Military, Drinking, and Proof of Age
When I joined the Air Force, I was already 21 and able to smoke and drink without issue. That is not the case for most when they sign up for military service. The minimum age to join is 18 (17 with parental consent). So you can join at 18, but can’t have a drink with your fellow service members. This is where I have an issue.
At 18, you can sign up to defend your country, fight for your country, and die for your country. You cannot drink though. Old enough to die, but not old enough to get drunk. This is one thing I would like to change as President of the Unites States.
I have always felt that active duty personnel (as well as Reserve and National Guard) are not your normal citizen once they sign up. I am not saying they are better or anything like that. I am saying that the state of the world and the decisions of government affect them differently.
What I would change is the drinking age of service members. If you have a government issues military ID for active duty, reserve, or national guard, you are able to buy cigerettes and alcohol regardless of age. This doesn’t put them above the laws in regards to drinking. It just lets them drink. It would also let them in any place that required you to be 21 or older because of alcohol being served.
This does bring up one more point about the military ID card (or common access card as it is called now). When I was in, I smoked briefly as did a few of my friends. We found that some places (mostly AM/PMs) would not accept our military IDs as proof of age to buy cigerettes. I even had a strip club give me grief over it, but I won’t get into that now. So I would also make it so that the military ID could not be turned down as proof of age in regards to things like cigerettes and alcohol since you would have to have it to buy alcohol under 21 anyways.
