Michael Riddle (Edison) They’re Just Kids

22. March 2009 by student.

They’re just kids? Really? How can you be so certain of that? When Ryan turned 18 in the summer of 2000, he made one of the most important decisions of his life. Living in rural Kentucky and having dropped out of school, yet managing to obtain his GED, Ryan decided that working menial jobs in fast food, warehousing, and general labor was not going to get him very far in life; so he decided to join the military. Although his father served in the Navy, because of only having a GED, the only branch that would accept him was the Army. Regardless, his father could not have been more proud, and, through a waterfall of tears, sent him off to become a man and start his own life.

Then came 9/11, and any hopes of a peace-time tour of duty vanished. Although choosing to become a Combat Engineer with an Airborne endorsement, before he knew it, Ryan was assigned to a machine gun squad in a rifle platoon standing guard and running patrols in Baghdad. For the next 18 months, Ryan saw and did things that would make us “adults” shudder and convulse in disbelief and disgust. If you ask him, he will tell you of the time that he got lucky when an IED exploded and killed everyone in his squad except him and one other soldier. How he had to gather up what was left of his friends, as reverently as the conditions would permit, place them in plastic garbage bags, and send them back to the base to be identified and reassembled together before being sent home. He will tell you about the numerous times that he and his squad or platoon warded off assault after assault of anger-crazed, religiously absolved fanatics who threw themselves mindlessly into the firestorm of machine-gun and rifle fire, and how utterly amazed he was that they would so easily sacrifice their lives for their beliefs. And he will also tell you about the day that a bullet came out of no where and shattered his leg, sending him home to fight a different fight with a government, our government, who turned a blind eye to their wounded veterans.

Yet our government has asked Ryan to vote for its leadership, and to cast judgment on its accused. He can get married, buy “nicotine sticks”, get a passport and travel throughout the world, buy a house, and start a family. And it’s our government that says he can not have a “welcome home soldier” beer at the Legion. He can not have champagne at his wedding, christen his new home with a drink, or celebrate the arrival of his first born with a toast. There is no more apparent example of the duplicity of our government than to ask a person, man or woman, to accept these “adult” responsibilities while denying these same people “adult” privileges.

There are those that claim that if we lower the drinking age to 18, it will allow even younger teens easier access to alcohol. I hate to break this to them, but I was drinking at the age of 16 when the legal drinking age was 21. It has also been reported that kids as young as 12 and 13 drink regularly at unsupervised underground parties. In fact, it is not uncommon on nearly every college campus in America to find underground parties where binge drinking is prevalent in the 18 to 20 demographic. After all, isn’t that the point? Drink as much as you can as quickly as you can and get as drunk as you can, because you don’t know when your next opportunity will come. Then comes the myriad of social and health problems associated with underground drinking - everything from date-rape to toxic-shock – and law enforcement is powerless to stop it unless it is reported.

Since we insist that our 18 to 20 year olds assume so many adult responsibilities, doesn’t it make sense to allow these same 18 to 20 year olds adult privileges? After all, they are subject to the same DUI and public intoxication laws that adults are, and, over time, these deterrents would prove just as effective. This would free up our law enforcement and allow them to concentrate on other, more serious and pressing issues within our communities. What’s more urgent? Using a dozen officers to break up an underground party or having those same 12 officers patrolling areas of the community where drug trafficking and violent crime is on the rise.

Society says that as parents, we should raise our children with a singular mind and a singular purpose. Shouldn’t we expect our government to treat our children the same way? As for me, when ever I see a soldier, I will gladly buy him a beer and toast to his good health and long life, regardless of his age; for not many of us “adults” would be willing to subject ourselves to the same experiences.

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