US Navy submariners may have to work on their New Years resolution a little harder this year if they’re smokers.  As of January 1st, the Navy will no longer allow smoking on submarines, as it announced earlier this year.  Submarines are typically out of port for months at a time, and the submariners lack some of the ‘chemical assistance’ other Sailors might have:

Although many Sailors rely on prescription medication to help them quit — Zyban and Chantix are two popular options — they aren’t available for submariners, because psychotropic drugs are forbidden for the 11,600 Sailors assigned to subs.

The crews think their surface brethren may ultimately face the same fate:

Though the ban aboard smoking underway only applies to submarines for now, Albany Sailors have no doubt their brothers and sisters on surface ships will soon be following in their footsteps. Big Navy isn’t going to allow smoking on ships forever, they predict.

They may be right.  The military has long encouraged tobacco users to quit, and a new push is coinciding with the New Year.  Despite the fact its entirely “legal,” the military has acknowledged that just because one can do something, doesn’t mean one should.