A Letter to Congress
Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer:
Today the New York Times printed pictures of the one thousand American soldiers killed so far in Afghanistan. A surprising number of these young men and women were only 18 or 19 years of age.
We know from the work of neuropsychologists over the past decade that the human brain is not developed enough to make mature decisions before the early to mid-twenties. And this has led to proposals to raise the age requirement for drivers licenses, as well as the age at which someone can be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.
Clearly the decision whether to enter the military should not be made by those whose brains are not mature enough to handle such a fateful decision. What we are doing, in effect, is taking advantage of these young men. That, in itself, is unethical. But when the consequences for some of them is death, I believe it is criminal.
I hope you will consider raising this issue with your colleagues. No enlistments should be permitted below an age that our neuroscientists agree makes a mature decision possible.
— James W. Syfers