Originally Posted by
JamesNoBrakes
My brother told me that it people smoking caught stuff on fire all the time on ships. I know they have designated "smoking areas", but the extent to which smoking is rampant in the military and anything associated with it, is absolutely staggering IME. It all kind of stems from the "don't worry about your body now, push it to the max", which includes drinking, medical issues that show up later in life, inappropriate diagnoses and treatments, and so on. Command does little to discourage it and they tend to see it as a "right" that these people "need to be able to smoke", so the inevitable outcome is fires caused by people smoking in areas they shouldn't be. Of course, there are plenty of other sources of fire...but this is one of the common ones...
In my experience, most fires were electrical in origin not counting the monthly grease fire in the galley during high seas or angles. Salt air and metal electrical fixtures just don't play well. Frankly sailors (at sea or in port) just don't leave piles of flammable trash laying around, at least not in my 35 years of experience in the all-volunteer force.
Smoking is on it's way out in the mil, and smokeless is not far behind, although I'm not sure if a total ban is in the near-term cards given the demographics and attitudes you mentioned. It's pretty much already banned indoors or inside ships, which means people on small ships or subs have to go smokeless since you can't be outside the hull during certain operational conditions.
Although smoking (and screwing) in fan rooms has always been a thing, although nothing inside a big metal fan box should burn.
Also alcohol abuse went from encouraged to tolerated, to discouraged, to actual mild institutional disapproval of any alcohol consumption. The tides are shifting for sure, the USN gyms used to be fairly open, mostly a few muscleheads and whatever divers, marines, firemen, etc. were stationed nearby. Now (pre-covid) they're full of junior and mid-grade enlisted plus their spouses. Sat AM used to be a great time to have a mil gym to yourself, but not any more. I'm not complaining though, glad to see the younger folks enjoying a healthy lifestyle.
Was your brother in prior to 2010?