Free Republic

By now, every political commentator has offered a suggestion for how Donald Trump ended up as president of these United States. Few have missed their targets as badly as Damon Linker's most recent offering, which suggests that we could have avoided President Trump if only the government had remained committed, for the past 40-plus years, to a policy that forced young Americans to die in foreign wars. Linker, a senior correspondent at The Week, suggests that historians will ultimately trace the rise of Trump to the decline in social cohesion that began, yes, with the abolition of military conscription in...

Military investigators in South Korea identified a group of 12 students in a Seoul university, who made a coordinated effort to gain weight to become ineligible for mandatory military service. Those involved could face jail time. South Korea has some of the strictest rules about mandatory service. Every young man has to complete his service, with exemptions given to very few, such as people with debilitating conditions or Olympic medalists. For example, being a K-pop idol would not spare one from undertaking military service, so fans of bands such as BTS compile lengthy charts to track when this or that...

South Korea’s culture minister put an end to the debate surrounding whether BTS members would be exempted from military service during a parliamentary audit Wednesday. “All of the BTS members say they will definitely enlist for military service,” said Do Jong-hwan who heads the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. His remarks came as Rep. Cho Kyung-tae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party had asked about Do’s stance on the recent contentious issue: whether BTS members should be granted conscription exemptions on the grounds of the band’s flourishing music career. The debate was initially sparked by a lawmaker...

By now, most people in South Korea know the national team’s victory over Japan in the Asian Games football tournament secured not just the gold medal, but also an exemption from military service for Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min. The win also brought global attention to a simmering social and political issue in South Korea. All male South Koreans aged 18 to 35 undertake mandatory military service. Most start in their early 20s, disrupting tertiary education or postponing career entry. For most, mandatory military service includes five weeks of boot camp, and around two years of mind-numbing battalion boredom, indoctrination, and...

South Korea may seek to revise its military exemption programme for athletes amid calls for stricter rules after the country’s soccer and baseball teams earned the reward with gold medals at the Asian Games over the weekend. Military service is a highly contentious issue in South Korea, where all able-bodied men must complete about 21 months of service as part of efforts to maintain a deterrent against the North. Exemptions are offered to athletes who win titles at the Asian Games or medals of any colour at the Olympics, however, and Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min along with his teammates...

Tottenham fans are celebrating after their star forward Son Heung-min secured an exemption from military service by winning gold at the Asian Games - but we doubt their celebrations matched the joyous scenes among the South Korea players and staff. South Korea beat Japan 2-1 in an extra time thriller this Saturday meaning the entire team will not need to spend nearly two years in the military. After a goalless 90 minutes, three goals were scored in extra time. South Korea opened the scoring, before netting another goal. But Japan closed the gap with one of their own. South Korea...

K-pop boy band Highlight leader Doo-joon enlisted in the Korean military today after getting a draft notice just two days ago. According to Around Us Entertainment, Highlight’s agency, Doo-joon entered the 27th Infantry Division in Hwacheon in Gangwon province in South Korea at around 1pm (Korea time). He was accompanied by Highlight members, his family and company employees. Doo-joon was surprised to receive the notice, which mandates him to serve as an active duty soldier. This comes after he was unable to pass as a conscripted policeman, an alternative form of military service. Yoseob, another Highlight member, qualified as such....

What Six Years of ‘Reset’ with Russia Have Wrought by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER August 27, 2015 On September 5, 2014, Russian agents crossed into Estonia and kidnapped an Estonian security official. Last week, after a closed trial, Russia sentenced him to 15 years. The reaction? The State Department issued a statement. The NATO secretary-general issued a tweet. Neither did anything. The European Union (reports the Wall Street Journal) said it was too early to discuss any possible action. The timing of this brazen violation of NATO territory — two days after President Obama visited Estonia to symbolize America’s commitment to its...

Human rights groups are calling on South Korea’s government to stop imprisoning conscientious objectors who refuse to participate in military service, including numerous Jehovah’s Witnesses who have served time over the years. South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that a section of the country’s Military Service Act is unconstitutional because it obligates conscientious objectors to participate in military service. Human rights advocates said this ruling could be the first step toward creating alternatives for Jehovah’s Witnesses and other groups that object to participating in the military. Representatives of the Jehovah’s Witnesses said that over 19,300 of the group’s members have...

Memorial Day in Norwich has come and gone. For the record it was wonderful to see retired Army Colonel James Cushman, on his own two feet, as the Master of Ceremonies. The crowd was better than average in numbers and the Norwich High School madrigal choir could not have been better at singing the National Anthem. As the 2018 speaker, Dr. Edward J. Erickson – a multi-war Army veteran – gave his remarks, one couldn’t help but notice the faces in the park were all very familiar. That is because it is the same people in attendance, year after year....

