(U-WIRE) IOWA CITY, Iowa – Despite the right to sign a lease, vote for the president, and lay their lives on the line, one thing 18-year-olds legally cannot do is have a beer.

New Hampshire state Rep. Jim Splaine wants to change that for a special sector of 18-year-olds in his state.

The Democrat has sponsored a bill to lower the legal drinking age for military personnel to 18, arguing that the United States is “disrespecting” the young men and women who are sent into harm’s way by not allowing them a glass of wine before they leave for war.

“This is not a way to reward or thank the troops,” Splaine said on Monday.

But the military does not seek such special accommodations, an official representing Iowa soldiers said on Monday.

“We wear the uniform to protect the rights of all people,” said Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, the public-affairs officer for the Iowa National Guard. “We don’t want to be treated any differently.”

The bill, if approved, will only affect people in New Hampshire, and an Iowa lawmaker said on Monday he would be surprised if similar legislation would pass in this state.

A recent caucus in Des Moines did not indicate that lowering the drinking age would be a priority for state lawmakers, said Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville.

“I don’t see a political will to lower the drinking age to 18,” he said.

But Splaine argues that if 18-year-olds are being taught to use a weapon, they should be able to consume alcohol responsibly. In fact, he believes all adults should be able to legally drink but said he can only do one thing at a time.

Setting the drinking age set at 21 “makes alcohol a forbidden fruit,” he said.

“We are creating a generation of criminals,” he said, adding that young people drink regardless of the laws on the books.

Lowering the drinking age to 18 would provide the needed alcohol education to people that age, because they would then be able to drink in a safer environment, Splaine argued.

“I don’t buy into that logic,” Jacoby said. “There are other ways of getting alcohol education to people other than automatically legalizing [the drinking age] to 18.”

Mary Khowassah, a co-chairwoman of the Stepping Up Project, said, “Drinking increases as accessibility increases.” She added that making both access to alcohol easier and legal for 18-year-olds will result in more drinking.

Though 18 was the legal drinking age when Jacoby was growing up, the representative said it is difficult for him to say whether the current drinking age should be lowered again.

The debate that surfacing in New Hampshire is a parallel to the question raised when soldiers returned from fighting in the Vietnam War, Jacoby said.

“We’ve tapped into a 35-year-old question,” he said.

The legal drinking age is both a matter of public safety and government intrusion, he said, and lawmakers have to decide on an age of maturity that is consistent across the board.

Splaine’s New Hampshire bill is scheduled to be presented at a legislative session on Jan. 4, 2006.

-Amanda Masker