Sapper's Intro

[RickDicolus]

So, in the field this weekend doing a training event in preparation of a bigger training even later this summer.

I'm sitting in the TOC, first time I've been in the field without nicotine coursing through my veins, mind you. Battalion XO walks in and pulls out his can, packs it, puts a pinch in and then begins talking to the assembled battalion staff. I'm a visitor on this mission, I'm actually assigned to the Brigade, but augmenting the battalion staff for this exercise. So the XO goes through his spiel, but I can't listen to a word he's saying. All I can do is not be nauseated by the smell of his dip. The TOC in this case is an expandable, modular, kevlar clad trailer, and while there is a heater/AC wall unit for temp control, it's basically a poorly ventilated 20' x 20' box.

My head was swimming it was so freaking overpowering, the smell of his berry blend, or apple, or whatever the fuck the flavor was. I was always a Skoal Straight guy, those fruity flavors never sat well with me even when I was using it, but now, my god, I wanted to fucking puke. I've never in my life been so overpowered with a sense of nausea simply from the smell of somebody else's dip.

After he stopped talking and I stepped outside to get some fresh air and clear my head, I thought to myself that for years, people have smelled similar scents on me, and I never realized just how pungent it was. It's amazing that I was so blinded by my addiction that the putrid smell of chewing tobacco didn't even bother me, and I had the nerve to believe that it didn't bother people I was talking to.

I've never felt more foolish than I did after sitting in the TOC with the BN XO briefing the group with a dip in and subjecting everybody to that horrid fucking nasty smell.

I had a guy dipping in the bar last night. I asked when he would quit and everyone (coworkers  patrons) jumped on me. Saying he deserved it because he was divorced. I just told them all to pipe down and that I was just asking when. He said that he'd quit when he met a nice girl. I just let it slide.

Smelled terrible and the jerk just left it on the bar for me to clean up. What a twat.

tl;dr- Any dip smells atrocious now.

[mb289]

Hey Sapper, another great reason to stay quit! Interesting thing is, I lost my sense of smell a year ago after sinus surgery and always wondered how bad the smell was after a day of dipping.

mb289

[Sap]

So, in the field this weekend doing a training event in preparation of a bigger training even later this summer.

I'm sitting in the TOC, first time I've been in the field without nicotine coursing through my veins, mind you. Battalion XO walks in and pulls out his can, packs it, puts a pinch in and then begins talking to the assembled battalion staff. I'm a visitor on this mission, I'm actually assigned to the Brigade, but augmenting the battalion staff for this exercise. So the XO goes through his spiel, but I can't listen to a word he's saying. All I can do is not be nauseated by the smell of his dip. The TOC in this case is an expandable, modular, kevlar clad trailer, and while there is a heater/AC wall unit for temp control, it's basically a poorly ventilated 20' x 20' box.

My head was swimming it was so freaking overpowering, the smell of his berry blend, or apple, or whatever the fuck the flavor was. I was always a Skoal Straight guy, those fruity flavors never sat well with me even when I was using it, but now, my god, I wanted to fucking puke. I've never in my life been so overpowered with a sense of nausea simply from the smell of somebody else's dip.

After he stopped talking and I stepped outside to get some fresh air and clear my head, I thought to myself that for years, people have smelled similar scents on me, and I never realized just how pungent it was. It's amazing that I was so blinded by my addiction that the putrid smell of chewing tobacco didn't even bother me, and I had the nerve to believe that it didn't bother people I was talking to.

I've never felt more foolish than I did after sitting in the TOC with the BN XO briefing the group with a dip in and subjecting everybody to that horrid fucking nasty smell.

[jbradley]

About 5k days of your life you were using this highly addictive and repulsive substance that tricks your mind into thinking that it needs this substance to survive. I would say at day 27 you are just right where you need to be. You are recognizing that things are amiss yet still not quite sure how to change at this point. There is no easy way out of this. One day at a time is the best way to unfuck your mind at this point. You know what, come here and rage all you want. We can take it.

[Mogul]

That is how we quit people. Sapper is one quit dude.

Hey man, you can come here anytime and call me every name in the book. It's not personal. I've done the same, where I think everybody is an idiot. Except me of course. We all know better. Read Slugs avatar, it says it all.

Rage bro, but stay quit. You're kicking ass

[mb289]

It's a strange (but great!) feeling to do things without the dip! You've got this one.

mb289

[Derk40]

Day 27... the past week sucked.  I was moody, angry, easily annoyed, grumpy, and depressed.  I raged again online, which is better than at my family or coworkers, but still makes me feel like a real idiot afterwards, like I'm out of control of myself, which sucks because I try to be levelheaded, and usually am... I have to relearn how to cope with stress, but I'm working on it.

