Reply To: If you can go to war at 18, you should be able to drink at 18

The military probably prefers the younger recruits – they are more likely to be molded and influenced by their superiors, making a better soldier who will do as he is told and take orders without question. The older and more educated, and more opinionated the recruit is, the harder it will be to train him. So it’s not about trusting him with a weapon, it’s about the ability to turn him into a non-thinking, follow-orders soldier.