This keg’s for you General Conway
Marine Corps Times reported yesterday that General James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, has lowered the drinking age
It seems underage Marines had grown tired of watching their Navy peers drink freely at port–the Navy only requires sailors to follow local laws–while they were forced to adhere to American drinking laws–ridiculous American drinking laws if I might say so. Now Marines, too, will only be required to follow local drinking laws, which means that pretty much anywhere in the world where drinking is legal, they’ll be free to blow off a little steam with a cold one. Until they come home at least. But, on Marine Corps bases here and abroad, the drinking age will be disregard during special events such as the Corps’ birthday. Really, is there anyone in this country who believes that a 19 year-old United States Marine returning from seven months in Iraq–where drinking is a no-no regardless of age–shouldn’t be allowed to order a round of beers for his buddies when he gets back home? A more debatable issue is whether U.S. troops should be allowed to drink while serving in Iraq, at least while getting some well-deserved R and R at bases where insurgent activity is an uncommon occurrence. Military.com‘s Christian Lowe tackled this question in a piece for Doublethink magazine a few years ago:
I’m inclined to believe that whatever the chances are of alcohol-related misconduct, U.S. troops ought to be given the benefit of the doubt–innocent until proven guilty of poor judgment. But, I can see why the military would be reluctant to allow its men to drink in a combat zone, when even a base far out in the desert might be targeted by insurgents on any given day, or night. Still, when these men–and that is precisely what they are–return home from a tour in Iraq, they ought to be able to enjoy the little things that make this country great, i.e. beer. And wasn’t the Vietnam War the impetus for lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18 in the first place, only to be raised again by the Reagan administration in what, as far as I can tell, was the only mistake the great man ever made? The Marine Corps should be commended for making what may turn out to be a controversial decision. Mothers Against Drunk Driving will surely condemn the move, but, given that the Long War is unlikely to end anytime soon, there ought to be a pretty broad consensus for lowering the drinking age back to 18–or at least exempting combat veterans from a law that no college kid ever follows anyway.
