Why can people join the military at 18 and cant drink until they are 21?

WakiÆžyaÆž IÅ›nala

Federal law, however some are petitioning to have that law amended for Military members only..

Drixnot

Perhaps if the 18-21 year olds had been more responsible then those laws wouldn't have been passed in the first place.

Even with the law change we still see stories of college kids drinking themselves to death while their peers cheer them on.

Smoking DOES NOT kill more people then booze, don't buy into the hype that cigarette smoke is the one and only cause of certain types of cancer. There are MANY other causes in our modern society, some no farther then your medicine cabinet. (but nobody wants to deal with that, its to easy to blame smokers)

kristidbr

Because that is the law....

Scorpian S

Actually for a while the drinking age was lowered to 18 during the Vietnam War era of the 60`s. Before this time the voting age was also 21, but those being drafted as well as enlistee`s said " If we`re old enough to die in your War, we should be old enough to vote for who`s sending us to War" also if we are old enough to die on a battlefield, we`re old enough to drink before we go and if we survive it. So the drinking age was lowered to 18.
However, the drunk driving accident rate went way up, so it was raised again to 21, but not the voting age.

Chuck Cecil

Because most Americans can't handle drinking responsibly. So they make the law 21 years old. But if they allowed the military to drink people would claim it's an unfair method to bring in recruits.

Mandaleen

Because even most 21 year olds can't drink responsibly. Going into the military, that's a choice people make for various reasons, to protect their country, to reap the benefits the military has to offer...what have you. Most people drink to get torn up...

somebody

Actually, the age was lowered due to an ever increasing prevalence of drinking and driving being committed by all irresponsible teenagers, military and civilian alike. Most people will agree that there is a big maturity gap between the ages of 18 and 21, and the law has probably saved countless lives as a result.

Even when the law was originally moved up to 21, I read that certain military bases had exceptions for it's personnel that were 18 years of age and in good standing. Unfortunately, the Mothers Against Drunk Driving did away with it, and so today the only time your legally allowed to drink in the military at 18 years of age, is when your abroad and the laws allow for it.

The fact of the matter is, I think I pretty much speak for anyone when it comes to what's legal, and what people are willing to look the other way on. Most of my superiors really could care less when it came to underage drinking, as long as it was on your time, and you kept yourself in line. If you were ever caught drinking underage while behind the wheel in the military, you would be seriously screwed, and then you'd have to answer to the Captain.

Necromancer

This all came up the first time as the Vietnam War was ending and they amended the Constitution to give them the right to vote since they had the right to die for their country (This was mostly, I believe, the anti-war activists hoping the new young voters would vote to end the war, so they used language like that.) But the new young voters had even more important things on their minds than ending the war: the right to drink! (They already had the right to drive.) Well, the inevitable happened and the laws were changed back to keep so many young people and other innocent drivers and pedestrians from getting killed.
But times have passed and we forgot and now it looks like we'll have to relearn all over again.

desertviking_00

Because President James Earl Carter, Jr, convinced the Congress to pass a law which tied the ability of the States to receive Federal Highway funds to the drinking age. Under the pressure of that law, all States had to raise the drinking age to 21. When I first enlisted in the Navy the drinking age in my home state of New York was 18. When I went through Hospital Corps School at Great Lakes the drinking age for women in Illinois was lower than that for males. So, a lot of female sailors made some extra money being "mules" for the purchase of liquor to be used by the male sailors.

smoked04

It all depends on where you are stationed the military just goes with the law of the land, except in Korea. Im in the UK and its 18 to drink on and off base.

Frog

that's the million dollar question.......................... there's always been a debate on that one.

darrell m

because that's how life works, besides one has nothing to do with the other.

GERRI

Sweet heart. I'm a military wife my husband is in the infantry. They train hard fight wars hard and drink hard. Its better for these soldiers to be limited if they were able to believe me it wouldn't be pretty. Imagine you coming back from war at 19 or 20 and getting drunk not good things happen. If you lived bye a army base believe me you would agree.

mbl17

Yes, its rediculous to be considered an adult while not being able to lawfully drink. It should be 18 in my opinion. The responsible are always brought down by the irresponsible. Also: See Welfare.

don c

Primarily because the government doesn't care how old you are when killing America's enemies
BUT
Doesn't want 18 yr old killing American citizens while drinking and driving or when they are in one of their juvenile disagreements with their girl/boy friends or killing their families because they didn't give them money to go to a RAVE

navy recruit

ummm to thebest of my knowledge most service members do not use their own vehicles while they are serving. from what i have been told and understand most of them take the bus or find a taxi or a ride or even walk wherever they go. so what does drinking and driving have to do with drinking under 21 in the military?

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