DOA drinking bills make a point for lawmakers

[unhappycamper]

DOA drinking bills make a point for lawmakers
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 31, 2008 19:39:48 EST

State legislatures in Kentucky and South Carolina this year are considering proposals to exempt service members from the federally mandated drinking age of 21, enabling any active-duty member 18 or older to buy alcohol with a military-issued I.D.

Lawmakers won’t consider the bills very long — they’re doomed from the start because they would force the states to forfeit millions of dollars in federal highway funds. But the proposals represent a recurring argument among critics of state and U.S. policies: Why trust 18-year-old Americans to kill enemies but not have a beer?

“This is a person who is serving right alongside the 21-year-olds or 25-year-olds, standing the same watches, carrying the same weapon, facing the same enemy and potentially sacrificing just as much,” said Kentucky State Rep. David Floyd, a Republican from the state’s central Bluegrass region. “There’s absolutely no difference at all between their levels of responsibility in terms of MOS or anything else. They have the same responsibilities, and in civil society, they should be recognized as full-fledged adults.”

South Carolina State Rep. Fletcher Smith makes a similar argument in support of his version of the bill.

“It’s absurd that people serving in the military are trained to kill on the battlefield but at the same time couldn’t come back home and have a beer,” the Greenville Democrat said. “If you’re old enough to get training in the U.S. military, you should be old enough to get a beer. That training really matures a person.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/military_lower_drinkingage_080131w/