What do these dead soldiers have in common?

Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter, 19, of Sag Harbor, N.Y. and
Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale, 21, of Burkeville, Va. died April 22 from wounds suffered while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq.

Pfc. Shane D. Penley, 19, of Sauk Village, Ill., died April 6 at Patrol Base Copper, Iraq, from wounds suffered while on duty at a guard post.

Spc. Joshua A. Molina, 20, of Houston, Texas, died Mar. 27 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.

Cpl. Steven I. Candelo, 20, of Houston, died March 26 in Baghdad, when his vehicle was struck by a rocket propelled grenade.

Cpl. William D. O’Brien, 19, of Rice, Texas, died March 15 in Baghdad, Iraq, from wounds suffered when he was attacked by small arms fire during combat operations.

All of the above soldiers died before they were old enough to be legally served a beer.

The United States has the highest drinking age in the world.

How is that working out for us?

If an 18 year old is mature enough to go to boot camp, then, a few months later, the front lines, he/she should be able to have a beer, for God's sake.

Raise the combat age to 21, or lower the drinking age to 18.

I don't care about the statistics. The injustice of this has to be corrected.

Personally, I'd prefer we raised the combat age to 21, so that we would no longer be able to wage war. Now there is a law that would save a lot of young lives.

Let them drink, or stop sending them to Iraq to get killed.

•  tips for lowering the drinking age!

  by Sarge in Seattle on Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:21:40 AM PDT

  •  No, raise the combat age

    It was actually this argument that brought 18 yr olds the vote. If one were old enough to be drafted and die, one should have some say in who sent you to die. The drinking age quickly reduced from 21 to 18.

    Only later, as condition to receive federal highway funds, did the age move up. In Texas, it moved to 19  a year and a half later to 21. I came of age at 18, but I had friends that cam of age three times.

    by Inventor on Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:45:06 AM PDT

  •  Its strange

    That we have one of the higher addiction rates along with the higher drinking age. I don't think lowering the age would do much to help the already high rates of alcoholism in the millitary.

    How about an option to raise the millitary service age and keep the drinking age?

    by glass house on Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:47:43 AM PDT

•  You can die for your country, but you also...

  ...better not be reading pornography, either, according to certain Republican congress critters.

  by TheCrank on Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:24:02 AM PDT

  •  Yeah, pornography is bad for morale! (n/t)

    by Sarge in Seattle on Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:25:29 AM PDT

•  I find it stranger that

  you can vote at 18, yet not drink legally until 21.  

  Will you amend your poll to also increase the voting age to 21 aswell?  As politically you are considered an adult, also you can sign the dotted line for military service if you so wish, yet no alcohol to celebrate any of the above.

  by megamanc on Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:35:30 AM PDT

•  Seems to me the better solution would

  be to raise the age of enlistment.

  As a former prosecutor and public defender, my experience is that alcohol and youth do not mix well.  

  by martydd on Thu May 08, 2008 at 09:37:11 AM PDT

  •  Well,

    As a former prosecutor and public defender, you must also know that prohibition doesn't work well either.

    What is your experience in other countries? We have the highest drinking age in the world. Do we have less alcoholism? Less teenage pregnancy? Fewer alcohol related car accidents?

    Where is the evidence that this ban is having a positive effect?

    If we raise the enlistment age, we would need to have a draft, would we not?

    Hell, we can't fill the military recruitment requirements as it is.

    I find it really insulting (not implying you don't also) that youth and war mix just fucking fine, but youth and alcohol? No way. Send them out to get their heads blown up, yet also treat them like children, and deny them the right to drink.

    What a country!

    by Sarge in Seattle on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:06:35 AM PDT

    •  Sarge

      I can't think of a single thing that mixes well with war.

      I think the way we treat young adults is inconsistent, to say the least.  You can get married at 18, enter into an enforceable contract, decide the next leader of the free world, but you can't have a beer?  That makes no sense.

      If you're a young woman under 18, you can't self consent to an abortion, but you can place your child for adoption without parental consent.  This makes no sense.  A female under eighteen can't legally consent to sexual intercourse in many states, but she can enlist in the military?  That one blows me away.

      Some kids are mature at 18, some aren't.  I don't think I was really mature until I was 25 or so. I wish there were a sensible answer.  I've just way seen too many young lives really fucked up by alcohol.  

      by martydd on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:24:56 AM PDT

  •  Could this be a result of our Puritanic attitude

    about alcohol?  Would we better off trying to inculcate a bit more sophistication into young people, a bit earlier than high school graduation?

    The widespread view that college students and, of course young troopers, are expected to overdrink, it seems to me, springs from our cultural rejection of the normality of alcoholic beverages.  (I realize I'm swimming upstream here, since I live in KS which is still having arguments about Intelligent Design....)

    by gfv6800 on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:26:58 AM PDT

    •  Excellent point

      I think the "get drunk till you puke" attitude toward alcohol is very sad, but not uniquely American.  I believe Britain and perhaps Australia share our belief in the virtue of over consumption.

      Whatever it is that we're doing wrong, I wish we could figure it out.

      by martydd on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:33:52 AM PDT

•  The drinking age is high because

  the driving age is low. The driving age must be low so that employers can get their cheap young workers to work on time.

  by Snarcalita on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:27:55 AM PDT

  •  And the Enlistment Age is Low ...

    ... so our war-profiteers have cannon fodder for using their war toys.

    by howd on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:48:50 AM PDT

•  We had 18 as the drinking age in our state

  for awhile - it was a disaster. Many 18 year olds are still in High School and, of course, were buying for their underage friends. Alcohol related accidents and medical emergencies greatly increased, until the state legislature put the age back at 21. I like your suggestion that there be no combat assignments to soldiers under 21.  

  by moose67 on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:59:20 AM PDT

•  remember to thank reagan for this

  one of the big problems was bordering states had different drinking ages.  and kids were getting killed driving from a night out in a lower-age state back to the higher-age state where they lived.  

  wisconsin & chicago metro area was one case in point.  

  by jlms qkw on Thu May 08, 2008 at 12:26:17 PM PDT

  •  I did a bit of that myself...

    visiting friends @ WSU, drinking in Moscow.

    by Sarge in Seattle on Thu May 08, 2008 at 05:46:41 PM PDT