U.S. Navy Dentist Champions Quitting Smoking to Troops

Captain Larry Williams

During his 26 years as an advocate for helping troops and vets from the U.S. Navy and Marines quit smoking, Cpt. Larry Williams has several landmark accomplishments. He helped the Navy develop its first tobacco-cessation program on a battleship. Before the Gulf War, he stopped a cargo plane packed with free tobacco products for troops from ever getting off the ground and addicting more Americans. He has served on the Navy’s Tobacco Cessation Action Team (T-CAT) for years, ensuring naval healthcare personnel are smoke-free on military time and integrating tobacco use as a vital sign for all patients. They now have a robust Web site.

“When you’re going to eat an elephant,” Williams said, “take small bites. Tobacco is an elephant that can’t be ignored.”

Williams deserves a medal of honor for fighting Big Tobacco in the military, given the way the industry has intertwined its vines into the Department of Defense’s gears. Williams said T-CAT has tried to make aircraft carriers smoke-free, especially since those ships are already so dangerous. But a U.S. congressional subcommittee nixed it.

Big Tobacco gives large sums to “family fun” accounts for soldiers and their families, enticing military leaders to think twice before banning tobacco. Williams said T-CAT is working to replace those sponsors with companies who don’t make lethal products. Still, many veterans view cut-rate alcohol and tobacco products as a major military benefit.

Williams said tobacco costs the Department of Defense billions of dollars in healthcare expenses. The cost to each individual is just as staggering. “A soldier with a rank of E3 spends one month’s pay on a pack-a-day addiction,” Williams said. Nonetheless, a 2005 health-behavior survey concluded that 62 percent of troops aged 18 to 24 smoked. And that rate increased when troops deployed overseas or in war. Williams thinks it’s due to several factors, such as boredom and cultural normalcy, as well as the idea that the military attracts risk-takers.

Still, Williams and T-CAT have been pecking away at the elephant. Orthopedics personnel send their patients to Williams to quit smoking so their bones can heal quicker. Williams has convinced colleagues that tobacco is a chronic, relapsing condition similar to hypertension—and should be treated as such.

He helped one military couple understand that their combined three-pack-a-day addictions were costing them two-and-a-half paychecks a year. They not only quit, but put the money into their two-year-old’s college fund. Williams is even grooming other tobacco-cessation champions. While he has attained a high rank, Williams is never above helping patients quit smoking.

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Williams said, “as long as you help the patient quit tobacco.”

If you're a Wisconsin veteran interested in quitting tobacco use, check out Operation Quit Tobacco. It offers free medication and coaching.