First of all I want to congratulate my fellow inductees – the Septembros, great work to all who made it through. It is truly a pleasure to be in the QSSN HOF. Thank you to the QSSN staff and all of the veterans who posted answers to our first few days of frantic questions, challenged us and supported us every step of the way.

My life, like many here, has followed the typical story of sports (both HS and college), military, wife, work and then raising a child. The only constant during all of these rites of passage was dip. After almost 20 years of tobacco use it is difficult to remember a time when dip wasn't a part of my life. How sad is that. I mean seriously, 2/3 of my life was spent buying, packing, spitting and convincing myself that I was in control and that the worm dirt wasn’t hurting me. Between every chapter I would convince myself I would quit prior to moving on. After HS, “I will quit after the summer and be ready for college football.” The Army, “Well as soon I get to basic I will have to quit anyway.” True, but as soon as you get to AIT you are right back at it. I actually convinced myself (and I was not alone) that dip was the reason I got through Ranger school, “It kept me awake and sharp!” What horse crap to give credit for that difficult challenge to a can of tobacco. “I will quit as soon as I get a real job”. “I will quit with the birth of my son.”

Like most here I have quit for New Years four or five times, quit if the home dog covers tonight, quit while on vacation etc. All of these had the same pathetic pattern:
1. Put that last GIANT fatty in and throw away the tin.
2. Enjoy it.
3. Feel self-satisfied.
4. Within 48 hours either dig the tin out of the trash or pick up a new one
5. Convince self that cold turkey was not the way to go
6. Commit to cutting back starting tomorrow
7. Rinse, Lather and Repeat

100+ days ago I heard about this site from a fellow military guy. He said it was huge for him to “kick the can” and it was mostly about getting a support group and making a daily commitment. I am not going to lie, when I first heard it the stupid tough guy in me said, in a John Wayne voice, “What kind of pussy needs a support group. I could quit any time I want to.” Well luckily the Duke quieted down and I eventually found my way to this site. I started reading and holy smoke, there are hundreds of folks here just like me! There were 1000s of tips for how to quit. Countless articles on what the withdrawal process was going to be like. 30 folks all quitting at the same time I was. Something clicked. I tossed my tin right then and there. I read an article that said prepare yourself ahead of time for the craves. I ran out to the store at lunch and loaded up on seeds, hard candies and toothpicks. I then started to post. The support was fast and furious. Every time a crave came I read a different article or a HOF speech where someone stayed quit despite much more difficult situations than what I was experiencing. I gained strength through other’s documented trials and tribulations. My 100 days were exactly as documented. The first quarter sucked bad. Second quarter – a blur but not bad. Third quarter, sneaky cravings that annoyed the hell out of me. We lost a lot of Septembros during that spell, which was very disappointing because the veterans kept forewarning us. The Fourth quarter - not bad and spent my time counting down the days to 100.

In summary I can’t say I couldn’t quit without QSSN, but I can conclusively say I did quit because of QSSN. The fantastic results of my 100 days without tobacco are:
1. Blood pressure reduced by –20/-15
2. Much healthier because of a better immune system and not putting my hands in my mouth 12-16 times per day.
3. More spare cash which I used to buy a 50” plasma TV for football.
4. Increased energy which I used to join the “fitness central” forum here and learned about Crossfit – an amazing fitness program with rapid and remarkable fitness gains
5. Finally, not afraid to go to the Dentist anymore!
I am looking forward to continuing to improve on these benefits during my journey to the second floor. Thank you again QSSN.