Ahh, the hypocrisy of the "old enough to die, but not to drink" crowd. When I was in the Navy I was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan and therefore didn't have to worry too much about drinking ages. When I was in training in the states though it was an issue that seemed to come up quite a bit among fellow sailors. Now Wisconsin State Representive Mark Pettis has introduced a bill to lower the drinking age for soldiers in Wisconsin to 19.
Yahoo/AP
One Wisconsin lawmaker figures if the U.S. military trusts 19-year-olds with a $10 million tank, then the state should trust them with a beer.
State Rep. Mark Pettis, a Republican who served in the Navy, is pushing a bill that would drop the drinking age to 19 for Wisconsin soldiers — but only if the federal government agrees it will not yank an estimated $50 million a year in highway aid.
A federal law ties federal highway dollars to compliance by the states with the required drinking age of 21.
"We're treating these young men and women as adults when they're at war. But we treat them like teenagers when they're here in the states," he said.
...
A committee is expected to send the bill to the full Assembly for consideration next week, and Gov. Jim Doyle has said he supports it — as long as Wisconsin does not lose any federal highway money.
Of course groups like MADD are against such a provision one is even quoted as saying "It's for their own protection,". I guess we shouldn't send them off to defend her either. Normally I'd side with MADD, but not in this case.
Tipped by: Right Thinking From The Left Coast
