FORT BLISS, Texas - This military base in the far West Texas desert stood as the last Army post in America where if you were old enough to fight and die for your country, you were old enough to drink a beer. But the party is over at Fort Bliss.
Citing too many drunken-driving crashes and arrests and too many fights, the new commanding general has raised the drinking age on base from 18 to 21, bringing 17,000-soldier Fort Bliss into line with what has been the law in the rest of Texas since 1986.
And not only that, but all Fort Bliss soldiers are barred from slipping across the Mexican border to Ciudad Juarez, the city of famously loose morals where young Americans have been getting drunk — and getting into trouble — for generations. From now on, no passes to Juarez will be issued. The new policy took effect May 22.
Pfc. Walter Iverson, a babyfaced 19-year-old, said he will miss grabbing a beer after work: "It's like my parents say, I'm old enough to join the Army, but I'm not old enough to drink."