Should the age of enlistment into the Military be raised?

Should the enlistment age in the army be raised from 17 with parental consent, or 18 without consent?

The age of combat deaths has decreased in recent wars according to a review by Military Times Of the book “Only the Young Shall Die” by Peter Polack and Jack McCain.
From Civil War times when the age was 26 to the Vietnam War, when the average age of soldiers killed in action had declined to 23 years, with twenty percent of those killed less than twenty years old.

in WWI and WWII many accounts report that those wanting to join the fight lied about their age, but that smaller statistic is not representative of the whole picture.

As seen in the graph, the U.S. branches of service have different age limit enlistment ages.

The argument that those who die in war are younger than the 21 year old allowable age for drinking has long been debated as a double standard without much luck.

“The compelling necessity to raise the enlistment age takes on a new urgency in a world awash with demonstrations and protesters often facing the military. The only thing more dangerous than a young soldier in Afghanistan is a too young soldier in a city protest. The general public should consider the likely age of the military confronting them on their next peaceful march and whether they would prefer confrontation with enlisted personnel of similar age rather than an armed teenager, “ the intro to the book states.

The flip side, some argue, is that drafting into the Army at 18 would force those immature and aimless teens to shape up and understand authority. The military can fix them, and the younger the better, according to that argument. Reinstating the draft would help fix the problem of irresponsible youth, some argue, but efforts made to reinstate the draft fall short without imminent threat and necessity.

For the rest of the Intro and Military Times review visit HERE