Do you think the drinking age should be 18 again?

[Athen]

Last time I checked we weren't forcing people to enlist anymore. People who are fighting right now for our country signed up to be there, And while I personally think they all Deserve a huge Beer,I don't think we should reconsider the drinking age for civilians because you can volunteer for the military at 18? Voting is one thing, and that age has been changed...and rightfully remains at the legal age for enlistment. A 20 yo Navy Private volunteered to serve a country that enforces a drinking age, and our country enforces these limits for a reason. Military duty, the policies surrounding it, and the enlistment age should have nothing to do with the legallity of alcohol, or the age at which civilians should be able drink it. Unless I am mistaken once you join the miltary you sign away a lot of the rights that you posses as a civilian anyway, and you live under a whole different set of rules. Civilian Life and Military Life are completely different, and knowing how some poilicies with our military run, I am suprised alcohol is permitted in the armed forces at all. For the sake of the soldiers I am glad they are allowed to enjoy the occasional drink, But the argument about fighting for our country when you can't even have a drink lost its weight when we stopped forcively drafting kids into the military right out of highschool.

I am an E-5 in the US Navy currently Stationed at Camp Pendleton Ca sorry socalison but i have to hit you on something lol in the Navy we are called seamen, firemen, airmen, corpsmen or constructionmen until you hit E-4 where you earn the title of petty officer as for the ability to drink at age 18 on base that is no longer so and its changing everstill when i first enlisted 7 years ago the drinking age is the same as what ever country you are currently in unless as in the case with the navy you are out to sea for 45 consecutive days then you get what we call a beer day where as long as you are 18 you get 2 and only 2 beers even though you are technically on US Sovereign territory. but as i mentioned before they are starting to change the rules and alot of captains of ships are enforcing when you pull into a port of call that even if the legal drinking age is 18 you cannot drink unless 21 as well as some units in the Marine corps are doing the same thing as much as it appears a vast majority of the general public thinks that the age should be 18 it is highly unlikely it will change. as for us in the military you are correct we do live under a whole different set of rules first and foremost if i show up late for work i can literally be grounded (as most people would call it just like a kid) and have pay taken away for up to 45 days. any mistake in my life weather it be personal or at work can ruin the rest of my life to the extent i cannot even get a job at McDonalds or Walmart. we take that burden along with the rest such as being away from our friends and family for extended periods of time with pride and honor because we that is what allows all of us to be doing what you and I are doing right now in this very forum...

[dsirkle]

It jumps right out at you that he called a Navy guy a Private doesn't it?. But I must tell you that while a member of the military is governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice while he is in there and they would like you to believe that a Court Martial that you may receive for some foolish infraction in the military will follow you into civilian life it does not no matter what they tell you. If you are court martialed for something that is a Felony in the real world than you will have a Felony on your record. But if you are court martialed for something that is not a crime but just some baloney put on you by some officer it won't hinder you at all. I received a General Court Martial for eating a hamburger on guard duty by a Yankee hating Lieutenant from Northern Florida 30 some years ago and was told by my Battalion Commander that I would be unemployable when I got out of the Army. I was put on guard duty while standing in line to enter the mess hall because a guy on guard duty went on emergency leave and I was ordered to take his place. My friend brought me a hamburger because I had missed dinner. This Lieutenant was quite proud of himself for bringing me to justice for such a serious crime. I made a good living after I got out. Nobody in the real world cared that I had eaten a hamburger. Only a military mind could be concerned about something such as this.

[SoCaliSon]

Lol...I apologize for that mistake...I was typing on the fly...and admittedly am not completly savy in all the ranking terminology. Sorry bout that.

[FIEND_FO_LYFE]

i have mixed feelings.
me being 17, and yes i have drank.
and i know many many others who have too.
i feel that if its lowered to 18 more kids will drink illegally, BUT i feel that if you are a adult and can fight for our country you should too.....


i dont really have a one sided opinion.

[McAdry]

I voted for it being changed back to 18, if your an adult at 18 then you should have all rights privalges and resposibilties of an adult at that age. That being said As I spent 3 years in germany while in the army I think they have the right idea over there. I am not shure the acutal drinking age it's some where between 12 and 16 I know you can be in a club and drink till midnight alone by the time your 18 over there. I think you are allowed to drink in public with family earlier.That being said they do things a bit different over there too when I was stationed over there the cost of a drivers liscence was around 1500 marks so most people didn't get their drivers liscense till they were much older then we do here in the states. Secondly most towns of any decent size had busses, cabs, street cars and or trains, that ran most hours of the night for very cheap I think it was less then 5 marks to get home on the street car in darmstadt while I was there. So while most people over there have years to get drinking irresposiably out of their system before being able to drive unlike here, I think that might be one thing to look at. Another thing is to make drinking an driving a felony and anyone that kills or injures someone while under the influcence of drugs or alcohol face muder one charges. That should get the point of drinking responsibly over loud and clear.

[Gooseman]

I voted yes...

