Smoking ban redefines military culture
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Harold Lynch remembers the days when most bar patrons at Hickam Air Force Base's enlisted club would have a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
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"It was like working in England — nothing but fog in the bars," Lynch said. "I'm a smoker, and it bothered me."
Air Force Tech Sgt. James Battle relaxes at the Sports Page Lounge in the enlisted club at Hickam Air Force Base. A cloud of smoke used to characterize the club until a smoking ban took effect on Dec. 7.
Lynch, who has worked at the club for 40 years and is assistant manager, said smokers would light up everywhere — in the bathroom, the dining room.
"You could smoke just about anywhere," he said.
That was in the 1960s. Times — and the rules — have changed.
A more than eight-year Department of Defense effort to outlaw cigarette smoking in public buildings reached a final phase on Dec. 7 as a three-year grace period ended for recreational facilities, including base bars, bowling alleys, and golf course clubhouses, to go smoke-free.
"God bless no smoking in the club — I can breathe easier," said Jean L. Ma'ae, a twice-a-week regular for "game night" at the Hickam enlisted club.
Predictably, smokers aren't as enthusiastic.
"It's part of having a cocktail," said Richard K. Miki, who had to step outside to have a smoke. "That's the worst law they made — no smoking in the clubs."
"I'm thinking about the management part — they are losing big money because of that," said Miki, a retired Air Force member and smoker for 64 of his 74 years.
The smoking ban follows others locally and worldwide. Honolulu restaurants went smoke-free July 1. Such curbs extend all the way to the Vatican, which prohibited indoor puffing last summer.
But military bowlers and club-goers apparently are a hard-smoking lot — reflected in then-Defense Secretary William Cohen's policy letter of Dec. 7, 1999, granting a three-year grace period for all Morale, Welfare and Recreational facilities to comply with new no-smoking rules.
Many went right to the deadline.
"Although nonsmoking is our strong policy preference, it is important for our MWR activities to be seen as available and accommodating for all service members, including those who smoke," Cohen said.
In 2000, the military reported that 34 percent of the nation's 1.4 million service members smoked — down from previous decades, but not enough to satisfy the Defense Department, which was spending $930 million per year on healthcare for smoking-related illnesses and lost productivity.
By comparison, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, 23.3 percent of U.S. adults smoked in 2000. In Hawai'i, 19.7 percent were smokers.
Hickam enlisted-club officials estimate as much as 90 percent of the "game night" crowd smokes. Now they have to go outside — and be 50 feet away from the building.
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"They're just like bowlers, golfers, people who drink. It's the older crowd," Lynch, 61, said. In the past at the bowling alley, "you had a beer here and a cigarette there," he said, gesturing to the left and right.
Signs at Hickam's enlisted club explain the smoking ban that took effect Dec. 7 at all recreational facilities on American military bases.
Earl Lee, manager of the Schofield Bowling Center, said the center went smoke-free on Dec. 7.
"It wouldn't have been fair to the smokers to start this up prior to Dec. 7," he said. "I'm all for no-smoking, but we would probably have more complaints if we started it up prior to Dec. 7."
Lee, whose 46-lane bowling alley is the biggest in the state, said he started putting up no-smoking warning signs in November and didn't get any complaints when the cutoff rolled around.
Eight to 10 years ago, the bowling alley lost half of its league bowlers when smokers were told they had to light up in a smoking room with charcoal filter fans.
Part of the problem is that bowling shoes shouldn't be worn outside — where smokers now have to go to light up.
"I'm thinking about making a smoking area — a lanai — with maybe a small bench where people can sit down and smoke," Lee said.
The Defense Department banned smoking in all workplaces in 1994. President Clinton took the prohibition a step further in 1997 when he banned smoking in all federal facilities. Barracks and housing remain exempt.
"That (barracks) is something that's going to have to be worked out," said Glenn Flood, a spokesman for the assistant secretary of defense in Washington. "I think a commander can say there will be no smoking at all."
Army spokesman Bob Warner said all MWR facilities of U.S. Army Hawai'i went smoke-free on Dec. 7. Officials also decided that a smoke-free workplace means a 50-foot smoke-free zone around entrances.
Warner said no measurable drop in business has been seen because of the smoking ban. He added that "the Army is committed to fostering the promotion of health and welfare within its community."
The Army has a two-hour-a-day, four-day smoking cessation program that includes peer support and makes nicotine patches available.
Hickam Air Force Base has a waiting list for its stop-smoking classes. The four-week program, offered quarterly, can accommodate 25 people. Ten to 15 on average graduate, officials said.
Lighting up outside the Hickam enlisted club last week, retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Mary Schumacher, 51, said she doesn't mind having to go outside to smoke.
"As long as I've got a place to smoke, I'm OK," she said. "The restrictions don't bother me, and I smoke less."
No-smoking areas previously had been set aside in the Hickam club. A new enlisted club expected to open in the summer will have a designated outdoor smoking area.
Lynch said people are starting to live healthier, and the enlisted club these days draws more and more families for programs like Sunday football on a big-screen TV.
"The old clubs of booze and cigarettes are long gone," he said.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
