Published on 09/21/2007

The drinking age has been a hot topic in the area recently... It seems every year around this time, the return of college students necessitates sting operations to prevent the sale of liquor to minors... Predictably the stings lead to debate over what the legal age to procure alcohol should be...

The drinking age has been a hot topic in the area recently

The underage often use the facts that they can vote & serve in the military at 18, so they should be allowed to drink... While others contend that the age to serve, and presumably vote, should be raised to 21, so as preclude minors from making poor decisions...

Both arguments would seem to be made by the elite few who go on to higher education after high school... But what about the rest of us?

I wonder how my life would have turned out if, as a 17 year old graduate of New Bedford High School, I was forced to remain in limbo for 4 years until I was old enough to join the Marine Corps...

Would I, like so many of my friends, have had to go down to the ocean to find a livelihood? So many people I know who chose this path are gone now.. Swallowed up by the ocean or the drugs that were so prevalent in the fishing industry back then...

Would I have taken the fast money by dealing drugs? Again an option with a limited plan for the future...

Tried to get a civil servants job? Without any political clout in those days, that was not bloody likely...

Those people who suggest we raise the minimum age for enlistment, should try to living on their own for four years without anything but a high school diploma, before they go telling others that they are incapable of making good life choices at 17... After all, isn't the idea of providing a "Good High School Education" to prepare the student for life in the real world, College bound or not ?

No, at 17 my options were very very limited, and the military was the best way for me to lay a foundation for my adult life... Now I will concede, the risks weren't quite the same as they are today... Though In many ways they weren't much different either... There are 241 dead men in Beirut who bear witness to that fact...

As to the "I'm old enough to die, I should be old enough to drink argument"...

Unless things have changed, Folks serving in the military who are under 21 can drink beer and wine on base... So for you college freshman who want to use that argument, I suggest that you drop out of school, run down to the recruiter and sign up... But be forewarned the consumption of Alcohol is not allowed in Islamic countries; so you might only get to take advantage of the drinking loophole for half of your enlistment...

One last aspect of this shallow argument is that there is no draft in this country... If young people were being forced into military service, then perhaps, this "old enough to die" rhetoric, coming from priveledged college students, might have some merit... But until that happens "kid", shut your mouth, do your homework, drink your milk, and leave the dying up to the adults...

Human Pride World-Wide

Bob Grant