung cancer than veterans who did not serve there. [http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/facing/FocusOnVeterans\_Conflicts.html](http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/facing/FocusOnVeterans_Conflicts.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-cigarettes-lighters-issued-to-wwii-g-i-s-vietnam-iraq-aphgan/595450.md?page=2)