Interactive Campaign Helps Military Service Members Quit Tobacco (NAPSA)—Aninteractive campaign encourages the loved onesof military personnel to help them defeat an all-too-common enemy: tobacco. Despite decades of work focused on reducing the use of tobacco by military populations, tobacco remains popular, especially among young enlisted personnel. A whopping 40 percent of service mem- bers ages 18 to 25 smoke, and more than 21 percent of service members ages 18 to 24 use smokeless tobacco. Alarmingly, a large numberof these warriors—more than 37 percent—don’t begin using tobacco until after they enlist, according to the Department of Defense Survey of Health Related Behaviors Among Active Duty Military Personnel. In addition to the risks all Americans face when they use tobacco, tobacco use poses unique risks to military personnel, in- cluding training failure, slow wound healing and decreased night vision. An innovative initiative created for the U.S. military, Quit Tobacco—Make Everyone Proud (http://www.ucanquit2.org), supports 18- to 24-year-old enlisted personnel who are contemplating quitting tobacco. Cool Tools Support is one of the most influential factors affecting cessation rates. A high-tech, high-touch array of tools, resources and materials is available free online. The campaign Web site features My A newinitiative could help soldiers snuff out their tobacco habit. Quit Tobacco—Make Everyone Proud offers the latest high-tech waysto connect with others on the road to becoming tobacco free, including mobile access, being friends on MySpace, being a fan on Facebook, tuning into videos on YouTube and subscribing to the Twitter feed. The Role of Loved Ones Support from friends and family helps, too. Quit Tobacco—Make Everyone Proud offers a Help Someone Quit section for those who want to help their military loved ones give up tobacco. You can send an e-card, become more informed about the challenges tobacco users face as they try to stop, and download information to share. Asa final tip, rememberthat if Quit Space, where users can cre- someone does use tobacco after deciding to quit, don’t give up on him or her! On average, it takes 11 attempts to quit tobacco for good. Everybody knowsthat quitting smoking or chewingis hard. Andfor people in the military, it’s 10 p.m. EST, seven days a week. Everyone Proud (http://www.ucan quit2.org) provides the tools and encouragement to help service members” successfully quit tobacco. ate a customized quit plan, quit calendar and blog. The site also features podcasts, RSS feeds and live chats with trained cessation coaches available from 8:30 a.m. to even harder. Quit Tobacco—Make
