[IP] Reconciliation of drinking age and age to join military
Begin forwarded message:
From: Robert Lee <robertslee@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: June 1, 2005 4:04:10 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Reconciliation of drinking age and age to join military
Reply-To: robertslee@xxxxxxxxxxx
Dear Dave,
In reading the myriad articles and now federal proposal that states
should be forced to lower the drinking age to the minimum age for
entry into the military---all on the grounds that is someone is old
enough to defend their country (shoot people legally) they should be
old enough to drink---it seems to me that the discrepancy should be
reconciled by going the other way, to wit: the minimum age to be
able to defend your country (shoot people legally) should be
increased to the drinking age. In most cases that would be 21.
Having served in the military as a medic in the USAF during Vietnam I
can tell you unequivocally that war depends on a healthy supply of
mature hormones and immature brains (teenagers) and that the older
one becomes the less likely he is to serve himself up for cannon
fodder. The only person in the White House calling this war’s shots
that ever served in a war was ostracized and was forced to quit. The
rest of them wheedled out of combat service. Someone should do some
research to find out if this is the only war in our history declared
by and managed by people who never fought in a war.
I will never forget a scene in the movie, Nicholas and Alexandra. I
don’t know if it was a book. A Bolshevik sergeant is escorting the
Csar’s family to Siberia, aboard a train. He goes to a platform
between the cars to smoke a cigarette. The Csar follows him out,
also to smoke. The sergeant and Csar smoke, together, mute. Finally
the sergeant says to the Csar, “All my life I thought you were an
evil man. These last few days I have spent with you have shown me
that you are not evil at all. You are simply a man utterly without
imagination.”
Robert Lee
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