Performance Degraders
Mental and physical degraders of performance and how to combat them.
Cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol can weaken your performance and overall health. Many of these substances, especially when overused, can also become a serious problem to relationships with family, coworkers, and friends. It is very important to make sure that you are aware of the signs and symptoms of abuse and how it affects your performance as well as those around you. Whatever substance you need help kicking, this section will help you find resources you can use to kick the habit and get on your way to performing at your very best.
Organizations & Programs
Useful organizations and programs to help you overcome tobacco, alcohol, and substance abuse.
Tobacco
Quit Tobacco—Make Everyone Proud
“Quit Tobacco—make everyone proud” is a tobacco-cessation educational campaign for the U.S. military, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. This program provides information, mobile tips, and a locator for programs close to your installation to help you be tobacco-free.
Stop Tobacco Shop
Facts, tips, and resources from Hooah4Health can help you quit smoking.
Smokefree.gov
This national and comprehensive website provides information and free resources for quitting tobacco.
Stay Away from Tobacco
This informational website from the American Cancer Society offers information on how to quit smoking with the help of tips, tools, and calculators.
Smoking & Tobacco Use
The Centers for Disease Control offers resources and tools for individuals and families on how to live tobacco-free.
Quit Smoking
Strategies, tips, and resources from the American Heart Association provide more help on how to quit smoking.
NIH Smoking Cessation Clinical Trials
Get updates on studies that are seeking or gearing up to recruit participants for clinical trials around smoking cessation.
Service-specific tobacco-cessation programs
United States Army Public Health Command: Tobacco Cessation
The Army’s Tobacco Cessation program includes a new provisional online series (requires AKO access) with trained facilitators, as well as links to DoD/VA/Army policies, guidelines, initiatives, and news.
Navy & Marine Corps Public Health Center: Tobacco Cessation
The NMCPHC has assembled an extensive list of resources to quit whatever form of tobacco use you may want to kick, as well as information about environmental tobacco smoke and ways to help keep teens and children off tobacco.
U.S. Coast Guard Office of Work-Life's Tobacco Cessation Program
The USCG’s Human Resources website provides online resources to help cease tobacco use, links to USCG policy documents, and links to related websites, as well as information on how contact your Regional Work-Life Staff for personal help.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator
This searchable directory of drug and alcohol treatment programs shows the location of facilities around the country that treat alcoholism and drug abuse problems, including programs for marijuana, cocaine, and heroin addiction. The Locator includes more than 11,000 addiction treatment programs, including those that take TRICARE insurance.
List of alcohol and other drugs commonly abused
General information and statistics on alcohol and drug abuse are available from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Everyday Health and Wellness [healthfinder.gov]
On the Department of Health and Human Services website, you can find information and tools on how to stay healthy and avoid abusing alcohol and other substances.
Service-specific alcohol and substance abuse programs
Army Substance Abuse Program
The ASAP website provides education and abuse-prevention training as well as information on how to get help with alcohol or drug problems.
Navy & Marine Corps Public Health Center: Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention
The NMCPHC includes resources on alcohol and drug abuse prevention for Navy and Marine Corps personnel, including “That Guy,” an interactive online video game to raise awareness about substance abuse.
Navy Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention
Another Navy website focuses on NADAP, with support for both individual and command use in preventing alcohol and drug abuse. It includes links to educational webinars, testing and reporting information, policies and other downloadable publications,
USMC Substance Abuse Program
The Marine Corps also has an independent program and website with prevention and treatment resources for not only alcohol and drug abuse but also behavioral health problems. It also includes links to counselors at 18 duty stations in the U.S. and Japan and helpful videos that can be downloaded or viewed online.
Documents
Fact sheets, documents, policies, and guidelines concerning tobacco, alcohol, and substance abuse.
Tobacco
CDC Smoking & Tobacco Use Fact Sheets
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a set of information on tobacco use including health effects, smokeless tobacco, and secondhand smoke.
Service-specific Documents
Navy and Marine Corps Tobacco Policy [PDF]
This 2008 document spells out the Navy and Marine Corps policy on all forms of tobacco use and spells out where and when tobacco use (if you must) is permitted.
Tobacco Use for Navy Medicine Personnel in Uniform [PDF]
In 2009, policy was established that Navy medical personnel must not use tobacco in any form while either in uniform, in the presence of patients, or acting as a representative of the Navy.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
SAMHSA Substance Abuse Documents
Download documents for free to access information on a comprehensive list of performance degraders such as alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, prescription pain pill abuse, and tobacco—sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Alcohol and Your Health Fact Sheet [PDF]
This fact sheet from Courage to Care covers the social and psychological effects of alcohol and provides resources to find help.
Pharmacotherapy for Alcohol Dependence
This section of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website provides a summary of the latest findings on the uses of substances in the treatment of alcohol abuse.
Service-specific Documents
U.S. Navy Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Policy [PDF]
Become familiar with the official Navy policy on alcohol and drug abuse.
Leader’s Guide for Managing Marines in Distress: Alcohol Use
Information on risks, resources, guidance, and prevention tips on alcohol use has been prepared for Marine leadership.
United States Army Drug and Alcohol Technical Activity [PDF]
This document lists the mission and functions of the Director, U.S. Army Drug and Alcohol Technical Activity (USADATA), and prescribes channels of communication and command-and-staff relationships with HQDA agencies and other Army elements.
Air Force Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment (ADAPT) Program [PDF]
This instruction provides guidance for the identification, treatment, and management of personnel with substance-abuse problems and describes Air Force policy regarding alcohol and drug abuse.
Tools
Games, quizzes, and interactive websites that help you recognize and recover from the use of performance degraders.
Tobacco
Tobacco assessment and workshops
Assessment and feedback from afterdeployment.org provides tools on how to quit smoking.
Smoking Habits Quiz
Take the Smoking Habits Quiz from the American Cancer Society to find out your level of nicotine dependence and get tips on how to manage your cravings.
Alcohol and Drugs
That Guy
The DoD funded this multimedia campaign that uses online and offline communication with the goal of reducing excessive drinking among young servicemen.
Alcohol assessment
Information, assessment, and self-help tips from the Navy & Marine Corps Public Health Center can help you identify whether you abuse alcohol.
Alcohol and Drugs assessment & workshops
Assessment and feedback from afterdeployment.org can help you decide how drugs may be impacting your life and how you can reduce your use.