I did some self reflection and I think I know why I was so worked up, besides being an addict, I mean, it's because of the fact that this weekend is my Army Reserve duty weekend, the first one since I quit.  I've never done any military duty nicotine free, until today.  I was worried about it, and also had to do my health assessment and height / weight (and after quitting, I've put on a few pounds).

Anyway, health assessment went well.  My blood pressure is perfect (first time that's been the case in a few years) the nurse practicioner who did my checkup was proud of me for quitting and gave me a bunch of advice for dealing with the recovery (much of which can be found at KTC) but still its nice to here it again.  When I had to fill out the questionaire, it asked "do you chew tobacco" and I was just so excited when I answered "no" for the first time in my life on a military health screening form.

I also am still not too fat for the Army (but I'm gonna have to work hard, because I'm getting close...)

So, today I feel like a total fucking warrior.  I'm solid.  I'm quit, I'm healthy, and I'm not too fat.  I'm on top of the world and I'm winning.

This is a good feeling.

Thanks KTC

Nice.

Rock on bro...

Nice update Sapper. Enjoy your drill weekend!

You raged on here this past week... that is how you do it. You are gonna have periods where you are a bit sideways and out of control. That is normal stuff. You are reprogramming here after years of abuse to your body.

You will always have ups and downs. That is life. You have reached a point where YOU KNOW you are acting off. That is good. Things will continue to get better, but don't rush it. You will not be fixed overnight. For now, relax, stay calm and just stay quit EDD. That is the priority. All other stuff will fall into place, but you must take care of TODAY.

Quit on!

[AppleJack]

Day 27... the past week sucked. I was moody, angry, easily annoyed, grumpy, and depressed. I raged again online, which is better than at my family or coworkers, but still makes me feel like a real idiot afterwards, like I'm out of control of myself, which sucks because I try to be levelheaded, and usually am... I have to relearn how to cope with stress, but I'm working on it.

I did some self reflection and I think I know why I was so worked up, besides being an addict, I mean, it's because of the fact that this weekend is my Army Reserve duty weekend, the first one since I quit. I've never done any military duty nicotine free, until today. I was worried about it, and also had to do my health assessment and height / weight (and after quitting, I've put on a few pounds).

Anyway, health assessment went well. My blood pressure is perfect (first time that's been the case in a few years) the nurse practicioner who did my checkup was proud of me for quitting and gave me a bunch of advice for dealing with the recovery (much of which can be found at KTC) but still its nice to here it again. When I had to fill out the questionaire, it asked "do you chew tobacco" and I was just so excited when I answered "no" for the first time in my life on a military health screening form.

I also am still not too fat for the Army (but I'm gonna have to work hard, because I'm getting close...)

So, today I feel like a total fucking warrior. I'm solid. I'm quit, I'm healthy, and I'm not too fat. I'm on top of the world and I'm winning.

This is a good feeling.

Thanks KTC

Nice.

Rock on bro...

[Sap]

Day 27... the past week sucked. I was moody, angry, easily annoyed, grumpy, and depressed. I raged again online, which is better than at my family or coworkers, but still makes me feel like a real idiot afterwards, like I'm out of control of myself, which sucks because I try to be levelheaded, and usually am... I have to relearn how to cope with stress, but I'm working on it.

I did some self reflection and I think I know why I was so worked up, besides being an addict, I mean, it's because of the fact that this weekend is my Army Reserve duty weekend, the first one since I quit. I've never done any military duty nicotine free, until today. I was worried about it, and also had to do my health assessment and height / weight (and after quitting, I've put on a few pounds).

Anyway, health assessment went well. My blood pressure is perfect (first time that's been the case in a few years) the nurse practicioner who did my checkup was proud of me for quitting and gave me a bunch of advice for dealing with the recovery (much of which can be found at KTC) but still its nice to here it again. When I had to fill out the questionaire, it asked "do you chew tobacco" and I was just so excited when I answered "no" for the first time in my life on a military health screening form.

I also am still not too fat for the Army (but I'm gonna have to work hard, because I'm getting close...)

So, today I feel like a total fucking warrior. I'm solid. I'm quit, I'm healthy, and I'm not too fat. I'm on top of the world and I'm winning.

This is a good feeling.

Thanks KTC

[Sap]

Yesterday I finally wrote the words "I'm proud to be quit with you today" on another May member's introduction thread. It was the first time I could write that, I had no problem saying I quit, or I quit with so and so, but I couldn't yet bring myself to say "I'm proud to be quit". Even though I had quit, I still didn't see myself as "being quit" until yesterday.

What is the difference? To quit is a one time action. You simply quit. There is a singular point in time when that action occurs, and it can only occur once. You can't quit and then do again, because if you do again, you didn't quit.

