Bradley Irvin likes to take five minutes for himself every now and then to smoke a cigarette and relieve himself of typical — and not so typical — stresses.
After graduating from Scott County High School in 2004, instead of spending the next four years in a dorm room or a classroom, Irvin spent his days working on a Navy ship traveling Asia, something most college students have never experienced.
Irvin spent his time in the Navy working as a cryptologist, decoding and deciphering secret messages, and making decisions he said either saved lives or ended them.
Physics freshman Bradley Irvin lights up a cigarette on the balcony of his apartment on Saturday afternoon. Irvin began smoking to relieve stress while in the U.S. Navy. Photo by Megan Hurt | Staff
After leaving the Navy in June 2008, his experiences and new skills were not the only thing he was left with.
While in high school Irvin said he only tried cigarettes and cigars a few times, but after serving in the Navy and being constantly under stress and in a tobacco-using environment, he developed a nicotine addiction.
“The military runs off of cigarettes, coffee and energy drinks, and if you take away any one of those, it’s going to crumble beneath its feet,” he said.
Irvin said a combination of things added to the stress of his Navy job, including being on a ship for extended periods of time, working up to 48-hours at once and having a limited number of women on board.
“If you’re a smoker (in the Navy) and you can’t smoke, you’re going to kill somebody,” he said.
After his stint in the Navy, Irvin spent a year searching for a government contract job but had no luck, so he enrolled at UK. He is now in his first semester as a physics student.
Irvin said in the months after coming home from Asia he had massive depression for about a year, and said he is still learning to deal with it. The biggest thing he misses is the comradery he felt from those around him.
“Everybody’s a part of the same family, then you leave and it’s like, ‘Oh your family’s gone, what are you going to do?’ ” he said.
Irvin said one of his biggest challenges is explaining his experiences to people who have never served.
“They don’t grasp the full spectrum of what I’m talking about,” he said. “A really weird thing about veterans- if you find out someone’s a veteran and you’re a veteran, you’re pretty much friends instantaneously.”
Throughout his time of adjustment, Irvin said one thing that provides him comfort is nicotine, because it reminds him of being in the Navy and gives him time to himself to think and wind down.
“I just like having that five minutes, I’m just sitting there smoking, I can think about things, basically just taking five minutes for myself every two hours,” he said.
Irvin said he disagrees strongly with the upcoming tobacco ban and said his biggest problem with it is the “culture of compliance” aspect, calling it “communist” and conforming.
“They’re not doing it for health, they’re not doing it for anything like that. They’re doing it because all the other schools are doing it,” he said. “Monkey see, monkey do, and when monkey don’t do, monkey gets looked down upon.”
Irvin said since leaving the Navy he has gone from smoking up to two packs a day to a little less than a pack a day, but does not think quitting now would be a good idea, since he is still adjusting.
He said while serving in the Navy, he had millions of dollars of equipment and personnel under him and learned to find comfort in the stress.
“I’m used to all this stress, and I’m used to operating under certain stressful situations, and if I don’t have that stress then I started getting stressed,” he said. “To try and quit now would be too much for me to handle.”
For now, Irvin said he plans on keeping his smoking habits the same as usual.
“I spent four years of my life defending this country, I can smoke wherever and whenever I feel like it,” he said.
[poll id="5"]
It’s not relieving stress, it’s relieving withdrawal symptoms. Good grief, anyone smart enough to attend a top 20 institution like UK Should have enough sense not to destroy his own body.
Ken,
Your an idiot …
Bradley, thank you for your service. At least you did something about trying to protect our country instead of tearing it appart.
“Smoking lamp is lit”
…and yes Ken is an idiot!
This is the best piece you all could write about the coming ban?
“Your an idiot …”
Said the pot to the kettle.
I Love the Kernel for publishing this article, and for those who don’t smoke you have no idea whats its like to be addicted to nicotine, so (KEN) don’t disrespect(especially a man of service) his intellect because of your ignorance of nicotine addiction, our own president has delt with nicotine addiction, whether you agree with his policies or not he did graduate from an Ivy league school.
Sounds like you need to try an e-ecigarette to relieve your stress they are Healthier Cheaper and more Sociably Acceptable as well.
