Drinking Age Vs War Age

[speel]

Now this little convo sparked up with a friend when i told him i work at a liqour store .. he said your 18 and you cant drink liquor but you can join the army and die .. and you know what he's totally right .. I dont know but personally i think its kinda screwed up .. what do you guys think?

[Hangin10]

I think it's kinda apples/bananas. If you enlist, you know chances are you're going to be in life/death situations at some point. Drinking is only going to kill you if you drink too much and then do something stupid. There's way too many stupid young people in the USA (myself included) to even consider lowering the drinking age. It's suicide in the parking lot of my community college, and I'd bet most of those kids are sober. Edited January 11, 2007 by Hangin10

[Nexter]

Yeah well, somewhat agree with both of you, but lean a little bit more towards hangin, I think the only time I would have seriously thought the other way around was during the draft in vietnman and lower. However back then, many of the states' drinking age was 18, so ehh

[Jones]

The age of enlistment should be raised to 21.

[Erica]

personally.... I think the drinking age is right where it should be...

To enlist.... is right where it should be as well... I think being 18... is a good age to determine whether or not joining the military is something you want to do.. if they upped the age to 21 however, people will not be right out of high school, will have families possibly, decent jobs.. so I think the number of enlistees would drop significantly and I dunno about you but I like have people protect me!

[rattler]

The minimum drinking age on a DoD installation located outside the United States shall be 18 years of age. Higher minimum drinking age will be based on international treaties and agreements and on the local situation as determined by the local installation commander

Which means 18 year olds stationed abroad normally can drink.

[Jones]

Yeah seriously, the only way we could hurt enlistment numbers are to raise standards, sorry to break it to you, but high school drop outs are now armed and killing abroad, maybe higher standards wouldn't be a bad thing.

[rattler]

Yeah seriously, the only way we could hurt enlistment numbers are to raise standards, sorry to break it to you, but high school drop outs are now armed and killing abroad, maybe higher standards wouldn't be a bad thing.

It's so much better to be armed and killing abroad with a college degree...LOL Sorry I was just making a joke because I had a funny thought process when I read your post.

Oh and they have to complete a all expense paid GED course and receive their GED before they are actually "in the army". Edited January 12, 2007 by rattler

[Scalliwag]

This has been talked about at least since Vietnam. Back when kids were being forced into the military through the draft. I very strongly believed that it was way out of line that someone could be forced to go into a war but could not drink.
With the voluntary system and now knowing that anyone under 21 right now in the military had to enlist while we were at war. So they had a lot more choices than the kids did in Vietnam. I still feel if you can go to war you should be able to have a beer though.

[rattler]

This has been talked about at least since Vietnam. Back when kids were being forced into the military through the draft. I very strongly believed that it was way out of line that someone could be forced to go into a war but could not drink.
With the voluntary system and now knowing that anyone under 21 right now in the military had to enlist while we were at war. So they had a lot more choices than the kids did in Vietnam. I still feel if you can go to war you should be able to have a beer though.

I agree

[tingjunkie]

Well, think about it this way... our government/society thinks an 18 year old is mature and responsible enough to put bullets into another human beings body, but not responsible enough to put alcohol into his own? An 18 year old can walk into Wall Mart and buy a six-shooter, but not a six-pack? If a young man/woman can't be trusted to handle having a few beers in the town they grew up, what makes us think he/she can handle an M-16 in a foreign land thousands of miles away?

Um, yeah, that's beyond absurd. But then again, we do live in a country where Goodfellas can be shown on basic cable on a Sunday afternoon (with little of the violence eddited out), but everyone has an anneurism over Janet Jackson's nipple.

Our society is very sick, and inundated by hypocrites of the worst kind. Edited January 12, 2007 by tingjunkie

[rattler]

Well, think about it this way... our government/society thinks an 18 year old is mature and responsible enough to put bullets into another human beings body, but not responsible enough to put alcohol into his own? An 18 year old can walk into Wall Mart and buy a six-shooter, but not a six-pack?

Um, yeah, that's beyond absurd. But then again, we do live in a country where Goodfellas can be shown on basic cable on a Sunday afternoon (with little of the violence eddited out), but everyone has an anneurism over Janet Jackson's nipple?

Our society is very sick.

Actually you have to be 21 to buy a six shooter and they don't sell them in Walmart. They can buy a rifle or a shotgun at 18 in walmart though.

[tingjunkie]

Actually you have to be 21 to buy a six shooter and they don't sell them in Walmart. They can buy a rifle or a shotgun at 18 in walmart though.

