posted November 18, 2011 06:21 AM            

Die for country as early as 17 if mom and dad sign....

Drink alcohol legally age 21, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

posted November 19, 2011 01:12 AM            

It is almost like college when a kid lives on thier own away from their parents for the first time. After Basic Training (boot camp) and AIT (individual training for their military occupation or MOS) they have more freedom to do what they want. If they are stationed in Europe the drinking age is "when you can see over the bar counter" so they go wild. Even here in the states they go crazy (which is to be expected, college kids do the same thing).

The punishment is so different for those in the Military; get caught drinking underage and you get hit with all the civil laws (if it happens off post) and again with the UCMG (uniform code of military justice). It can be a career ender.

posted November 19, 2011 08:18 AM            

At what age are adults responsible with alcohol? I'm not sure that there is a number, what about the DUI statistics, are all of those teens? absolutely not. So, if we set the legal age at 21, then shouldn't you also be 21 before casting a vote or being able to die for your country?

posted November 19, 2011 08:25 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by jwhop:
I don't think this has been discussed before...at least not on this forum.

I tend to agree with you...that it's illogical to send teens in harms way but prohibit a cold beer from being consumed by that same teenager...even on a US military base.

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Exactly, it just isn't logical.

"Son/Ms put down that beer, you are way too young to have that, pick up this gun and kill someone instead."

posted November 19, 2011 08:36 AM            

Because the United States is among an extremely small minority with a drinking age of 21, drinking by 18-20 year-old adults does not fall under as intense scrutiny in other parts of the world as it does in America. Drinking, especially that which is excessive or risky in nature, among younger adolescents is, however, a concern shared by parents, public health officials, and governments in many foreign countries. Recent research published by the World Health Organization found that while 15 and 16 year-old teens in many European states, where the drinking age is 18 or younger (and often unenforced), have more drinking occasions per month, they have fewer dangerous, intoxication occasions than their American counterparts. For example, in southern European nations ratios of all drinking occasions to intoxication occasions were quite low—roughly one in ten—while in the United States, almost half of all drinking occasions resulted in intoxication.
Has Legal Age 21 been effective in reducing the number of alcohol-related fatalities for those aged 18 to 20?

The record is mixed. Many studies confirm that since the drinking age was standardized at 21 in 1984, the overall number of alcohol-related fatalities for those aged 18-20 has decreased. However, this pattern of decline began in the early 1970s, years before passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Though organizations like MADD claim the 21 year-old drinking age has saved over 21,000 lives since the mid-1980s, its is impossible to assert a cause and effect relationship between the change in the law and the decline in alcohol-related traffic fatalities; many other factors, such as safer vehicles and more stringent drunk driving laws have played an undeniably important role (see below). Several scholars have also presented the important argument that while deaths on the road may have declined sharply among 18-20 year-olds in the years following enactment of the 21 year-old drinking age, the slowest rate of decline and greatest number of annual fatalities is seen each year in the 21-24 age group. In 2002, for example, twice as many 21 year-olds died in alcohol-related auto accidents as 18 year-olds. Such a staggering statistic speaks volumes: a policy that claims to be saving thousands of each year may simply be re-distributing deaths over the life cycle to the point at which it becomes legal to drink alcohol—age 21.

posted November 19, 2011 08:49 AM            

So, then what magic age does one become mature enough to die in war or die in an alcohol related accident? It is an age old quandry that many States have tried to work with by adjusting the drinking age down to 18 . Sadly, only to find the related death rates/accidents rising sharply.

How do you propose the States and Federal Gov. reach a definable ie acceptable compatable Military age and drinking age?

Pid, wonderful to see you!

posted November 19, 2011 09:01 AM            

Even though either of those are too young in my book, it just would be more logical to have one legal age.