The Germans didn't back the U.S. war in Iraq, but a German brewery is treating American sailors and soldiers to beer. Munich-based Spaten, one of the world's oldest breweries, is donating 600 cases of lager to each branch of the U.S. military for personnel who fought in the war. Navy Capt. Terry McKnight, commanding officer of the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, said Wednesday that his sailors would have no qualms about drinking brew from a country that refused to join coalition forces in the invasion of Iraq. "A cold beer is a cold beer," McKnight said.
Donald C. Bennett, a selectee for chief petty officer who came to a Norfolk Naval Station loading dock to claim four cases for his crew on the submarine Montpelier, agreed: "We're happy to drink it all."
However, there is one small problem that Louis Sieb, president of Spaten North America, did not consider when he came up with the idea. The average sailor is 20. Legal drinking age is 21. "They give up everything, right? They put their lives on the line, right? And they can't drink beer? Still, a good thing, I think," Sieb said.
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