Let's see if you guys can help...

[ExiledInIllinois]

We trust our young men and women with lethal weapons and expect them to make life or death decisions in combat at ages as young as seventeen yet we refuse to allow them to consume alcohol until they're twnty-one. This is nothing more than nanny state politics at its worst.

 

For the record, I had no problem getting both alcohol and weed when I was twelve.

 

I think we sell our kids short today. Actually, I think they're better prepared at eighteen than I was at the same moment in time based upon the demands and speed of todays world.

 

 

I am probably going to get flamed for this... So flame away!

 

I agree, people in the active military get a raw deal about drinking when they are under 21... It should be different... Your current and active military ID should allow one to drink.

 

Now for the part that I will get flamed for... Isn't the military the ultimate "nanny" organization? Being in it, they control every espect of one's life... A person serving in the uniform services literally becomes "gov't property" to an extent. No? The problem is when you let loose the underage one's from such a rigid discipline system... What happens? Being young, it is like unleashing a spring onto the very society that they were serving and protecting. It is funny, everytime we take our defensive driving/risk assessment courses at work (I work for the DoD)... A lot of lessons center around the bravada and the drinking with what I highlighted in the prior sentence.

 

IMO, quite a conundrum. On one hand I say yes, let them drink. Why should they leave one "nanny" organization to be subjected to another?... Another that they may have gave their blood for. People in the military are used to taking orders, the last thing they want to do when they get out is to take them. Is that dangerous?

 

Flame away if needed... I know it won't sit well with many.

[GG]

The makers of Ecstasy & crystal meth would like to thank everyone for raising the drinking age to 21.