But to "be quit" is more than just executing a one time action of quitting. To "be quit" is an ongoing active process that doesn't just happen once. It is the act of making that one time action of quitting every single day, and even every single second of each and every day. To "be quit" is to quit in perpetuity, thereby eliminating the very opportunity of ever doing again.

So, I am proud to be quit with all of you today.

[peters6278]

Excuse me while I wax philosophical for a few minutes.

Growing up I was taught not to use tobacco.  Neither of my parents used it.  My father's parents smoked, but my parents made a point of telling my sister and me abouot the dangers of tobacco from an early age.  So, the fact is that I had no excuse.  I chose to take that first dip with my buddies at the old water tower overlooking the Olson's farm, then the second dip at the rope swing over Horse Creek (where I got extremely sick because I swallowed some).  Even though I didn't get hooked those times, it planted a seed in my brain, and years later in college when another buddy passed me a lit cigarette, I didn't hesitate to take a puff.  Shortly thereafter it became smoking and dipping through long study nights and ultimately smoking gave way to my preference of chewing tobacco.

We all know the rest of the story, but I wanted to make a point.  The thing about it is that we are good people.  Most of us here are the kind of people that society looks up to and holds in high regard.  We're family men and women with a deep love of country and committment to our work.  Most of us would die for the guy in the trenches next to us, and some of our brethren have as we're all aware.  Whether it be in the trenches of warfare or the trenches of corporate America, we're the types that stand up, take charge, and lead others to victory.  This isn't an exaggeration.  I think that leaders like this are naturally risk takers, but that personality trait that makes us upstanding leaders in society has a downside, it means that we're risk takers with our health too. 

However, there is a shimmering and brilliant silver lining to the risk taking behavior that leads us to jump into the fire and save lives, assault machine gun nests and sieze the objective, and pitch the winning presentation to the big client.  This also means we're the type of people to jump onto an internet forum and start helping out total strangers overcome a deadly and horrible addiction.  We rely on our strength to help others to help ourselves.  This is why this site works.  It motivates good people to be their best.  It awakens the leaders inside us to lead others to victory and in the process we find it ourselves.

Thanks KTC, Day 16, EDD.

Nice post Sapper. So many of us come from similar back-stories, young athletes in high school, hunting and fishing with elders, late night college studies...... it's a big part of what works here. You don't have to spend a ton of time reading here starting out to find "your" story somewhere in another quitter. Armed with that information, we can tell ourselves that if they quit for 1 day, 100 days, 1,000 or more....than maybe we can too.

Nice to see when a new quitter starts to click with the program. Keep up the good work Sapper, 16 days is awesome! If you need anything just shoot me a message, proud to quit with you today.

Nice. I like how your taking this quit Sapper. Congrats on 16 days and some really good momentum. Keep building your network for accountability and support, and keep learning all you can about this nasty addiction. Proud to quit with you!

Sapper, you can get as philosophical as you want and I'll read your shit all day long....as long as you stay quit.

Quit right along side ya.

[brettlees]

Excuse me while I wax philosophical for a few minutes.

Growing up I was taught not to use tobacco.  Neither of my parents used it.  My father's parents smoked, but my parents made a point of telling my sister and me abouot the dangers of tobacco from an early age.  So, the fact is that I had no excuse.  I chose to take that first dip with my buddies at the old water tower overlooking the Olson's farm, then the second dip at the rope swing over Horse Creek (where I got extremely sick because I swallowed some).  Even though I didn't get hooked those times, it planted a seed in my brain, and years later in college when another buddy passed me a lit cigarette, I didn't hesitate to take a puff.  Shortly thereafter it became smoking and dipping through long study nights and ultimately smoking gave way to my preference of chewing tobacco.

We all know the rest of the story, but I wanted to make a point.  The thing about it is that we are good people.  Most of us here are the kind of people that society looks up to and holds in high regard.  We're family men and women with a deep love of country and committment to our work.  Most of us would die for the guy in the trenches next to us, and some of our brethren have as we're all aware.  Whether it be in the trenches of warfare or the trenches of corporate America, we're the types that stand up, take charge, and lead others to victory.  This isn't an exaggeration.  I think that leaders like this are naturally risk takers, but that personality trait that makes us upstanding leaders in society has a downside, it means that we're risk takers with our health too. 

However, there is a shimmering and brilliant silver lining to the risk taking behavior that leads us to jump into the fire and save lives, assault machine gun nests and sieze the objective, and pitch the winning presentation to the big client.  This also means we're the type of people to jump onto an internet forum and start helping out total strangers overcome a deadly and horrible addiction.  We rely on our strength to help others to help ourselves.  This is why this site works.  It motivates good people to be their best.  It awakens the leaders inside us to lead others to victory and in the process we find it ourselves.

Thanks KTC, Day 16, EDD.

