Posted on Nov 28, 2013
Should 18 year olds in the military be allowed to drink alcohol?
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One of the most annoying things is busting college students for drinking. The problem is that you can at 21 at college but most graduate at 22-24, so part of the population can and part cannot.
But for the sake of argument, let's say that it is 21 and over, should military personnel be allowed to drink?
But for the sake of argument, let's say that it is 21 and over, should military personnel be allowed to drink?
Posted in these groups: 
Alcohol
Alcohol
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 186
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Anybody that is old enough to serve their country is old enough to have a beer.
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Should the drinking age be lowered from 21 to a younger age?
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MSgt (Join to see)
My belief is, if an individual is old enough to protect our countries freedom, then they should be allow to saddle up to the bar and have a drink...unfortunately in today's society, WE as a society take a drink way to far and have a hard issue with having a drink and always look to do the irresponsible think and drink way to much...so for this argument of should an 18 yo be allowed to drink alcohol in the military, NO...when the alcohol get flowing and the mind starts to get altered, the decisions that are made are to life altering for and 18 yo to handle in my opinion.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
Well, when I joined in 1989, I wanted to drink and beer and fight for my country. So I told the doggone Recruiter to send me to West Germany. I could drink over there, but not in the states. Wow now you can't drink in Germany. I am glad I came in when I did, times are different.
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SSgt (Join to see)
I am so sick of liberty limiting liberals who think 24hr/day watching of it's citizens is a good idea. Indefensible. IMHO
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1SG (Join to see)
If you're old enough to be in the military, prepared to lay your life on the line on the orders of a higher authority, then one is old enough to make the decision of whether they wish to have a beer/drink or not.
The current laws have not stopped the underaged Soldiers from drinking, only limited the places they can do it legally.
The expect them to act like adults; we train the them execute and follow orders; train them to make decisions in the absense of orders; we put them in charge and expect them to lead others in training, in life and/or death situations in war.....well they've earned that right to drink that beer with me. But if you get out there and show your ass, get drunk, DUI, D&D, etc...I'm Kicking your ass when you get out of jail. and OBTW...if it's a weekend...you stay till Monday, this 1SG did not pick you up on weekends...ask any of my Soldiers and one particular 1LT. Bn Cdr agreed with me.
If I came thru my barracks on the weekend and I had some underage Soldiers drinking beer, I didn't ream their ass, in fact at times I had one with them as I also took the time to explain the facts of life (as stated above) with them being underage. I took their keys if they had a car and gave them to the SDNCO (no entry) to return to them the next morning.
If there was beer in their fridge on Monday morning when I did my barracks inspection..it became the 1SGs beer and went into my office fridge for after hours consumption.
Never had an underage Soldier get in any trouble due to alcohol. Luck has a lot to do with it, plus I still like to think that they believed me when I said I would kill them if they were not already dead when I got to them.
The current laws have not stopped the underaged Soldiers from drinking, only limited the places they can do it legally.
The expect them to act like adults; we train the them execute and follow orders; train them to make decisions in the absense of orders; we put them in charge and expect them to lead others in training, in life and/or death situations in war.....well they've earned that right to drink that beer with me. But if you get out there and show your ass, get drunk, DUI, D&D, etc...I'm Kicking your ass when you get out of jail. and OBTW...if it's a weekend...you stay till Monday, this 1SG did not pick you up on weekends...ask any of my Soldiers and one particular 1LT. Bn Cdr agreed with me.
If I came thru my barracks on the weekend and I had some underage Soldiers drinking beer, I didn't ream their ass, in fact at times I had one with them as I also took the time to explain the facts of life (as stated above) with them being underage. I took their keys if they had a car and gave them to the SDNCO (no entry) to return to them the next morning.
If there was beer in their fridge on Monday morning when I did my barracks inspection..it became the 1SGs beer and went into my office fridge for after hours consumption.
Never had an underage Soldier get in any trouble due to alcohol. Luck has a lot to do with it, plus I still like to think that they believed me when I said I would kill them if they were not already dead when I got to them.
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I've never heard of not being allowed stopping anyone... might push them toward drugs since they're more available, but even in Basic Training I knew a kid that drank every night.
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This is a hard question. I agree that if you can die, you should be able to drink. When I joined we had beer machines in the barracks. If 18 year olds can drink then we could have individuals drinking in high school. I know that happens anyways but it could cause a bigger issue, If they joined the military, I think they should be able to drink on base only.
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I feel that law will be rescinded and very soon. I am 58 so it doesn't affect me, but I angry that adult's rights are infringed upon.
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I had a CSM tell me (well my battalion formation) once that he never understood why individuals would want to not be in control of their faculties at all times. He said some other stuff but as a young buck I was just rolling my eyes.
I look back at his words of wisdom and I ask myself why didn't I listen, truly listen to those words?
The answer was simple....my NCOs thought that drinking was cool and as a young impressionable young man, I was taught that it was cool by watching their example. Ultimately, it was my choice to emulate their behavior and those were poor choices of mine.
Alcohol is poison, plain and simple; even when consumed responsibly.
If I was still in the Army...Do I think that 18 year-olds should be allowed to drink? Personally it is none of my business....unless the Orders and Regulations make it my business to enforce their restrictions.
At the same time, you will not catch me consuming alcohol, therefore my soldiers would not learn or become pressured to consume alcohol from my actions. As a leader, I would ensure that my subordinates had enough responsibilities that would focus them on their own betterment, professionally and personally.
Anyway, I could go on all day explaining the Army Way of life, that others seem not to truly understand...those that think the army is just a job....if I have to explain it, you will never understand...and those that do, you know exactly where I am coming from.
I look back at his words of wisdom and I ask myself why didn't I listen, truly listen to those words?
The answer was simple....my NCOs thought that drinking was cool and as a young impressionable young man, I was taught that it was cool by watching their example. Ultimately, it was my choice to emulate their behavior and those were poor choices of mine.
Alcohol is poison, plain and simple; even when consumed responsibly.
If I was still in the Army...Do I think that 18 year-olds should be allowed to drink? Personally it is none of my business....unless the Orders and Regulations make it my business to enforce their restrictions.
At the same time, you will not catch me consuming alcohol, therefore my soldiers would not learn or become pressured to consume alcohol from my actions. As a leader, I would ensure that my subordinates had enough responsibilities that would focus them on their own betterment, professionally and personally.
Anyway, I could go on all day explaining the Army Way of life, that others seem not to truly understand...those that think the army is just a job....if I have to explain it, you will never understand...and those that do, you know exactly where I am coming from.
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When I joined the Marines, you could consume beer at the eclub at 18. I don't know when that changed.
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All I can say is I'm old Navy, meaning you worked hard, and you were expected to play hard. Remember the days of EM clubs serving 3.2% beer by the picture full stateside when I first joined. But quickly found overseas you only needed to see over the top of the bar to order your drinks and % of alcohol was not regulated by manufactures. Needless to say 17 years out of 20yrs 8 months I spent overseas.
But towards the end, blackouts became frequent with boilermakers, so I gave it up, and became a social drinker, 2 beers and I head for the house and surprisingly don't drink at home, except on special occasions.
But towards the end, blackouts became frequent with boilermakers, so I gave it up, and became a social drinker, 2 beers and I head for the house and surprisingly don't drink at home, except on special occasions.
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