“I spent four years of my life defending this country, I can smoke wherever and whenever I feel like it,†he said.
Interesting. Are you allowed to steal and defame as well?
This is a fluff article, plain and simple. It tries to equate two completely different facets, smoking addiction and military service, and combine them. It’s fantastic that he served, placing his country before himself. However, that does not excuse his habit, nor does it give him free reign to break smoking bans set up through state law or intstitutional policy.
And, Mr/Mrs. “UK Student”: I do know what it’s like to be addicted to smoking and to break that addiction. Including all the guilt, torment, sickness and shame that comes from every time you regress during an attempted quitting. I’ve felt the headaches and pains of withdrawl and I still get that itch every time I walk out of the library and encounter a wall of smoke from the mob that congregates outside of it. The difference between myself and Mr. Irvin is that I was able to break my habit for myself and my family, he has yet to. Don’t pander to him and enable it just because he was in the armed forces. He was strong enough to go through that, he ought to be strong enough to kick the habit.
That being said, the “outrage” at this policy is ridiculous. It will most likely play out like this: a vast majority of current staff and students will ignore it and continue to smoke wherever they please. They won’t be punished (though at-will hiring staff could be fired on the spot for breaking the ban). Incoming freshmen and staff will have a higher liklihood of following the ban than those already here. Eventually, the situation will be the same as it is now, but likely with fewer smokers on campus. I fail to see how this is a crime against humanity. It’s a little ridiculous that UK decided to go this route to improve its image, but there have been dumber moves made by administrations in the past.
Thank you, Brad, for your service and sacrifice.
“ ‘They’re not doing it for health, they’re not doing it for anything like that. They’re doing it because all the other schools are doing it,†he said. “Monkey see, monkey do, and when monkey don’t do, monkey gets looked down upon.’ ”
EXACTLY
I am a veteran student, and like Bradley was addicted to nicotine and caffeine. But back home, those “drugs” are for the weak.
Bradley, I encourage you to kick your habit man, you don’t need those crutches off the battledfield. Work-out more, get a girlfriend, ride your bike, and kick the habit!
OMG the smoking ban is soooooo “communist”.
Lucke Strike electronic cigarette –
They banned e-cigs as well. From: http://www.uky.edu/TobaccoFree/
(FAQ) What is considered a tobacco product:
Tobacco products include, but are not limited to, cigarettes (traditional and e-cigarettes), chew, pipes, cigars, hookah or waterpipe smoking, snuff, and snus.
Look Bradley, you’ve done your duty, but you and me were pwns of our dumb-ass governmnt. Don’t be pwnd by the tobacco companies.
RESPECT.
Yo Brad, you and I and ALL military personnel have killed enough people already, by our actions AND decisions while on duty.
Don’t kill Americans on OUR soil by making others breath your cigarette smoke.
Quit man, and support the ban.
BIG UP.
The military is certainly a gateway to drug use, be it tobacco or meth or whatever. Too many problems are brought back to the US, where it aint cool to lose your sh*t in a crowd. Dont matter in Iraq/Afganistan.
I thought the article was a little to personal and less to the point. My personal habits are not at question here the larger picture is the Ban. The thing that upsets me the most would be our(Americans not just smokers) rights being dwindled and restricted. Cigarettes are just the start and a good place to start if you ask me, there are more non-smokers then smokers so you have this large percentage of people who really don’t care about smokers rights. When cigarettes get completely banned you will start seeing other products head down the same path as the tobacco. By then the population will be used to seeing this happen and we will put up less of a fight. In fact your seeing it start now with the outrage against Trans-fats, fast-foods, and soda’s. But this will be a slower process because EVERYONE gets hungry but only a few get nicotine fits. Don’t get me wrong I am all for a healthier nation but restricting our right is not the way to go about doing business.
As Americans we are the flag carriers of liberty and freedom and we set the example for other nations to follow, do you honestly think we should be sending the message that restricting freedoms is ‘OK’? If we want a heather nation and a healthier world we need to help people make the right decisions NOT shove them down their throat’s. Funny thing is, when I lived in Japan for 3 years I was able to smoke when ever and where ever I wanted and their was always a cigaret machine near by to restock…that’s odd I thought the US was the land of the free. Note that 3 years after the US started to ban smoking, Japan started to copy.