Nice post Sapper. So many of us come from similar back-stories, young athletes in high school, hunting and fishing with elders, late night college studies...... it's a big part of what works here. You don't have to spend a ton of time reading here starting out to find "your" story somewhere in another quitter. Armed with that information, we can tell ourselves that if they quit for 1 day, 100 days, 1,000 or more....than maybe we can too.

Nice to see when a new quitter starts to click with the program. Keep up the good work Sapper, 16 days is awesome! If you need anything just shoot me a message, proud to quit with you today.

Nice. I like how your taking this quit Sapper. Congrats on 16 days and some really good momentum. Keep building your network for accountability and support, and keep learning all you can about this nasty addiction. Proud to quit with you!

[Jlud007]

Excuse me while I wax philosophical for a few minutes.

Growing up I was taught not to use tobacco. Neither of my parents used it. My father's parents smoked, but my parents made a point of telling my sister and me abouot the dangers of tobacco from an early age. So, the fact is that I had no excuse. I chose to take that first dip with my buddies at the old water tower overlooking the Olson's farm, then the second dip at the rope swing over Horse Creek (where I got extremely sick because I swallowed some). Even though I didn't get hooked those times, it planted a seed in my brain, and years later in college when another buddy passed me a lit cigarette, I didn't hesitate to take a puff. Shortly thereafter it became smoking and dipping through long study nights and ultimately smoking gave way to my preference of chewing tobacco.

We all know the rest of the story, but I wanted to make a point. The thing about it is that we are good people. Most of us here are the kind of people that society looks up to and holds in high regard. We're family men and women with a deep love of country and committment to our work. Most of us would die for the guy in the trenches next to us, and some of our brethren have as we're all aware. Whether it be in the trenches of warfare or the trenches of corporate America, we're the types that stand up, take charge, and lead others to victory. This isn't an exaggeration. I think that leaders like this are naturally risk takers, but that personality trait that makes us upstanding leaders in society has a downside, it means that we're risk takers with our health too.

However, there is a shimmering and brilliant silver lining to the risk taking behavior that leads us to jump into the fire and save lives, assault machine gun nests and sieze the objective, and pitch the winning presentation to the big client. This also means we're the type of people to jump onto an internet forum and start helping out total strangers overcome a deadly and horrible addiction. We rely on our strength to help others to help ourselves. This is why this site works. It motivates good people to be their best. It awakens the leaders inside us to lead others to victory and in the process we find it ourselves.

Thanks KTC, Day 16, EDD.

Nice post Sapper. So many of us come from similar back-stories, young athletes in high school, hunting and fishing with elders, late night college studies...... it's a big part of what works here. You don't have to spend a ton of time reading here starting out to find "your" story somewhere in another quitter. Armed with that information, we can tell ourselves that if they quit for 1 day, 100 days, 1,000 or more....than maybe we can too.

Nice to see when a new quitter starts to click with the program. Keep up the good work Sapper, 16 days is awesome! If you need anything just shoot me a message, proud to quit with you today.

[Sap]

I'm going to need a longer signature field....

[Sap]

Excuse me while I wax philosophical for a few minutes.

Growing up I was taught not to use tobacco. Neither of my parents used it. My father's parents smoked, but my parents made a point of telling my sister and me abouot the dangers of tobacco from an early age. So, the fact is that I had no excuse. I chose to take that first dip with my buddies at the old water tower overlooking the Olson's farm, then the second dip at the rope swing over Horse Creek (where I got extremely sick because I swallowed some). Even though I didn't get hooked those times, it planted a seed in my brain, and years later in college when another buddy passed me a lit cigarette, I didn't hesitate to take a puff. Shortly thereafter it became smoking and dipping through long study nights and ultimately smoking gave way to my preference of chewing tobacco.

We all know the rest of the story, but I wanted to make a point. The thing about it is that we are good people. Most of us here are the kind of people that society looks up to and holds in high regard. We're family men and women with a deep love of country and committment to our work. Most of us would die for the guy in the trenches next to us, and some of our brethren have as we're all aware. Whether it be in the trenches of warfare or the trenches of corporate America, we're the types that stand up, take charge, and lead others to victory. This isn't an exaggeration. I think that leaders like this are naturally risk takers, but that personality trait that makes us upstanding leaders in society has a downside, it means that we're risk takers with our health too.

However, there is a shimmering and brilliant silver lining to the risk taking behavior that leads us to jump into the fire and save lives, assault machine gun nests and sieze the objective, and pitch the winning presentation to the big client. This also means we're the type of people to jump onto an internet forum and start helping out total strangers overcome a deadly and horrible addiction. We rely on our strength to help others to help ourselves. This is why this site works. It motivates good people to be their best. It awakens the leaders inside us to lead others to victory and in the process we find it ourselves.

Thanks KTC, Day 16, EDD.