Minors Allowed to Purchase Alcohol in Birmingham Bars

Monica married her husband James when she was nineteen years old. The very next day, he traveled without her to a base in Alaska to become ready to enter Iraq and serve his country. Like many young soldiers serving in the military, he did this with bravery and courage beyond his years.

But being a minor at the age of nineteen still brings many limitations to the table, even if one is actively serving in the United States Army. For instance, a nineteen year old minor cannot legally purchase alcohol and consume it in a bar alongside paying adults, be they military personnel or not. Anyone under the age of twenty-one is considered a minor by law and cannot purchase or consume alcoholic beverages, even to drink in the privacy of their own home.

Or can they?

Military identification in hand, Monica and a group of friends, two of whom were also minors bearing military identification, paid the cover charge to enter a bar named Zack's located in Birmingham, Alabama. Being nineteen, minors are allowed to enter a bar or nightclub here in Jefferson County, but are given wristbands informing the bartender that they are not to be sold or served any alcoholic beverages. The law is very clear on the subject. Minors cannot purchase, consume, or acquire alcohol legally.

And in the past, Monica had used her Alabama State I.D. as a minor to enter clubs and order non-alcoholic beverages. But that night, Zack's bar gave the three minors who showed military identification a wristband permitting them to buy alcohol. Those in her group of friends who did not have military identification but who were also minors of the same age as Monica were not allowed to purchase alcohol. They were given the wristband minors entering a club are suppose to wear.

At the time, Monica did not realize that this illegal practice of selling alcohol to minors seems to be the norm in bars across Jefferson County. It was not until she questioned whether or not other bars and clubs would allow minors to purchase and consume alcohol that she found something she believed to be interesting. No bar she entered stopped her from purchasing alcohol if she showed her military identification, even though she was a minor.

To prove to herself that most local bars and clubs allowed minors to purchase alcohol if they presented military identification, Monica then visited a few of the same clubs during busy nights and showed only her Alabama State Identification. Being a minor without military identification, she was given a wristband that prohibited the bartender from selling her any alcoholic beverage.

A local club owner who wishes to remain anonymous was asked the question, "Why is the illegal act of selling alcohol to minors who are in the military such a common practice? Is it due to the old debate that states if someone is old enough to serve his or her country, he or she should be old enough to drink an alcoholic beverage?"

"Not at all," he answered. "This is a common thing because military folks drink a lot. When they come home from war, they want to get drunk. We let them get drunk. They spend a lot of money getting drunk."

The club owner went on to explain that normally the police do not arrest military servicemen and women who are drunk minors because they have served in the war. Therefore, as a bar owner, he is not worried about underage drinking by minors in the military.

"Arresting them would be like taking back a heroes' medal because his shoe is untied. It's just not the thing to do. It's just not a big deal that they are minors purchasing alcohol after the things they went and did over there for you and me. They want to get drunk. Big deal. They put their life on the line."