Should we raise the age of enlistment eligibility? Would we have a stronger more mature force?

i would agree if anything they should make a law stating that if your 18 or so in the military you should be able to own a handgun at least maybe not able to drink but a handgun shouldn't be too ridiculous 

I agree, but with the current downsizing wouldnt it make sense to raise our talent pool levels?

1SG (Join to see) - Is raising the age raising the talent pool levels? I joined later in life I was 21 when I joined. Did it make me a better marine than the 18yo highly unlikely. Sure I had some job experience behind me but I was technically no different than the 18yo recruit standing next to me. I served with a lot of guys that joined later in life the one thing we all had in common other than our age was only 1 out of the 15 or so stayed in. Since we did have this experience outside the military we knew what was on the other side. It didn't make leaving the military so scary. The younger you join the more likely you are to stay in for multiple enlistments. 4 years is hardly an indication of how well someone will perform in the military and in the event of a war in which rapid growth will be needed and the "draft" happens (not likely) you know have reduced your pool of potential down greatly. The issue here is far bigger than just raising the age. The problem we have now is potential recruits that meet the criteria of joining. Not overweight, no convictions and so on. Another reason the tattoo policies have been relaxed.

That's why I think the Air Force, in this case, has it on a little more of the right track. E-4 is not an NCO rank, and you must have served at least three years TIS, with at least 6 months TIG of E-4, and have finished your 5-level CDCs to get E-5, the first NCO rank in our promotion system. Your fastest burner can theoretically get E-5 in 2.5 years if they get BTZ on E-4 (they put on E-4 six months early), but they're usually rare (line numbers alone will likely add another year to it). I got E-5 my first time testing and didn't put on until I had been in for five years.
When I went to tech school, I went with 18 year olds who had SPC/CPL ranks already on (not sure how the Army works it, maybe some kind of incentive contract? It was back in '06/'07). Meanwhile, most of us were promoting to E-2/E-3 upon graduation and had about two years to look forward to before we put on E-4.

All that being said, I know people who are 30-35 and have not lived a life to mature. Sure they're older, but they're in no way more mature. I have had very toxic leaders that are that way because they have no clue how to wield their stripe and throw it around whenever they get the urge. There was an E-8 I worked with years ago; lived with his mother, never married, no kids, massive gamer, lived paycheck-to-paycheck. Sure, he could do the job, but he couldn't counsel his way out of a PT belt, and forget leadership skills; passed the courses, sure, but putting them to work, it was painful to watch.

So I don't think age has anything to do with it. I think the system is inherently human; there's no way we'll get it perfect. You can only examine what you have in front of you and make the call and hope you made the right one.