If you are 18 you can legally kill but you can not drink. Why?

I'm just very curious why the government thinks that someone under 21 is mature enough to go to war and possibly kill someone but, not mature enough to handle drinking alcohol or gamble. I think that if they want to make drinking age 21 they should make the legal age to join the military 21 too. Either the gov. should lower the drinking age or raise the military recruiting age. What do you all think?

By the way I don't have to wait I can drink and I don't know about you but I sure as heck think that an 18 is not ready to kill or drink.

You might as well learn this now;

Government decisions RARELY make sense.

You are not allowed to kill in the U.S. at 18 either. This is why the drinking age is 21. Some States used to have beer that was a lower alcohol level that was able to be purchased by 18 year olds. Traffic deaths soared so they changed it. Seems that people under 21 can't handle alcohol.

When I was 18 I lived in New Jersey and the drinking age was lowered to 18 when I was about 14. So I could legally drink at 18. They finally came to their senses and raised it back to 21. 18 year olds are not responsible drinkers.

You are mistaken.

You can not legally kill.

You can enroll yourself in the military. But that does not give you permission to kill citizens or unarmed individuals...which would be the same people being killed by an 18 year old drunk driver.

The better idea would be if you are 18 with a military ID you can do these things.

Ive seen 18 year olds drink.. they are not responsible. 21 isnt even ideal.. but i guess yo got to set the bar somewhere

Gee I've never heard this argument before....lol


Seriously this is a over-used argument and really has no foundation

joining the military does not equal the right to consume alcohol

I guess you'll just have to wait 3 long years

Actually, under 21s in the army get special dispensation to be able to drink alcohol.

How messed up is that?

They're afraid who you might kill if they let you drink at 18.

You are crazy enough as it is when you are 18.

You have better aim when you are sober.

i don't know.
i think its retarded.

I don't think there's any problem with allowing people an opportunity to gain self-discipline and responsibility before allowing them to injest something which negatively impacts their ability to make good decisions. You gain a lot of responsibility at 18 (whether in the military or not) and you lose a lot of oversight. We need not mess that up further by adding inhibition-lowering drinks to the mix.

I'm AD military. I waited until I was 21 to drink. I saw lots of people in my unit drink underage; and I've seen people get in lots of trouble, hurt/kill themselves and others. Not all was because they were under 21, but as you get older, you generally become more responsible about your alcohol use.

when i graduated from high school in 1972, it was legal to drink at age 18.....there were so many deaths due to 18 year olds drinking and driving and 18 year olds buying for under age friends that they changed the legal age a few years later.....i agree with u tho......we can send them off to kill or be killed but yet they cant drink....makes no sense at times.....but the government rarely does...................