Just turned 21... What'd you do for your 21st birthday?

calberto

calberto

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Calberto
Title explains itself. I've had a few beers. What'd you do?
 
Drove 6 older brothers home because I was the only one in any condition to drive! :)

(1980)
 
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What or Who did I do?

I think it was Miller High Life and Theresa.
 
Flew balsa wood airplanes with my three year old son
 
Dec 3, 1973,,, in the Navy, wife, daughter, rented house,
shopping at the Safeway,,
I Bought a Quart of Brown Derby Beer,
Legally!!

18 and better could already drink beer in the club on base,, so no real big deal.
 
Drinking age was 18 when I turned 21. No, that's not true, I don't know that there was a drinking age for service members stationed in Germany.
 
I worked and then had a beer at a restaurant. Later, on the weekend, I threw a big party and we emptied a keg. I was living at home, while going to school, but my mom said I could have the party, if I limited myself to two beers, so my friends bought me the biggest beer glass I have ever seen... At least I didn't have to drive.
 
I don't remember. I don't recall 21 being a big deal back then. The drinking age was 18, so that was more the symbolic "right-of passage" age of adulthood.

In my case, however, because I'd joined the military when I was 17, even 18 wasn't that big a deal. Back then at least, 17-year-olds who were in the service were considered adults, treated as adults, afforded all the privileges of adults (at least on-station), and expected to behave as adults; so 18 was pretty much just another day.

Happy birthday! :cheerswine:

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
I don't remember. I don't recall 21 being a big deal back then. The drinking age was 18, so that was more the symbolic "right-of passage" age of adulthood.

In my case, however, because I'd joined the military when I was 17, even 18 wasn't that big a deal. Back then at least, 17-year-olds who were in the service were considered adults, treated as adults, afforded all the privileges of adults (at least on-station), and expected to behave as adults; so 18 was pretty much just another day.

Happy birthday! :cheerswine:

Rich
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That's pretty much how I remembered it.
 
I went out to a college town, got a whole bunch of free drinks, then when home to hang out on the bathroom floor for a little while. The worst part is that I remember absolutely everything. Don't do what I did.
 
Back in the '70's in my hometown (Ste. Genevieve, MO; a little German Catholic town) if your balls were big enough to belly up to the bar, then they'd serve you. And there was a bar on every corner (literally).

At 16 I was bellying up to the bar. They'd only serve you a couple, but they'd serve you.

Times have definitely changed, and not necessarily for the better in some aspects.
 
Some friends and I were working at the shop on our vehicles. I think I was fixing my trailer that had blown a bearing and needed a new axle.

Midnight hit, I said "Hey, I'm 21. Time to go buy alcohol." Went and got a 6 pack of Smirnoff Ice as I recall (I liked that in those days) which we shared.

Yeah, I'm boring.
 
rachelk.tailwinds said:
I went out to a college town, got a whole bunch of free drinks, then when home to hang out on the bathroom floor for a little while. The worst part is that I remember absolutely everything. Don't do what I did.
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Commode hugger eh? :D
 
Where I was, the drinking age was 18. Til I turned 18, then it was upped to 19! Uneffingbelievable!

Well, not really. I'd done most of my bad-boy stuff by then, and drinking was really not much of a milestone or a joy. Actually, I had a fresh private at 18, and was busy juggling 4 jobs to pay for gas, plus a ton of extracurricular sports at school.
 
Flew to Grandby with my girlfriend for a nice breakfast. Range in the afternoon since I could now legally buy handgun ammo.
 
TDY to Kadena, 1975; started at the Velvet Hammer, then into the Bush. Blood was shed. . .several more stops. Some time spent in wooden tubs, in hot water, with beer and girls. Pretty sure they were girls, anyway. Certain it was beer, though.

Back to the Hammer, arm wrestling with a Marine, then an in-door pick-up rugby scrum, USMC vs USAF. We lost. Japanese police arrived, some of them in those Astro-boy outfits (Motorcyle cops, those, I think). Not a good greeting: "You're not that short, we're just tall!"

Of note - talk to a JAG before accepting an Article 15; they may just apologize to the locals and send your butt to Diego Garcia for 89 days. Then back to Travis for a cup of coffee, then off to Guam for 89 days.

Also, unlike the movies, a chair may not break when you are struck with it, though a couple fingers on your left hand might.
 
Probably drank too much beer and choked my chicken.
 
RJM62 said:
I don't remember. I don't recall 21 being a big deal back then. The drinking age was 18, so that was more the symbolic "right-of passage" age of adulthood.

SNIP

Happy birthday! :cheerswine:
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Exactly, 18 was the magic number. Spring of my HS senior year.
By 21, I was a rated pilot, married, graduating college and headed off to my first full time employment.
 
That was 43 years ago. I really don't remember. And that has nothing to do with how much I may have drunk. We might have been skiing and I had a beer or two that evening. Too many years ago.
 
Ghery said:
That was 43 years ago. I really don't remember. And that has nothing to do with how much I may have drunk. We might have been skiing and I had a beer or two that evening. Too many years ago.
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I recently found you on FB and I wouldn't have guessed that 21 would have been that many years ago.
 
I didn't realize how many veterans we had on here! Thanks everyone who served our country, and gave up having the stereotypical 21st birthday and sacrificing so many other things.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Where I was, the drinking age was 18. Til I turned 18, then it was upped to 19! Uneffingbelievable!
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We must be about the same age because that's what happened to me. I was legal at 18, but that only lasted a few months because Texas changed it to 19. So I had to wait a few months until my next b-day to become legal again.
 
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