EQUAL TREATMENT FOR AMERICA'S MILITARY WARRIORS
I introduced HB210 today, a bill that would enable all active duty warriors in our U.S. Armed Forces to be treated as adults, regardless of age. House Bill 210 proposes permitting active duty service members under age 21 to consume alcoholic beverages and use tobacco products in Alaska.
It's outrageous that a member of our military can be subjected to the horrors of war, but can't legally have a beer or smoke a cigarette. Any soldier who braves military combat and risks their life for our country should be treated like an adult—in every sense of the word. HB 210 does not advocate smoking or drinking as a general practice, nor does the sponsor, but it does advocate equal treatment for adults and the de facto adults in America's military.
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 3:00 PM
11 Comments:
Some people go into civic service to do good and change their world, some go for the glory, and some obviously go to waste time.
Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - The voice of Interior Alaska since 1903
Please, Rep. Bob Lynn, read the opinions of over 50 Alaskans.
Has to be one of the dumbest ideas yet from fog voice.
How come he hasn't come up with any oil legislation following his boondoggle trip a few weeks ago to "learnL. Glad my kids were never in his classes when he was an "educator".
You've got to be kidding...shouldn't you be calling this the "More Equal Treatment" bill? Your military bootlicking is really starting to get gross. You would have loved Argentine back in the 1980's.
When I was stationed at the San Diego naval base in late 89 to early 90 we were Allowed to drink beer only on the base at 18 to keep us from going across the border to Mexico. So there are cases when it is permitted so why not let our military men and women be treated as adults everywhere.
I served as a paratrooper and was a light weapons infantryman from the age of 17 to 20, that is for three years in the American Army. I had a direct commission and came up through the ranks. I was wounded two months after my 18th birthday and was awarded the Purple Heart. I was married at 19 and was a father at the age of 20. I was still under the age of 21 when I began college, was a infantry officer in the National Guard and had to have my mother sign for me at the bank to get credit for an automobile loan simply because I was not yet 21 years of age. I could not go out and have a beer with the men from the riot platoons I commanded which were being used to beat in the heads of pacifist hippies protesting violently against war. The mobs consisting these violent protesters were too large for the police to handle, therefore I was sent in with the National Guard riot platoons I commanded ...... all under the age of 21. I later left the United States when the Communist North Vietnamese units captured the capitol of South Vietnam on Adolf Hitler's birthday in 1975. I was over the age of 21 at the time. I have never returned to the United States since then. God Bless you, Bob Lynn!
I served 20 years in the US Army. One thing I never understood was the fact that our nation considered me old enough at 18 to make the conscious decision to serve in the military, but I was somehow incapable of deciding if I could handle drinking a beer! Wait…let me see if I can put this in to perspective.
I can join the military, get issued a rifle, pistol, machine gun, and thousands of dollars of equipment. I can be charged with the safety of many other people and given a mission to complete, placing myself and my wards in harms way, with the very distinct possibility of death, but I cannot legally buy and drink a beer. What a backwards way of doing things.
I joined the Army when I was 18 years old. I moved through the ranks somewhat fast, and I found myself promoted to Sergeant (E-5) shortly before my 21st birthday. When I was promoted, I was immediately assigned as a squad leader, with eleven other soldiers in my charge. I was responsible for their morale and welfare, and more importantly, the successful completion of any mission I was assigned. In order to accomplish that mission, I had to take limited information and turn it into a tactical plan. Upon execution of that plan, I had to ensure that the plans were carried out, and if something went wrong, come up with an alternate plan. The bottom line was the fact that I had to be correct…I had to win, and lives were at stake. I was responsible for other people’s lives – not only my men, but the lives of civilians and innocent by-standers, who relied upon me and others like me, to deliver them from their own personal hell.
Am I missing something? If the US government can trust me to do all these things, why can’t I be trusted to drink a beer if I want to? If I can be handed a gun at the age of 18 and asked to risk my life in combat, why can’t I drink a beer at the end of the day?
I am in full support of active duty military members being allowed to consume alcohol. We already allow these military members to consume alcohol when assigned to a country where the drinking age is 18, why can’t they legally drink in the US?
Representative Lynn, thank you for bringing this legislation forward. I don’t even drink anymore, but it only makes sense that if an 18 year old can legally die for their country, they should be able to legally drink a beer!
If my father, a WWII vet was still alive he would have saluted you for this legislation. I was in the Navy during the Vietnam Era and many friends went to Vietnam never to come back. It's a sad statement that the US government gave them permission to give the ultimate sacrifice but didn't deem them adult enough to sit back and enjoy a simple beer. My hats off to you Sir for bringing legislation like this forward. It may not be one of the most important pieces of law to be brought forward but it's one that's not going to cost the tax payers of Alaska money and will tell the troops that they're respected as adults.
This is certainly one of the most irresponsible pieces of legislation I've seen in some time
Thank you very much for this legislation Mr. Lynn. I've always thought that the current policy was outrageous.
I support Bob Lynn's bill whose purpose is to lower the drinking age to 18 for servicemembers. There are laws and rules to be followed by soldiers so young soldiers getting beer or wine on the military base and under supervision should not be a problem. I have read that there is opposition against the bill in the legislature but those opponents should know this. 18-20 year old soldiers being allowed to drink beer or wine under supervision at a military base don't constitute a problem. The opponents are not thinking logically if they oppose what I have said in this comment. The opponents use ageism to obscure logic instead. Again, I support Bob Lynn's great bill.
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