This summer, 400 young people will be selected for mandatory state defense service (SDS) to ensure a total of 1,470 military personnel in the SDS, together with volunteers.
The Ministry of Defense has extended the application deadline for the July conscription for state defense service until April 13, the ministry informed the LETA agency, as interest from young people is very high.
Latvian citizens aged 18 to 27 are invited to voluntarily apply for both the 11-month military service and the five-year service in the National Guard, which will begin on July 17 of this year.
At the same time, every third candidate is found unfit for state defense service due to health reasons.
Rejections are also issued for other reasons.
A post by a mother has been published on the social network “X,” stating that the family disagreed with the initial rejection, so they appealed it, and ultimately this summer the young man will begin his service, writes nra.lv.
“My son will go to state defense service this summer! He applied voluntarily, received a rejection (strange, unfounded). We appealed the decision and today received a positive response. You have to fight the government even when you want to learn to protect it,” the mother writes.
Krista: “Good luck! My son has been serving since January, it’s not easy, including because of his comrades, but at least he realized that after the state defense service he wants to study, not continue a military career.”
CG: “I’ve heard about strange rejections before. Could it be that among the doctors there are some who create artificial resistance by issuing far-fetched rejections?”
Varsh: “Reading this, I start to have suspicions that there might be some sabotage going on. My son was also rejected a month ago, citing a medical conclusion. A year ago, he was told to get his health in order and then come back. But this year, he was still rejected.”
Aija: “Seriously, doctors are professionals and diagnoses are not given out just like that. And rejections, apparently, are not either. Let’s hope luck is on their side, and IQ will allow them to cope where displaced vertebrae, nearsightedness, and other ‘trivialities’ interfere (I hope). And military service, apparently, is not easy at all, neither physically nor morally.”
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