Commandant of the Marine Corps General James Conway lowered the drinking age for Marines last month.  Part of the change was to establish equal treatment between military members of different services:  Sailors assigned to the same ships were already authorized to drink in foreign ports-of-call that had under-21 drinking ages, while Marines were not.  Conway’s rule change eliminated that distinction.

However, the other half of his edict is more significant:

. . . the commandant’s changes go further than any other service’s policy, decriminalizing welcome-home beer for underage Marines returning from deployment and giving commanders the authority to hold an 18-and-up kegger on base upon a unit’s return from a war zone.

In the mid 1980s the federal government used highway funds to coerce states into abandoning their own discretion over setting drinking ages.  The military followed suit.  Each service changed its rules to 21.  To my knowledge, the Marines are the first entity in the nation to buck the two-decades-old rule.

I personally have long been offended by a rule that denies soldiers home from deployment from ordering a beer.  After my Germany-based unit returned from the Gulf War in 1991, soldiers were allowed to drink.  However, seven years later after my Texas-based squadron returned from a months-long deployment to Kuwait, my younger soldiers were prohibited from enjoying a well-deserved beer.  Both groups should have been allowed to drink if they so chose.  In truth, both groups did drink.  But only the German-based soldiers stayed on base to do it.

On-post Officer and NCO Clubs once flourished.  Now they languish on most military bases.  As a result, soldiers, both over and under 21 travel off-post to drink.  Making alchohol available to Marines at those clubs and functions on base keeps them drinking on base where they are “under the control of the base commander.” 

Almost as important as the added safety this rule promotes, I welcome the change because it is a step in the direction of treating members of our military like the adults they are.

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