When I was in Australia I bought a 50 pack of smokes and on the cover of the box was dead fetus and on my buddies was a cancerous lung…very very disturbing images and this was used as a sort of propaganda to help smokers quit. But if you wanted to smoke you could smoke in fact you could buy 25, 50, and 100 packs (cigarettes per pack) and smoke anywhere outside.
Instead of stacking laws and restrictions on us they should stack information and help.
( I typed this very quickly so excuse any grammar and misspellings)
http://bluegrasspolicy-blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/letter-to-university-of-kentucky-adults.html
Freedom to:
- smoke anywhere
- carry a gun (outside a combat zone)
- drink and drive
- drive without a seatbelt
- not go to school
- abuse your children
- beat your wife
- use child pornography
are merely liberties to be irresponsible in a SOCIETY.
Those liberties are either:
- expensive for our health system, which should not waste time treating preventable problems
- unsociable
- immoral by modern, common standards
I have fought for FREEDOM but that doesn’t mean every American can be a jackass and screw other American’s lives. If you want those freedoms, go be a hermit.
Besides the obviously illegal things you mentioned how is smoking screw over other peoples lives? and how does it make me a jackass?
Unfit and generally unhealthy people are also bad for our heath system are we just going to ban them as well?
Sorry the military messed up some of you, VA is available to help your anger management needs–Ex Army.
It’s not about anyone’s health. It’s about money and power
Oh Pam I’d love to hear your ideas. Please, elaborate! How does the administration plan to make money off of this policy? How is this about “power?”
This ban is nothing more than a farce that’s doomed to a costly and humiliating failure. I won’t comply with it.
I will simply leave my cigarette butts on top of the new ashtray-free waste bins.
You can’t isolate 1/3 of the student body and get status as a top 20 university. Ellen Hahn is a stupid bimbo
“How does the administration plan to make money off of this policy?”
They are offering nicotine-patches in stores on campus.
“How is this about “power?—
The power to tell us where and when we can/can’t use a LEGAL substance.
Next?
I’m sure UK is pulling in at least 10% profit from the sale of nicotine patches. This could easily amount to over $100 per month. God those greedy piggies. I knew that was their game all along! You’d think that by spending so much money on those no smoking signs that they’d realize they could never pull in enough income to offset such a large expense. Turns out they are terrible businesspeople.
As for the whole “legal substance” debate: I will easily quash it. It is legal to own and operate a vehicle, correct? However, once I start driving on the sidewalk, I tend to get pulled over — something about reckless driving and yada yada yada. I mean, I told the officer that owning a car is legal, but she wasn’t having it.
How does driving a car on the sidewalk relate to tobacco use?
Both are legal activities that are regulated. Though driving is a legal activity, we have laws that say where and how we can drive.
It’s an analogy.
That’s the best analogy you can come up with?
Shows how weak of an argument there is for the ban I guess
It isn’t an argument in support of the ban. It’s a counterargument to the whole “You can’t regulate legal activities” argument that you advanced. If I put forth such a “weak” counterargument, why are you refusing to attempt to refute it?
Because I’m still waiting for you to “easy quash” the legal substance debate
It’s been quashed, Alex Sewer. I mean I’ve got more of ‘em if you like. How about consuming alcohol in public? I never hear an uproar concerning the laws against consuming alcohol (a “legal” substance) in public. Just admit you’ve been defeated as you have yet to offer any kind of counterargument.
Sex between consenting adults is legal. However, when people start having sex in the streets, it becomes “lewd behavior.” See, we already regulate all kinds of “legal” activities without much uproar. Simply saying “it’s a legal substance” doesn’t mean that you should be allowed to consume it everywhere you go.
Why shouldn’t we be allowed to use tobacco products in public? Furthermore, why should the government be allowed to tell us where and when it is ok to use tobacco?
Because smoking doesn’t just affect the one consuming . . .
In an outdoor environment the “effects” of secondhand smoke are negligible- especially in comparison to the pollutants put out by UK buildings or vehicles on campus.
I say “effects” because, despite the agenda pushed by the anti-tobacco crowd over the past decade or so, the “effects” of ETS are still being researched and debated