I dunno, maybe I'm just weird in my train of thought. But I came from a very well-to-do family, but ever since I was 15 I drank with my parents in the privacy of our house, I've held a job, paid for my own car, paid for all the dates I took my girlfriends on, my own cellphone, and all my animals. Heck, I still pay all my bills for college/housing as well. I believe full and well that even though I have a crazy/goofy sense of humor I was ready to handle alcohol in a mature fashion on my own probably before I turned 18. Not too mention if we made alcohol even less of a taboo then the sheer desire to binge drink would greatly lessen as the thrill of getting caught would lessen. I just have to wonder why oh so many years ago a 14 yr old would be about as mature as a modern 25 yr old? What happened over the years? why did they have to push back the arbitrary date of accountability for ones actions so far, did the pamper and tell them everythings going to be alright method not work too well?

[python.princess]

I have all kinds of opinions (for and against) on this subject and couldn't figure out a way to type them all out in any graceful way- just kept jumping around. That said, I'll boil it down to one sentence.

Being a legal adult DOES NOT automatically make you responsible and mature enough to make responsible decisions- especially where alcohol is involved.

EDIT: I'd also like to add that 4 members of my senior class (all 18yo) died before graduation- 3 of them from alcohol related incidents.

[Athen]

It jumps right out at you that he called a Navy guy a Private doesn't it?. But I must tell you that while a member of the military is governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice while he is in there and they would like you to believe that a Court Martial that you may receive for some foolish infraction in the military will follow you into civilian life it does not no matter what they tell you. If you are court martialed for something that is a Felony in the real world than you will have a Felony on your record. But if you are court martialed for something that is not a crime but just some baloney put on you by some officer it won't hinder you at all. I received a General Court Martial for eating a hamburger on guard duty by a Yankee hating Lieutenant from Northern Florida 30 some years ago and was told by my Battalion Commander that I would be unemployable when I got out of the Army. I was put on guard duty while standing in line to enter the mess hall because a guy on guard duty went on emergency leave and I was ordered to take his place. My friend brought me a hamburger because I had missed dinner. This Lieutenant was quite proud of himself for bringing me to justice for such a serious crime. I made a good living after I got out. Nobody in the real world cared that I had eaten a hamburger. Only a military mind could be concerned about something such as this.

indeed in a matter of courts martial where you get tried by jury but still remain enlisted in the military it will not affect you but in the matter of Non Judiciary Punishment (which im not sure if it is simply a case where the navy and marine corps only do this or if it is a matter of a different era) or NJP as we like to call it, this is where you go and get tried for "crimes" you have committed just like your eating of a hamburger and the judge jury and executioner is your commanding officer the result of this could range anywhere from being put on restriction to being discharged under less than honorable terms the former does not stick around but the latter definately will and to further worsen it if you recieve a dishonorable, bad conduct or less than honorable discharge you cannot work for anyone who has any contract with the Navy which now days is almost any company you can think of and all of this hinges on weather or not your commanding officer is having a good day and believe me i have seen people get discharged through NJP for matters far less pressing than even eating a hamburger on watch

[snakey68]

anyone that says no is rediculous!
the people voting no are most likely parents of a teen or had no friends in high school... either way... you ALL know you were drinking before 21

thats just how i feel..

PARTY!

so I am rediculous and had no friends at high school exactly the kind of attitude that shows a lack of maturity.

I done a few things before the legal age doesn't make it right.

thats just how I feel

[frankykeno]

I'm really setting myself up here, but it does seem that people put on the mantle of responsibility at a much later age than they did 30 years ago, IE: leave home, get married, have children, assume financial responsibility etc, and that they seem to bear this responsibility with much less success today. I know the age statistics of the forum members. I am prepared to get it with both barrels.

You won't get it from me. I may be an old broad but I still am amazed at how much younger 18 is now then it was when I hit that age.

Rich, those stats are backed up for me anyways by my own experience years ago working in a small town police department. In that blue collar community, where most everyone worked in a factory, the VAST majority of our drunk drivers were grown men. Men that should have known better but just had to get that car home from the bar. Sadly we had a lot of drunk drivers back then and most were not teens/young adults. Our young poeple even back then were far better educated about drinking and driving and also grew up under a system that more heavily penalized that activity.

Look it's simple for me. You are a legal adult at age 18 for a lot of things. You can marry, fight and die for your country, enter and be held liable to a legal contract, get a credit card, sign a lease, etc. You can live as any adult does except for the ability to have a beer. I think in making this one thing illegal it just makes it all that much more interesting. For me, either you are an adult or you aren't and this ridiculous thing of making the line here for one thing but here for another just is silly.

As far as parental involvement, if you haven't taught your kid by age 18 that certain activities are just plain stupid (drinking and driving in this case) - well I don't think they are going to get it by age 21. For me and mine, age 18 means you're an adult in this house. If you want to act like a stupid kid or act one moment like a child, then the other like a grown-up - too bad for you, you'll still be expected to face any consequence like the adult you are. I love my kids but I don't intend to raise a group of living at home with mom, acting like a kid when I darn well know I delivered your butt 25 years ago pseudo-adults. I've watched some of my friends do that and sorry but I think that disrespects the whole child/parent relationship and is just plain silly.

The line should be clear....now you are a child...now you are an adult with all the freedoms and responsibilities that entails. Your job as a parent is to teach them and get them ready for that line to be crossed, celebrate that they've reached that age and then let them live it, good or bad.