Well, in that case... I feel much better. Is a rifle with six bullets in the clip technically a six-shooter? My post is much more poetic that way. Edited January 12, 2007 by tingjunkie

[tingjunkie]

Don't want to hijack the post, but I wonder what would happen if an 18 year old went into Wal Mart and bought a shotgun and a hacksaw? Think they have a policy for that?

[rattler]

No a rifle with six shots is merely a rifle with six shots...A six shooter generally refers to a revolver (a handgun) with six shots. Tinqjunkie what part of the country are you from? (maybe your not in the US???) If your around Phoenix we should get together some time and smoke a nice juicy bowl of tobacco.

[tingjunkie]

No a rifle with six shots is merely a rifle with six shots...A six shooter generally refers to a revolver (a handgun) with six shots. Tinqjunkie what part of the country are you from? (maybe your not in the US???) If your around Phoenix we should get together some time and smoke a nice juicy bowl of tobacco.

Thanks for the invite rattler . Until this fall, I was in Santa Fe (which would have worked out), but now I'm all the way across the country in Maine (where I grew up). If I head out west again I will let you know.

[rattler]

Nah I bet they don't have a policy for buying a hacksaw and a shotgun at the same time. LOL They actually have the store manager carry the firearm out of the store for you as soon as you purchase it though.

In 2005 I drove to Santa Fe twice a week and Albuquerque once a week delivering groceries. Nice area up there but it sure seems expensive.

[tingjunkie]

How about a shotgun, a hacksaw, and a ski mask then?

Yeah, that's the drawback of the area. There are ways to live there cheaply though ( as I had to figure out as a poor college student). I could see myself settling there one day perhaps...maybe.

Shit, we really hijacked this thread. Sorry speel.

Drinking Age VS Service Age. Carry on folks............... Edited January 12, 2007 by tingjunkie

[ghostofdavid]

What's wrong with buying a hacksaw or a firearm? Especially at the same time. After all, they both are merely tools.

[Lakemonster]

The thing folks dont realize is that the kids in Vietnam were given beer..... by their superiors.

IT was nothing to come in with a good body count and the Major (or Colonel. or Captain) to give the a half a deuce and a half full of beer to the boys.

You just couldnt buy it back home.

$5+Sheriffs Signature+90 wait= Legal sawed-off

[Scalliwag]

The thing folks dont realize is that the kids in Vietnam were given beer..... by their superiors.

IT was nothing to come in with a good body count and the Major (or Colonel. or Captain) to give the a half a deuce and a half full of beer to the boys.

You just couldnt buy it back home.

$5+Sheriffs Signature+90 wait= Legal sawed-off

Yep, I remember that fairly well. You had to be half way around the globe in a war zone to get a beer. A lot of other stuff there as well.

[Lakemonster]

LOL.

I just hope "forward command" these days know how to pass forward a few frosty ones here and there for our younger service people....

hell..... the discipline you get in boot should have made a drinkin age man (or lady) out of ya anyhow!


So.......... in the spirit of this thread..... BUY THE MAN A BEER!...... oh wait.. better see some ID.

[Pengilum282]

I recently joined the Navy, and I dont ship out til July, (and im taking up hookah, hah, bad idea, oh well, dad was PISSED when it came in the mail to) but the drinking age in the US may be 21, but in other countries it is usually 18. All Military units in say, Ireland (if you can see over the bar, you can order a drink) follow the native laws of ireland, therefore they may be 17, and can go get shit faced. Although, technically, in the Navy atleast, you sign some papers saying you wont drink alcohol until after you turn 21, its just paperwork, your duty station officers generally dont care.

[[LB]]

The government says:
you can kill a man with your bare hands but your too irresponsible to hold a beer with those same hands.

[opinari]

I think it's kinda apples/bananas. If you enlist, you know chances are you're going to be in life/death situations at some point. Drinking is only going to kill you if you drink too much and then do something stupid. There's way too many stupid young people in the USA (myself included) to even consider lowering the drinking age. It's suicide in the parking lot of my community college, and I'd bet most of those kids are sober.

Being a high school teacher, I definitely stand for keeping the minumum age around 21. My strongest reason is because I wouldn't want any of my seniors hanging out at my local bar. Secondly, those kids (mine, at least) can't afford to lose any more brain cells. They're stupid enough as it is.

From what I view, most of my students make a careful decision to serve in the military--and they take it seriously. To them, there is no apparent responsibility when it comes to drinking.

Some time I'll have to analyze why there is so much difference between my students here, and those I had in Europe.