Vets and Their Cigarettes

Incredible!  Amid the uproar about the failure to provide timely medical services to America’s veterans, in Friday’s Courant we learned that veterans at the Rocky Hill Veterans Home are going to be required to turn in their cigarettes.  I don’t smoke and understand the clear health hazards of smoking.  I also understand the concerns of non-smokers who do not want to be exposed to second hand smoke.

But confiscating the vets cigarettes and dictating the times that they can smoke –

even though the smoking areas are, apparently, out in the open air? 

Just four days ago, on Memorial Day, it was repeated over and over that  “freedom is not free!”.  It is these very veterans who bought and preserved our freedom. And now they are not free to smoke outdoors whenever they wish?  C’mon!  During our older vets service, the government provided them with cigarettes and smoking was a common pastime leading many to become regular smokers.  Is it right to now micromanage what they now choose to do, when we do not similarly restrict the rest of us?  What’s next for our vets?  French fries no more than once every other week?  No chocolate milk?

How about some respect?