I say leave it how it is.

I'm 18 and I understand alot about the military.
and i know quite abit about the marine corps.

and im an organizer of sorts.

I cant wait to join the marine corps.

if you can't be trusted to drink then you can't be trusted to fight or vote for that matter.

This is a very good argument. My thing is that just because at 18 you are legal, does not mean you understand everything that you are getting into. Teens drink, drive, vote, get involved in all kinds of activities that they should and shouldn't. A law that changes the age on what an 18 yr old does is not going to solve the problem at hand. No person fresh out of high school should be able to readily put their lives in danger just because a recruiter offers them a sum of money. You need time to think about what you really want to do before you sign your life over to the government. The age you can join the army should be raised to at least 21, by that time you should have a basic understanding about how life in the real world works. Unless you are enrolled in a military school, an army recruiter should not be allowed to enter a high school to recruit anybody. education is always a more important concept than how to get more members recruited into the army. College should always come first after high school. There are more ways to get money for college than going straight into the military. I vote for raising the age to 21.

The military preys on the young. My son isn't even out of school yet and has already been approached and tested for militart service and he is in the 10th grade. I don't even think they should be allowed at public schools. It is not their own little personal recruitment center, it is for higher education.

i think the military would strongly object to this. they need the youth for proper training. basic training is very rigorous and if you wait until 21 for enlistment none of the branches of the service will fill their quotas for enlistments. what do you do then? reinstate the draft -disband the army-     i think there are going to be some  changes made in the years ahead-not so much in the age of servicemen and women-but who serves. if george bushs daughters were eligible for the draft maybe he would not be so gung-ho to get us a war somewhere...

I must dissagree... I am in high school now and I will be joining the marines when I am 18 and if I can defend my country I believe I can drink... not the other way around

Good point Curt......Just like prohibition laws of the past they did not work....If the law says your an adult at 18 then you should be able to drink.

I think there is an injustice to soldiers who go to war, get injured, loose a limb but can't sit at a bar and have a beer. In some states, soldiers over 18 can drink on base. 18 year olds can vote, buy porn and tobacco, play the lottery, and sign contracts but not alcohol. We spend a great deal of time and money with underage drinking law enforcement and it doesn't seem to be working. We should use that money to educate responsibility. KIDS WILL AND DO DRINK. College kids drink. They can get alcohol easily.There's no use spending money trying to enforce the unenforcable.

I agree with Melissa C's comments.

I think some people do not deserve alcohol at the age of 18 but others are more responsible with it. I also don't think some should be allowed to go into the army at the age 18 but no one can stop that. Some people deserve it and others don't but if the age to join the army is 18, I think that person should be able to drink a beer too.

The age should be 21, no doubt. I didn't know what i wanted when I was eighteen

18... If it was good enough for my Daddy to be drafted and go fight in Vietnam, then it's good enough for boys/and girls now adays.

I believe we should ALL be accountable for our actions when it comes to drinking and driving: age 18 and above. Is it time for cars to have a built in breathlizer test? Should the car not start if the person is potential over the limit?

It seems that setting the age of alcoholic responsibility at 21 is arbitrary. Kids today are growing up faster. At 18, they can drive, be drafted, pay taxes, purchase cigarettes, be tried as adults, serve on juries and vote, but can't drink. Changing the drinking age to 18 would place it in line with other rights and obligations. At eighteen, most American teenagers leave home to join the workforce or go to college. It is at 18 not 21 when kids become independent, taking responsibilities as an adult. We should recognize this turning point in the lives of young people and use it as an opportunity to grant additional responsibility of legal drinking.

I want to take a moment now and express my gratitude and prayers for the fine men and women serving our Country. I encourage all, to each day, make some sort of expression of appreciation and acknowledgement of their ultimate sacrifice. "HOME OF THE BRAVE, LAND OF THE FREE"

I believe we will always need young people interested in serving their country. No question. Currently you need a high school diploma or GED equivalent in order to join. I believe we should leave all the ages as they are now.

The Age to join armed forces should be 18 as well as the drinking age. Where I gre up the drinking age was 18 and I do not think it resulted in many issues - in fact - many matyred more quickly.

These 18 years old “soldiers”, should have chance to make kids before they die. Funny like all started talking about drinking and dropped the subject… Also these kids so non mature to be soldiers even in 21 years old, many of them just looking for benefits being solders, for their future (education etc) instead they should prepare them selves to be dead as soldiers. They don’t understand what they to do choosing service.

I agree with Kane on this one. Being able to drive is very important when considering a job. However, kids do grow up at an earlier age today so lowering the drinking age seems reasonable. Dropping the drinking age incrementally seems to be the best way of doing this effectively.

Pushing the driving age to 18 doesn't work. If you graduate at 17 and get a job you are telling me that you can't get a license to get to work? How does that work out? I would consider lowering the drinking age in steps not to 18 immediately.

I am the creator of this forum and actually these comments make sense to me. I now believe that the age of drinking should be lowered to 18.....However I do not believe that Driving age should be increased to 18. Kids have jobs at 16 and 17 and need away to get their. However I think there should be limits of where they can drive to until they reach the age of 18.

One more vote for the age to drink be lowered to 18 and driving age raised to 18