Europe

Switzerland was right to reject drafting women because any society that has seen real war knows you don’t coerce women into the zero line unless you’re out of men, and pretending biology, psychology, and the brutal math of ground combat don’t exist is how you trade restraint for barbarism.

Ukraine is plugging more women into the drone fight on the front line, while back home Pete Hegseth is pushing U.S. industry to crank out weapons faster for the next war, and Poland is set to grab about 250 U.S. Strykers for a buck each to beef up NATO’s eastern flank.

In December 1944, Hitler’s last gamble slammed into a “quiet” Ardennes sector, forcing green grunts and hard paratroopers to share frozen holes, man-handle 57s into ambush lanes, outlast Skorzeny’s chaos, and bleed the German offensive dry in the snow.

The British SAS and Australian SASR ended 2025 balancing heavy operational demand with ongoing scrutiny tied to past misconduct investigations. Both units are pushing ahead with modernization, tighter accountability, and updated training to stay effective in a security environment shaped by hybrid warfare and rising regional tensions.

From the trenches of World War I to today’s quiet KSK raids, Germany’s four-legged operators are still out front, taking the first risk so their human teammates do not have to.

From the shadow of the Pyrénées at Pau to the hottest trouble spots across the globe, the blue-bereted aircrews of the 4e RHFS—laden with Glock-17s, MP7s clipped to their vests, compact APC556 carbines at hand and retractable 20mm door cannons ready to bloom—never board a helicopter without the firepower, training and cold resolve to turn any arrival into an instant advantage.

The arrival of the NH90 Caïman TTH TFRA Standard 2 — a semi-matte-black, Special-Forces-tailored evolution of the multinational NH90 family, fitted with EuroFLIR, TopOwl helmet displays, heavy .50-caliber mounts and extended-range tanks — marks a decisive step for France (and Europe) toward fielding a stealthier, more capable rotary-wing enabler for clandestine troop insertions beginning in June 2026.

Standing in B&T’s sunlit Thun factory, watching skilled technicians hand-assemble and test-fire precision weapons while founder Karl Brügger animatedly explained every design choice over lunch, I left convinced that Swiss obsession with engineering had produced some of the finest, most dependable small arms in the world.

At Grafenwoehr, a steady breath, a buddy brace and a clean trigger squeeze turn practice into battlefield readiness.

Facing Kaliningrad, Belarus, and a live war next door, Poland is pushing its F-16s to the Viper standard with APG-83 radar, Viper Shield, and standoff punch to hold the line while F-35s spin up.

On Yom Kippur, a car and knife attack outside Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation left two people dead and three seriously wounded. Police have classified it as terrorism.

On that summer afternoon by the Rhine, I realized with chilling clarity how deeply the lies of a dictator could root themselves in a human soul, surviving long after his empire lay in ruins.