A Pentagon report composed earlier in 2017 and obtained by reporters at The Washington Times in October makes a chilling recommendation: The federal government should enhance its power to conscript American citizens in wartime, all in the name of social justice. The Times’ Rowan Scarborough wrote that the “Report on the Purpose and Utility of Registration System for Military Selective Service” recommends expanding the Selective Service System (SSS), an independent federal government agency tasked with maintaining personal records for individuals subject to possible military conscription, to include women. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Proclamation 4771, requiring all American males...

Young Swiss women will be obliged to attend an “information day” about military service from 2020 in order to encourage more to join the army, according to reports. Currently, military or civil service is compulsory for all Swiss men over 18, who must pay an exemption tax if they are excluded due to health reasons or refuse to serve. It is not compulsory for women, but they may choose to volunteer. Last year, only around 65 women out of 7,600 recruits began their service. In February this year, army commander Daniel Baumgartner said in an interview that he wanted to...

Sweden set to reintroduce conscription: broadcaster SR Sweden's center-left government will decide on Thursday to reintroduce military conscription next year, amid lingering difficulties filling the ranks on a voluntary basis and a more uncertain security situation, public broadcaster SR reported. The Nordic country mothballed compulsory military service in 2010, but military activity in the Baltic region has increased since, in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, prompting Sweden to step up military preparedness. The decision to reintroduce the draft, following recommendations by an official investigation, will cover both men and women born in 1999 or later, though...

The New York Times recently reported that the Senate has voted to require women to register for the draft, with few Senators in opposition. This bill comes as no surprise given the military has been increasingly opening its doors to women. This culminated in last December when “…Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said in December that the Pentagon would open all combat jobs to women…” which helped military officials advise Congress to make the draft apply for both women and men. This bill has such broad and widespread support because of its intuitive appeal: If all combat jobs are open...

In the latest and perhaps decisive battle over the role of women in the military, Congress is embroiled in an increasingly intense debate over whether they should have to register for the draft when they turn 18. On Tuesday, the Senate approved an expansive military policy bill that would for the first time require young women to register for the draft. The shift, while fiercely opposed by some conservative lawmakers and interest groups, had surprisingly broad support among Republican leaders and women in both parties. The United States has not used the draft since 1973 during the Vietnam War. But...

LOUISVILLE — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, will soon be filing stand-alone legislation to end the practice of registering for the Selective Service. The bill titled ‘The Muhammad Ali Voluntary Service Act’ will be presented to Congress in honor of the famed boxer who refused to serve in the Vietnam War. On April, 28 1967 the heavy weight champion was stripped of his title for refusing to be inducted in the United States Army. Ali, a Muslim and conscientious objector, was convicted of draft evasion — a conviction that would later be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. “One thing...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force's top civilian official said Friday she supports requiring young women to register for a potential military draft as Congress heads toward a divisive debate over whether to erase gender restrictions from Selective Service. Air Force Secretary Deborah James said there's no reason women shouldn't have to sign up just as men between the ages of 18 and 25 do. Women have never before been required to register in the United States and including them in a draft pool has outraged social conservatives....

Buckling under conservative pressure, the Republican-led House Rules Committee pulled a legislative sleight of hand and stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill that would have required women between the ages of 18 and 25 to sign up for a military draft. The committee's chairman, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said in a statement Tuesday the action was taken to prevent what he called a "reckless policy" from moving forward without closer study of its impact. "I have the utmost respect and deepest appreciation for the young women who bravely volunteer to serve our country, but I am adamantly...

Pregnant, female, Navy SEALs was something many of us used to joke about as a way of exaggerating the absurd social engineering in the military. Yet, placing women in special operations and direct combat units has now become a reality under the Obama-led Pentagon. Sadly, not only have Republicans like John McCain refused to use their perches on the Armed Services Committees in the House and Senate to block this social engineering, they are now codifying it with a provision that could lead to a mandatory draft of all women. Earlier this week, I noted that the final House version...

Currently, there is no military draft in the U.S. But there is "selective service," an odd requirement that all U.S. males, at 18 years old, register for -- what, exactly? Basically, it's a way to make it very easy to reinstate the draft. The U.S. military is currently planning to scrap all limits on placing women in combat roles (the current limits do not keep women totally out of combat). So the logical next question is: Should women be as subject to drafting as men? Should women have to register for selective service? That was Martha Raddatz's question in Saturday...