Dragonfighter wrote:A little OT, but when I was seventeen I used to run...a lot. I used to run occasionally with a DPS trooper in the neighborhood. He was the only one that could keep up with me on either my eight or ten mile days. I was do to go in in three months, he invited me in for a beer. I squirmed a little and he said that he figured if I was old enough to serve, I was old enough to have a beer.
I didn't quite get it then, I do now. Why can an eighteen year old (or even seventeen year old) be responsible enough to be set on the ground in foreign lands with arms, explosives and crypto yet not responsible enough to carry CCW after undergoing the training and background checks?
Because those 17 and 18 year olds are not at all trusted. They're treated like children. When they go to the bathroom, what clothes they wear, what they eat and when, what haircut they'll have, and every other aspect of their life is strictly controlled to create uniformity and that external control on every detail is only loosened (somewhat) after a sufficient period to create internal conformity to the unit as a whole. At that point, minor variations are acceptable and more freedom is given, but the reigns are still held tightly and all actions must conform to an understood norm. Any variation from that norm and the control is quickly and strictly exerted again in order to cause the person to return to uniformity.
Listen to the talk of any one who has been in the military for 10 or more years and they'll tell you loudly that they themselves don't trust the 18-21 year olds. The caste system is alive and well in our military. The officers have separate housing, restaurants, facilities, etc while the "kids" are allowed to go "play" after their "chores" are done. Ironically, many sources say the 18-21 demographic is the most populated age range in the military.
I very much respect all who are serving as well as their families who sacrifice so much so that they can serve our nation. From a purely philosophical standpoint, the quotes I read here on gun control and societal control by Lenin and Mao very much apply to the culture under which our military is run. The high ups want complete allegiance, uniformity, and to know that orders will be followed unquestioningly. They turn a blind eye at frat-boy type behaviors which propagate the parent-child relationship dynamic while they shut down every avenue of possible disunity from originality and free thinking including the almost complete barring of firearms ownership/use. The irony of soldiers being stripped of numerous rights including the RKBA in order to defend our right to do so is sad, at the least. I wonder what the military brass would say if confronted with that if they were answering honestly. How they're responding to the issue of DADT right now gives us a view into their thinking on topics which can cause disunity. IIRC, all of the military brass say that they can't afford the upheaval it would cause for people to have to face this. They don't care what people's positions or orientations are; they only care that there is a vocal disunity on the topic. People fighting for their own causes instead of for the unit's. Lack of uniformity. They can't function with free thinkers, no matter what the cause.
Restoring full gun rights to 18-20 year old military members, or any military members, encompasses a lot more than a Constitutional argument on the 2nd Amendment. It strikes at the heart of how our entire military is run.
Regardless of age, those serving in the military should have all of the rights and privileges of a U.S. citizen. 
