Bill Text: HI SCR39 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The United States Congress To Raise The Minimum Age For Military Combat Service To Twenty-one Years Of Age.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-11 - Referred to PSM. [SCR39 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-SCR39-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	39
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO RAISE THE MINIMUM AGE FOR MILITARY COMBAT SERVICE TO TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE.

 

 

     WHEREAS, young adults are eligible to enlist in the United States Armed Forces at eighteen years of age, or seventeen years of age, with parental permission; and

 

     WHEREAS, neuroscience shows that adolescents' brains continue to develop until approximately twenty-five years of age, with the prefrontal cortex developing last; and

 

     WHEREAS, the prefrontal cortex is responsible for impulse control, problem solving, and the ability to understand long-term consequences; and

 

     WHEREAS, until the prefrontal cortex is fully developed, adolescent brains operate primarily from the amygdala, which is associated with emotion, aggression, and impulsive behavior; and

 

     WHEREAS, based on these developmental milestones, adolescent military recruits may not be neurologically equipped or sufficiently experienced to make life-or-death decisions in combat situations; and

 

     WHEREAS, new recruits may need additional training to allow them to become quick-thinking leaders in volatile and unexpected situations; and

 

     WHEREAS, raising the minimum age for combat eligibility would provide the military services the opportunity to better train young recruits and to prepare them for battlefield realities, including the possibility of injury, capture, or death; and

 

     WHEREAS, providing additional training for young recruits would help the military services develop a ready pool of well-prepared, fully-capable, and combat-ready forces; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the House of Representatives concurring, that the United States Congress is urged to raise the minimum age for military combat service to twenty-one years of age; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and all members of the United States Congress.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Military Service; Minimum Combat Age; Twenty-One