Smoking Costs Military Over $130 Million a Year
LONDON (Reuters) - Smoking is costing the U.S. military more than $130 million a year in lost training because of the high early discharge rate among smokers, American researchers said on Tuesday.

A study of 29,000 Air Force trainees by scientists at the University of Memphis in Tennessee showed that the dropout rate among smokers was nearly double that of non-smokers and cost the Air Force $18 million a year in excess training costs.

When they estimated the costs across all the U.S. military services it came to $130 million a year.

"Smoking is related to early discharge from the US military and may cost the Department of Defense over $130 million per year or close to one percent of the total annual training costs," said Dr. Robert Klesges of the Center for Community Health at the university.

…They found that smoking was the best indicator of early discharge over one year of training among new recruits. It was also an indication of other behaviors.

Smokers tended to be from lower income families. The habit was also associated with dieting, drug and alcohol abuse and lack of physical activity.

"Probably the most sensible recommendation would be for the military to step up its efforts to encourage non-smokers to join the armed forces as well as to support smoking cessation efforts among those who smoke," Klesges added…"

Does smoking also cause low income, dieting, drug and alcohol abuse, and a lack of physical activity, which are some of the other behaviors also associated with smoking in the article? Few these days would argue the fact that smoking is associated with a wide variety of health problems, but to observe that smoking is highly correlated with drop out rates in the military and conclude that "smoking costs military over $130 million a year" makes the very fundamental mistake of assuming that correlation implies causation. This simple but often misunderstood concept is tempting to ignore, especially for those hungry for a story, or eager to sell something, or searching for funding, or so many other things.

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