drinking age and military service?

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pitz96

New member
Tonight I watched the Democratic candidates debate (again!) in NH, and someone asked if any of them would support lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, since people can join the military and make life and death decisions at that age. The majority said the age should stay at 21 to drink, and most went on and on about the health effects of boozing, etc. Not really the point, IMO.

What do you all think? Personally, I think anyone old enough to join the military and fight in a war (or an occupation) should be able to legally buy a beer.
 
On many bases and overseas, it is 18.

Whatever the legal limit is, similar to firearms bans, those that want it are gonna get it, legal or not.
 
On many bases and overseas, it is 18.
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Overseas, it goes by local law (though of course any active-duty enlistees will be 18). Stateside, the only posts I know of that have it at 18 nowadays are a couple that are spitting distance from the Mexican border (such as Fort Bliss). Not because of any sort of "oh, he's old enough to make life and death decisions" reasons, but for entirely pragmatic ones...better to have Joe get drunk and stupid on post and have the MPs deal with it than have him do it over in Mexico (where he can drink at 18) and have the Federales be the ones involved.
 
The States were compelled to raise the drinking age or face losing federal highway funds.

Although he initially stated he would veto the Bill, Ronald Reagan, who claimed to be a staunch supporter of State's Rights, caved and supported passage of the legislation.

Although it had bipartisan support, I don't think you can single out the Democrats for blame. This occurred in 1984.

MADD was just a new incarnation of the temperance movement that seems to reappear every so often.
 
Honestly, I'm torn. On the one hand, I suspect that 18-year-olds would be more likely to drink and drive than 21-year-olds if they could legally purchase alcohol. It might not seem like it, but there really is a significant maturity difference between the two.

On the other hand, I think the higher minimum drinking age contributes to binge drinking as well as other irresponsible drinking behavior...and that the damage from this is actually greater than any benefit from reduced drunk driving. I think a lot of the binge drinking that occurs at colleges, for instance, is brought on by the fact that the kids doing it can't simply walk down to the local bar and buy a beer like a normal human being. I know that when I turned 21, my drinking habits changed drastically in this regard, and most people I've talked to about the issue say the same.

While it's somewhat tangential, I despise the method that was used to bring about the national drinking age. Withholding federal funds, while still collecting the same taxes from that state's citizens, seems to me like little more than blackmail and an abuse of federal power. But it still gets used from time to time, on various issues, to allow the federal government to pass de facto laws that it doesn't have the power to pass officially.
 
A few years back, WI was thinking about lowering the age to 18, then guess what happened? Lots of folks got drunk and rioted saying they should be able to drink legally.
 
New Orleans never really switched over to the 21 booze rule. The law changed so LA didn't lose any highway funding, or whatever the feds were threatening, but there is no enforcement. Bars very rarely catch any flack for serving people who are 18 to 21. The cops just pretend they don't see it unless someone starts a fight or vomits on somebody important.

I guarantee any military fellow between the ages of 18 and 21 will be able to have bucketloads of fun in New Orleans. We aren't like those corporate bastards in Las Vegas.

I don't have a problem with that.
 
a drinking age of 21 is preposterous. That we allow our government to restrict what voting citizens can drink at the age of 18 than at 21 is a travesty. That we see this as normal and justify it with "oh well, 18 year olds cant handle alcohol" is lame. Here we are on a pro 2nd amendment site railing against people who don't trust us with firearms, and yet some here justify these restrictions because they don't trust other people with alcohol.
 
I think some states still have an exemption for active duty military. I couldn't say for sure as for me 21 was a lot of years ago.
 
18 vote, fight, but not drink stupid.

Although I could comprimse and move it all to 19.

Of course if the 18yr old would get politically active instead of looking for a hidden kegger party to go to they might be able to change the law themselves. Kinda of catch 22
 
I say 18; they're doing it anyways. Plus, that's more alcohol they could sale! Tax the hell out of it and lay of the tobacco for a while.
 
It's beyond me why the 'age of majority' is different for different things.

Set it ALL at some number and be done with. As far as I'm concerned it ought to be 18, even though there are plenty of people well beyond that who still can't cope.

I grew up in New York when the drinking age 18. We did. The big deal then was fake draft cards so you could get into the bars. No pics on driver's license or anything else at that time. And I'm still here. I also went in the military when I was 18. When it's time to make adult decisions a person should have complete access to an adult world. That includes buying and selling handguns and getting a CCW.

A kid with a halfway decent education, school and life, ought to be able to handle it.
 
I agree, if you're old enough to fight and vote you should be old enough to drink a beer. Heck, I started drinking at 14, when we moved to AZ. the legal age was 19 and personally, I don't see what the big deal is over having an age limit on drinking. I think it should be up to the parents as to when and what the kids drink. When my grandson turns 16 in a couple years I really don't see anything wrong with him having a beer as long as he's not driving and he's in a privite home under adult supervision. Why should anyone care. In many European countries kids start drinking watered down wine when they're 3 or 4 and as a result alcohol isn't a "Big Deal" so there's hardly any hardcore drinking by kids. It's the same thing as letting your kids see your guns, it takes the mystry out of em' so they won't bother em' later. Any time something is made "illegal" people will want to do it more because it's just our nature to do things that we're not suppose to.
 
If you can be trained to kill and issued an M16 and are able to vote for the person who may very well put you in the situation where you will have to kill, I think you can handle drinking alcohol.
 
Of course if the 18yr old would get politically active instead of looking for a hidden kegger party to go to they might be able to change the law themselves. Kinda of catch 22
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Not a chance. 18-21-year-olds simply don't make up a large enough voting block, and IIRC people over 21 are generally like 2/3 against it. Not to mention that even if an 18-year-old was politically active, they'd be pretty silly to make the drinking age their hot-button issue. With all the other major issues out there, why would they base their votes and political activism on something that probably won't matter to them in three years?
 
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