h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just bounced over to one of the links. It defines child soldier as anyone under the age of 18. While the examples it illustrates are pretty offensive, not all everyone who fits that definition is in a bad situation.

I was a child soldier. In the United States, you can enlist in the military when you're 17 with your parents permission. I enlisted at the veneralble age of 17 year, 2 months, 24 days. It was one of the best moves I made in my life. While there weren't many of us, there was a guy who was younger than me in my basic training platoon.

In some places in the United States a 17 year old is considered an adult. For the most part, they have the same rights as any other resident of their state (We can't drink in the United States before turning 21).

I think that deserves some recognition when we're accussed of enlisting, imprisoning, or executing children. Under our law, they're not necisarily children.

Hi Two Bit,

Actually, that's not my link. I agree that you can't select an arbitrary age and say that you're a child the day before you reach that age but an adult the following day. I also am not sure that it's an appropirate link for an entry exploring the origins of anti-child abuse laws in the United States and UK.

The three links at the bottom of the entry were added by the kind folks in the towers.

NBY

I know. I tired to find another place to put it, but there wasn't an entry on it. I thought right after the link would be the best place to put the conversation.

It wasn'ta reaction to the article. I liked the article and the story. I'm a big fan of creative use of the law. I've done some of it myself. I can't think of a better cause to use it in.

If you don't want me commenting on the child sodliers under your article, that's fine. I just thought it was the best place.

Comment away!

If you can get a discussion going with some folks besides me, I'm all for it. Having no military experience at all, I just don't feel qualified to discuss this with you myself.

NBY

I think that the age of adulthood varies by culture and custom. For instance, in Georgia, a person becomes an adult at age 17. A 17 year old has the rights and provileges of an adult, therefore she faces the responsibilities of an adult.

I don't know what the circumstances are in many of the third world nations that the Child Soldiers article was refering to. If a person can take on the mantle of adult responsibilities and rights, then I think it should be up to them to choose whether or not they want to fight.

I don't know what there is to do in these societies either. Growing up without school or the rights of adulthood sounds pretty boring to me. I joined the Army at 17 because that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to do it as soon as possible. I didn't really see the value of the public school education I was getting. So the Army was a good way to jump start my adulthood.

As a practicle matter, there should be a dividing line between adulthood and childhood. It may very well be an arbitray age. It could be a cermony. Who knows. In large socieites, I don't think we track progress individually. We need some kind of divider.

As an aside, I am opposed to all forms of conscription.

You can join the army at 16 in the UK.