mustang_wife
Domestic Engineer Specialist
I'm curious to see what are your feelings towards young marines being allowed to drink at 18? For? against?
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Can't drink but can die
- Thread starter mustang_wife
- Start date
I'm curious to see what are your feelings towards young marines being allowed to drink at 18? For? against?
I support their privilege to drink at supervised functions. I would not support their ability to go to the 7-day store and buy a bunch of booze to carry back to the barracks or house. It's the whole combination of American style binging, overall hatred of E-2/E-3 life, and lack of decision making abilities mentioned earlier in this thread caused by having the underdeveloped ability to assess risk.
That underdeveloped ability to assess risk is, incidently, why many misguided bleeding hearts say we shouldn't be letting 18 year olds enlist, so I suppose we've come full circle.
Cate
Pretty much invincible
You got it in one.
I don't really have a dog in the fight either way, but I think that the government should be consistent about it. If they decide that 18 is old enough to be trusted with an M-16 in a combat situation, perhaps that person might be trustworthy with a bottle of Shiner in a social situation. If they can't be trusted to drink responsibly until 21, why should we expect them to be reliable as warriors at 18?mustang_wife said:
I guess I just think that responsible drinking is a skill that has to be learned, like driving a car or handling a firearm, but there aren't any lessons or "learner's permit" periods with alcohol. It can be expected that most people are going to go crazy the first time they can legally drink. Delaying the drinking age to 21, when the government has already (arbitrarily) established adulthood at 18, only delays the onset of the crazy. But that's just my opinion.
Except that the federal govt should stay out of state issues. The drinking age is a state issue. If a state wants to make an exception to the drinking age for military members, that's their deal.
Sometimes states get out of line, that is when the feds come around and smack 'em down!
But if a kid is going to binge drink, they aren't going to wait until they are 21 to start.
This isn't like changing the driving age to 18, where we will just push the "insurance death bracket" up two years from 16.
Because it isn't in the Constitution?
The important part of this argument, is that the drinking age is VERY important, because no one drinks underage as it is.
As for Europeans not "binge drinking" because there is no drinking age - after living there for 2 years I can say that alcoholism is alive and well, at least in the eastern bloc.
As for Europeans not "binge drinking" because there is no drinking age - after living there for 2 years I can say that alcoholism is alive and well, at least in the eastern bloc.
I don't think we're implying that they don't tend to binge because there's no drinking age - other factors are involved. Second, binge drinking is not the same as alcoholism - two separate issues. France has one of the highest rates of alcoholism of any Western country, but it has fewer "problems" related to alcohol consumption than the US, such as DUI, domestic violence, etc.
Brett
I would agree to that. People in Europe may be sloppy drunk alcoholics, but they can handle their booze for the most part. (IMHO)
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It is hard for me to have an objective point of view I think, because I am currently a student and someway somehow, college went from: go to school and learn, to: go to school and major in the easiest degree you can so that you can go get sloppy drunk every night, then complain that your degree in art history won't land you a high paying job four years down the line.
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It is hard for me to have an objective point of view I think, because I am currently a student and someway somehow, college went from: go to school and learn, to: go to school and major in the easiest degree you can so that you can go get sloppy drunk every night, then complain that your degree in art history won't land you a high paying job four years down the line.
Because what isn't in the Constitution?
Actually ... this one's really easy for me:
If "he/she" is old enough to vote ...
If "he" is old enough to be drafted ...
If "he/she" is old enough to become a trigger puller ...
If "he/she" is old enough to die for their country ...
Then ... "he/she" is old enough to drink ...
If "he/she" is old enough to vote ...
If "he" is old enough to be drafted ...
If "he/she" is old enough to become a trigger puller ...
If "he/she" is old enough to die for their country ...
Then ... "he/she" is old enough to drink ...
magnetfreezer
Well-Known Member
Looks like you can add "old enough to fly the space shuttle": http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/07/report-astronau.html
Alcohol. In other words, what is your basis for assuming this should be a state issue (just for clarification purposes)?
Well, since states set the age for legal drinking, albeit under considerable duress from the Feds, it is, by definition, a state matter. I don't think you'll find any Federal legislation dealing with legal drinking age.
Brett