Base commander praised for decision

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 6/2/2008 9:00:00 AMvar addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';

The commanding general of a Texas military post has raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 years -- and the decision is drawing praise from a military watchdog group.

Fort Bliss sits in the far West Texas desert near El Paso, and not too far from the Mexican border. Up until just recently, it stood as the last Army post in America that permitted individuals who were old enough to serve in the military to also drink a beer.
 
But citing the prevalence of fights, arrests, and drunk-driving accidents, the new commanding general has raised the drinking age to 21 years, bringing the post in line with what has been the law in Texas since 1986.
 
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, says Major General Howard Bromberg made the right decision. "When you deal with those kinds of problems with regular-age drinkers, that's one thing," she continues. "But underage drinkers -- they become even worse because of ... the lack of maturity."
 
And Donnelly says she understands why soldiers at Fort Bliss are also now being barred from slipping across the border to Juarez, Mexico. "In the military, people are dealing with weapons systems. They have to have training that is very seriously done in a matter of a few weeks," she points out.
 
Donnelly says their mission needs to be taken seriously, and going across the border to Mexico to drink alcohol would defeat that purpose.