It's about time...

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iAMaPhoenix
iAMaPhoenix Posts: 1,038 Member
in Chit-Chat
I don't know if this will be considered political or what, but here goes. Yesterday marked a significant day in the history of our Armed Services. For the first time, openly gay men and women are allowed to serve in Uniform without fear of discharge. I for one, am in total approval of this. As a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army, I have served with gay and lesbian servicemembers and at no time did I feel threatened by their sexual orientation. I trusted them with my life, as they trusted me with theirs. Granted, it was illegal for them to do so, and they could have been discharged for it, but it was not my place to "snitch" on them. After all, it was DADT, right?

Now, I think there is another archaic rule that need to be changed in the military, but this is just my opinion. I feel that if you can die for your country, you should be allowed to have an alcoholic beverage. If the military wants to say it is the law of the land to not drink before you are 21, then what about those who are stationed overseas where the legal drinking age is 18. And should we not make an exeption to those on the battlefield. If you can trust a 19 yo to handle a million dollar tank, should they have the responsibility of a $2 Miller Lite.

If you want to debate this topic, please keep it clean and do not attack someone's opinion. Let's show those Roidheads from yesterday how we do it on a real thread.

Replies

  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,342 Member
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    hmmm either people are taking their time to answer this one or you have yourself a tricky subject lol
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
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    Well, I agree with you on both counts. I am thrilled to see the end of DADT.

    I have never understood why a young person could die in service but wasn't entitled to a beer. However, my next question is - does this mean we should lower the drinking age to 18 or raise the age of enlistment to 21? To me, personally, military service is a far bigger commitment and responsibility and maybe IT should wait until a young person is a little older. But either way, yes I think they should go hand in hand. If you're old enough to do one, you're old enough to do the other.
  • adrian_indy
    adrian_indy Posts: 1,444 Member
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    I'll never forget thr night I was returning to Iraq from leave. The flights out of Houston were overbooked, so me and 30 or so soldiers got a free night in Texas. We went to Walmart, bought some clothes and headed out to the clubs. One of the guys with us was a 19 year old infantryman. We were in line, got to the front door, and the bouncer said "Get out of here kid."

    So here's a young man, he's been in a war zone for 7 month's, he drives a Bradley which I believe is 16 million dollars. He's been through hell and back. He can also vote and help change the entire political climate of the nation, but he can't have a beer. Something wrong with that.

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