Family baffled after young man deemed unfit for volunteer army service but fit for mandatory conscription a year later

After finishing secondary school, a 19-year-old man wanted to pursue a career in the military and in 2025 volunteered for professional military service. During the medical examination, an ophthalmologist diagnosed him with astigmatism, and doctors ruled him unfit for service. The diagnosis surprised his family, since he had recently obtained a driver's license and had shown no prior signs of vision problems.

After the negative assessment, the family sought solutions — buying vision aids and having him undergo a repeat examination — but the conclusion remained the same. The young man moved on with civilian life, finding work as a cook at a cafe on the Ādaži military base, renting an apartment, and buying a car.

An unexpected turn

A year later, the situation changed when the Ministry of Defence informed him he had been randomly selected for the State Defence Service (VAD), Latvia's mandatory conscription system. He initially assumed a mistake had been made, since just a year earlier he had been ruled unfit. Officials told him he would need a new medical examination — and this time the result was the opposite: he was declared fit for service.

The family approached the Ministry of Defence, asking whether he could instead be considered a volunteer, given that he had expressed a wish to serve a year earlier. The ministry explained that the first assessment concerned professional military service, while the second concerned VAD — two different types of service whose evaluations are not automatically linked. At the same time, the ministry acknowledged that the health criteria for both types of service are very similar, but noted that a person's health can change over time.

The family, however, points out that any significant improvement in the young man's vision would only be possible through surgery, which has not been performed. He did not appeal the fitness decision within the one-month window and is now already serving, undergoing training in discipline, combat skills, shooting, and physical fitness. It later emerged that vision problems have in fact caused difficulties during service, particularly in shooting training, prompting plans for a more thorough eye examination.