Free Republic

Ukraine's Western allies are not imposing new sanctions on Russia in part because of Kyiv's refusal to lower the mobilization age to 18, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Valasz Online published on June 10. With the start of thefull-scale invasion, Ukraine updated its mobilization legislation and lowered the minimum age for compulsory military service from 27 to 25. Yet, some partners, includingthe U.S., still criticize Kyiv for setting the age threshold too high. "I do not believe that we should mobilize people from the age of 18, as the leaders of other countries have thought,"Zelensky said. "However,...

Germany may reinstate compulsory military service if a revamped volunteer system fails to meet recruitment goals, the defense minister said in comments published Saturday. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Boris Pistorius laid out a timeline for Germany’s new military service model, which aims to bolster the understrength army. The initial program will rely on voluntary enlistment, but Pistorius warned that could change. "If the time comes when we have more capacity available than voluntary registrations, then a decision may be made to make recruitment mandatory. That is the roadmap," he said. He said the government of Chancellor...

U.S. service members who are transgender or otherwise exhibit gender dysphoria are prohibited from military service unless they obtain an exemption, according to an internal Pentagon memo. The memo, revealed in a court filing on Wednesday night, details the Trump administration's new policy regarding transgender individuals. The policy notes that such service members "may be considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling Government interest." "Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are disqualified from military service," the memo reads. "Service members who have a...

As soon as I heard Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance smearing the military service of his opponent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, all I could think was: Seriously? Are we really doing this again? Are we really going to allow Republicans — who are freaking out now that their presumed glide path back to the White House has become a very bumpy road — to slime Walz the way they slimed Vietnam veteran John Kerry 20 years ago? “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did?” Vance said last week...

Retired Minnesota National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Behrends slammed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate on the 2024 ticket, Saturday on “Fox and Friends Weekend” for misleading voters about his military service. Walz’s claims about his military service and the timing of his 2005 retirement have come under fire since Vice President Kamala Harris announced him as her running mate Tuesday. The Harris-Walz campaign website has since corrected its original language calling Walz a “retired command sergeant major” to saying he “served as a commend sergeant major.” Behrends ripped into Walz for being an “unforgivable coward”...

Ohio Senator JD Vance is being attacked for his military record after he criticized that of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the recently announced running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris. Speaking to reporters in Michigan on Wednesday, Donald Trump's running mate accused Walz of "stolen valor," of having "lied" about serving in a war and of "abandoning" his unit...... Vance himself served in the Marine Corps for four years, and he also never saw combat. He worked as a combat correspondent in Iraq between August 2005 and February 2006. The senator has now been widely condemned for attacking Walz's military...

House of Representatives passed a measure on Friday automatically registering men aged 18 to 26 for selective service. It was part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets out the U.S. government’s military and national security priorities over the next fiscal year. This year's NDAA authorizes $895.2 billion in military spending, a $9 billion increase from fiscal 2024. While it hasn’t been invoked in over half a century, it’s mandatory for all male U.S. citizens to register for the selective service, also known as the military draft, when they turn 18. Failure to register is classified as...

A majority of American adults would not be willing to serve in the military were the U.S. to enter into a major war, recent polling has found, while public confidence in the armed forces appears to be waning.The figures come as all branches of the armed forces have in recent years struggled to meet their recruitment targets, suggesting a growing apathy towards a career of military service. In 2023, the Army and Air Force fell short of their respective goals by around 10,000 recruits, while the Navy was under by 6,000. Since 1987, the number of active-duty personnel has fallen...

As remarkable as her surgery sounds, she isn’t the oldest Israeli recipient of a pacemaker. Over the last decade, Atar’s team has placed pacemakers inside the bodies of at least three others older than 100. The eldest was 107.... Doctors judge according to biological age, and not chronological age, considering factors like a clear mind, lifestyle and diet, normal or low blood pressure, kidney function, the absence or not of diabetes. “All are predictors of longevity,” said Atar ... “May you live until 120” is a traditional Jewish birthday blessing, and Israelis already enjoy one of the longest life expectancies...

As the US military struggles to fill the ranks with new recruits, a new report from the Department of Defense reveals that the vast majority of Americans aged 17-24 are unfit for military service.Citing a Feb. 16 congressional hearing, a DoD report reveals that 77% of Americans in the above age group could not physically qualify to enter the armed forces - a 6% increase from 2017.A key factor is obesity - which hit nearly 42% in 2020. Meanwhile, a 2022 study cited by the Epoch Times found a link between receiving government food assistance and a greater chance of...

