Lottery Selects 400 Young People for Military Service

They were drawn from a list of almost 8,000 young adults who have no theoretical obstacles to starting service. If those selected in the lottery pass a medical examination, they will be assigned to one of the units of the National Armed Forces, where their 11-month service will begin in July. The Ministry of Defence expects that only about half of those selected, or 210, will end up in uniform. Young men whose health does not meet the requirements will not be drafted, and service may be postponed in some cases – for example, for people who are part of national sports teams. This was the third random selection to have taken place since the reintroduction of compulsory national service. This July's draft required 1,470 young persons. 1,503 young people volunteered, 46 of whom were women. This is a record, more than double the previous figure. So far, only about 70% of volunteers end up in the service. This means that the rest do not pass the health or other eligibility tests. With this trend in mind, the Ministry of Defence has calculated that this time another 400 young people should be called up via the lottery system, which should result in roughly the right number of recruits who meet the various criteria. Women are not selected in the lottery process, but can do their service as volunteers. Kristers Grauze, director of the State Defence Service department at the Ministry, said that in theory there were about 47,000 young adults who could be part of the intake, though this number was reduced to about 7,000 once various factors were taken into account. "Why do you see such a fall from 47,000 to 7,000? Very simple. Most young people are still in high school, continuing to study. There are some young people who live abroad. And then there are secondary reasons that have been revealed in the tests, such as criminal records, or health. There are cases when there is a sole guardian, the sole caregiver in the family," said Grauze. From this list, a machine randomly selects 400, then they are randomly assigned a sequence number to determine the order in which they will undergo health checks. It is planned to call up 210 young people for service this summer. Consequently, those at the end of the list may not even be drafted if the required number is met sooner. "We have to assume that in the context of 2027, we are talking about 2,800 VAD soldiers. We would like to hope that in the context of next year, we will be able to reach over two thousand on a voluntary basis. But I would be cautious about that for now. I would definitely assess more now that in the context of 2027, we definitely need at least one selection," Grauze assessed. From next year, young people living abroad will also be called up for the State Defence Service through a selection procedure. They will also receive summonses to come for a health check-up in Latvia. Latvia reintroduced military service for males aged 18-27 on a voluntary basis in 2023 and from January 1, 2024, military service has been mandatory. Latvia did previously have mandatory military service until January 2007, when it switched to a fully professional military service, but then reintroduced mandatory service in a bid to boost the size of its armed forces.