Free Republic

While I am optimistic about our Commander-in-Chief’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, I voted against the Continuing Appropriations Resolution 2015 that would grant the President the authority to provide funds to train and arm Syrian rebels against the enemy. I opposed the amendment because I strongly believe amassing additional debt to go to war should involve all of America debating the matter. That is why I have called for levying a war tax in addition to bringing back the military draft. Both the war surcharge and conscription will give everyone in America a real stake...

Michael Sam, who became the first openly gay football player to be drafted by an NFL team, has made waves in just three preseason games. But on a surprisingly deep St. Louis roster, Sam's spot is hardly guaranteed. "He’s no different than any other late-round pick or college free agent that we have. He’s just trying to make this team,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said in his office the other day. “We have a reality that we can only keep so many players at that position. Is he better than that fourth or fifth defensive end? Right now, I can’t...

Are you a man born in Pennsylvania between 1893 and 1897? If so, a government agency may have just reminded you to register for the draft. The Selective Service System, which keeps a roster of potential men who can be enlisted in the military, inadvertently sent out mailings to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania men born in those years, reminding them to register. These letters were sent due to a computer error, the agency said in a message posted online, and the Selective Service has apologized to the families who have received these letters. The problem occurred following an automated data...

No, the United States isn’t trying to build a military force of centenarians. It just seems that way after the Selective Service System mistakenly sent notices to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania men born between 1893 and 1897, ordering them to register for the nation’s military draft and warning that failure to do so is “punishable by a fine and imprisonment.” The agency realized the error when it began receiving calls from bewildered relatives last week. Chuck Huey, 73, of Kingston, said he got a notice addressed to his late grandfather Bert Huey, a World War I veteran who was born...

No, the United States isn't trying to build a military force of centenarians. It just seems that way after the Selective Service System mistakenly sent notices to more than 14,000 Pennsylvania men born between 1893 and 1897, ordering them to register for the nation's military draft and warning that failure to do so is "punishable by a fine and imprisonment." The agency realized the error when it began receiving calls from bewildered relatives last week.

‘Was He Worth It?” blared the cover of Time magazine, as if that should be the question Americans ask in light of the release of Bowe Bergdahl after five years of brutal captivity by the Taliban. No, the question we should be asking is a version of the one Pope Francis made famous in a different context: “Who Are We To Judge?” Who are we, in the safety of our civilian homes, to judge whether an American soldier captured overseas is worthy of rescue? Who are we to decide whether, somehow, the fact that he was imprisoned for so many...

Saving energy is not an easy task but how do the Boeing engineers do it? The answer is flying above you.

Could Johnny Football ditch the pads and cleats for a future on the diamond as Johnny Baseball? Probably not. But he might want to consider it. The Cleveland Browns quarterback was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 28th round (No. 837 overall) of the 2014 MLB Draft Saturday. Manziel was listed as a shortstop for Texas A&M, although he hasn't stepped foot on the baseball diamond since his junior year of high school. Apparently, he was a pretty decent infielder and even talked to Texas A&M baseball coaches about joining the team in 2012.

see link to see who your ball club drafted today...

Last January 2013, then Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, ordered the Joint Chiefs of Staff to study the feasibility of opening all military jobs to women by 2016. This would include more than 200,000 jobs that make up the core of the ground-level combat force in the Army and the Marine Corps. Opponents of women in combat argue, rightly in my opinion, that the military's physical standards must not be compromised to expand access because our military's fighting effectiveness is at stake. Hauling 50 pounds of equipment while walking 20 miles is a standard that must not be demoted as it...

Michael Sam, who became the first openly gay football player drafted on Saturday in the seventh round, believes he should have been drafted in the first three rounds.

The NFL draft — the league’s Radio City-staged, nationally televised, endlessly hyped off-season spectacle — opens Thursday night, and for the first time an openly gay player will be waiting for a phone call. But it could be a long wait for Michael Sam, the University of Missouri defender and all-American who came out in February. Draft analysts say he might not be selected until the last picks are made on Saturday — and perhaps not at all. If that happens, Sam could still sign with a team as an undrafted free agent and play on Sundays this fall. But...

<p>After the big names are off the board in the NFL Draft, the biggest question may not be when Michael Sam will be picked, it may be whether Michael Sam will be picked at all. Despite being named the Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC, Sam’s underwhelming physical measurables and his lack of a defined role in defenses could prevent him from being the first openly gay player selected in the draft.</p>

Just breaking on AFP. More as it becomes available.

Mounting tension in the Crimea is prompting calls for compulsory military service to be reintroduced in Germany. A number of German ex-generals have raised fears over the nation’s military strength should it be drawn into a NATO-led conflict. “We need compulsory military service. There is no other way for Germany to guarantee national defense within the [NATO] mutual defense alliance,” retired NATO general Egon Ramms told Bild newspaper. “[It certainly can’t be done] on a voluntary basis.” Ramms was commander of the Allied Joint Forces Command between 2007 and 2010, one of the highest-ranking positions in the NATO alliance. …

Ten city blocks of Manhattan became a river of black Sunday as 50,000 dark-clad ultra-Orthodox Jews took to the streets to protest Israel's proposal to force their young boys into its army. The gathering took up a stretch of Water Street, with demonstrators standing behind police barricades amid tight security as they prayed in solidarity with their brethren in Israel. 'These kids, a lot of them don't know how to hold a gun. They don't know what physical warfare is,' said Long Island rabbinical student Shmuel Gruis.

Trent Richardson has become the cautionary tale for NFL teams using first-round picks on running backs. The days of the first-round running back aren't dead, but 2014 could be the second straight year no backs are selected in Round 1 after at least one had been taken in the first round in the previous 50 years. It's not that the running game is dead in the NFL, as some would have you believe. The Seattle Seahawks' offense was fueled by the run, as was that of the San Francisco 49ers. Successful teams such as the Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots,...

Today is the day the Syfy channel has it's annual Twilight Zone marathon. I just watched the 1963 episode "In Praise Of Pip", which has the Vietnam war as its background. I got to thinking of those times (I was 13 then) and the fact that I knew several guys of draft age that got MARRIED pretty much to get out of going over there because they weren't taking married men then. I can't remember anyone who thought that getting married to avoid the draft was a particularly bad idea back then. Weird huh?

At this time of Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the U.S. military — not just for the usual reason that it protects us from our foes but also because it has the potential to save us from ourselves. As I make my rounds each day in the capital, chronicling our leaders’ plentiful foibles, failings, screw-ups, inanities, outrages and overall dysfunction, I’m often asked if there’s anything that could clean up the mess. My usual answer is a shrug and an admission that there’s no silver bullet. There are many possibilities — campaign spending limits, term limits, nonpartisan primaries, nonpartisan redistricting, a...

Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said that for various reasons Russia will not switch to a fully professional armed forces in the foreseeable future, but soon conscripts will no longer be used in combat missions. Speaking in a televised interview on the Rossiya-2 television, Shoigu noted that Russia’s vast territory was the main reason for keeping the military draft. “To have a purely professional army, our territory is too big. We have to have the opportunity for mobilization” the minister said. The official explained that the top military command had already taken the decision to create a permanent mobilization reserve...