There are lies, damned lies, and MSNBC. On Nicolle Wallace's MSNBC show this afternoon, MSNBC contributor and journalism professor Jason Johnson got off the whopper to end all whoppers. He said: "If you believe the story, which I do, that [Biden] said, I had no intention of running for president. He was, he was the retired war hero out in the mountain, chopping wood. Charlottesville brought him back into the fight that he never thought he'd have to fight again." Fact: Biden never served in the military, let alone having been a "war hero." He got four draft deferments for...

A couple years ago, I took a red-eye flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to London. Standing in line to board, I suddenly spied one of our nation’s most notorious military leaders, David Petraeus. “King David,” as he was known during his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, curiously walked up to an empty kiosk not far from the gate where we were boarding for London.Within less than a minute, an attendant appeared and started checking him in, ostensibly for our flight. Special service for the former commander, I thought. “Look,” I exclaimed to those nearest to me in line....

When I graduated from college, I decided to serve too. I was first recruited for the Marine Corps in the fall of 1975, right when Hillary Clinton claims to have wanted to join the Marines. I began Officer Candidate School with Company C in Quantico, Virginia the next year. It was the first female class required to do everything that men did, which led to being featured on the cover of Life Magazine. Although a medical issue kept me from completing my training and becoming a Marine officer, my experience doesn’t jibe with the yarn which Hillary Clinton has been...

The defense secretary has an incredible opportunity to usher in the end of legalized sex discrimination in the military. As tens of thousands of women have proved over 13 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, women are capable of the combat skills necessary to fight alongside their male counterparts. The question now is whether to give women the opportunity to compete for coveted combat arms assignments, such as infantry and special forces. Since the Pentagon formally rescinded the combat exclusion policy in 2013, well over 100 women have successfully passed the Marine Corps’ enlisted infantry school and two female...

Actor Gary Sinise said there is a “serious disconnect” between the average American citizen and its military, emphasizing the need to educate the public about lasting effects of war. “Education, as I was saying, is such a critically important part of letting our young people understand why it’s important to support this 0.1 percent of our population that serves in the military. It’s a very, very small percentage of over 300 million people serving in uniform, defending our country,” Sinise said at the National Press Club. “A lot of young people, if they don’t have a personal connection to somebody...

Here’s a disturbing new idea from some members of Congress: Trade instant citizenship to illegal immigrants if they’ll agree to serve in the U.S. military. Serving in the military is a high calling and a privilege—certainly not something to be treated as a bargaining chip in immigration politics. Yet these congressmen are trying to sneak this provision into the larger National Defense Authorization Act, which lays out the budget for the Department of Defense. What’s more, the immigrants in question would be those who are brought to the U.S. as children—often called DREAMers (after the Development, Relief, and Education for...

When Rabbi David Stav launched his official campaign last month to wrest control of Israel's top religious institution from its longtime hardline leadership, it was a long shot. >>SNIP<< Stav, a 53-year-old father of nine, heads a private network of modern Orthodox rabbis that is virtually an alternative organization to Israel's state-sanctioned rabbinical bureaucracy. It seeks to put a friendly face on Jewish traditions for secular Israeli Jews alienated by the ultra-Orthodox functionaries that regulate religious services. The organization, called Tzohar, has gained popularity among secular Israelis with its program that sends rabbis free of charge to officiate at weddings....

There are too many white men in the U.S. military. So says a report released this week by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission (MLDC), commissioned by Congress to examine ways to "increase diversity" in the military. The MLDC report finds that 77% of active-duty senior officers are white, 8% black, 5% Hispanic, and 16% women (of unspecified race). What's the answer to this "problem"? Is the MLDC recommending that white males stop volunteering for military service? Do they want to start "selecting" who among them volunteers for service? Are they recommending that there be quotas for military service, as with...

The Absurdity of Existence by Ari Bussel It is hot and humid in Israel, the atmosphere pressures all those in this land. Better days are in store and fall will arrive, clouds will fly in from the Mediterranean inland toward Jordan, the temperatures will drop and life will look good once again. Midday on Friday, the country closes down for the Shabbat. In Tel Aviv, young people converge on a bar. Once inside darkness engulfs young men and women with balloons flying overhead. People are smoking and everyone seems to be holding a glass. It is a tasting event of...

It is always dangerous when a politician “goes off script.” Sometimes the truth comes out, like Barak Obama talking to Joe the Plumber about “spreading the wealth around. “ Sometimes, things go a little aglee, leaving the candidate with egg on their face, like every other time that Joseph Biden opens his mouth. And sometimes… sometimes things go very wrong indeed…