GIs in County Exempted From New Drinking Age Rule

Because the military brass would rather have servicemen under 21 years old drink on base rather than in Mexico, San Diego County Marine and Navy posts have been exempted from a Pentagon order directing that on-base drinking rules conform to state laws.

The order, designed to reduce the number of drinking-related fatalities among military personnel, goes into effect June 1. In most parts of the country, it spells the end to a longstanding military policy that allowed servicemen younger than most states’ legal drinking age of 21 to purchase alcoholic beverages at clubs and liquor stores on base.

But because the military bases in the San Diego area are within a one-hour drive of Tijuana, where the legal drinking age is 18, an exemption was granted for those in San Diego County.

The exemption was a relief to officials at Camp Pendleton, the largest Marine base in California, where, according to military statistics, 28,200 of the 37,700 personnel on base are younger than 21.

“Obviously, the Defense Department ruling is a smart one because, on a national scale, it will reduce the number of people with alcohol in their bloodstreams on the highways,” said Capt. Russ Thurman, a spokesman for Camp Pendleton.

“But the No. 1 question we had to ask ourselves was would our personnel make the effort to go to Mexico, where they would legally be able to purchase liquor. We’d rather they didn’t do that, but we know some of them would have made the trip. And if they did, because they couldn’t purchase liquor on base, the law would have the opposite effect of its intention.

“It would encourage servicemen to go to Mexico, where the bartenders want them to consume as much as possible. With the exemption, they would be allowed to drink 3.2 beer--they can get the harder stuff in Mexico--in an environment where someone surely will stop them if they drink too much.”

Under terms of the exemption, underage military personnel at San Diego County bases would be allowed to purchase only 3.2 beer, which is lower in alcohol content than regular beer, and sales would be limited to on-base clubs where the beverages must be consumed on the premises. Unlike at other bases in the country, underage personnel never were allowed to purchase alcohol at package stores at Camp Pendleton, Thurman said.

Master Chief Petty Officer Billy Kinder of the San Diego Naval Base said seven Navy bases in the county also have been granted the exemption. Those bases house 86,000 Navy personnel, about 20,000 of whom are younger than 21.

Tijuana has been off limits except during daylight hours to local Marine and Navy personnel since October, when the order was handed down following reports that servicemen were being harassed and subjected to extortion. Nevertheless, other nearby tourist attractions in Mexico can be visited by military personnel.

“Let’s face it, if they were forbidden from drinking here, they would go to Mexico if they could get there,” said Thurman. “We’d rather have them remain on base where we can control the situation better.”

Elsewhere in California, where there were no exemptions granted, the Pentagon order was meeting with mixed reviews.

June Thomas, manager of an enlisted men’s club at China Lake Naval Weapons Center, 125 miles north of Los Angeles, said underage military personnel at the base were angry about the policy.

“They feel if they’re old enough to serve their country, they’re old enough to drink beer,” Thomas said. “If they want it that bad, they’ll go get it. That’s what scares me. Here we are, putting them on the streets.”

At the Army’s Fort Irwin, near Victorville, Pfc. Roger Lawhorn said the order “is a good idea, because there are teen-agers nowadays that go out and get drunk and get themselves killed.”

But Spec. 4 Barbara Lettsone from the same base opposed the policy, saying it would “cause more accidents, because more people have to go off base to drink, then they have to drive back drunk.”