Five Things to Know, March 6, 2023
1. President Joe Biden said Friday that there is only one word to describe former Army Col. Paris Davis — “gallantry. It’s not much used these days,” Biden said at the White House, just moments before he bestowed the former Special Forces commander with the Medal of Honor. “But I can think of no better word to describe Paris.”
2. Taiwan Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng warned on Monday the island has to be on alert this year for a "sudden entry" by the Chinese military into areas close to its territory amid rising military tensions across the Taiwan Strait. China has stepped up its military activities around Taiwan in recent years, including almost daily air force incursions into the island's air defense identification zone.
3. Army recruiters struggling to meet enlistment goals say one of their biggest hurdles is getting into high schools, where they can meet students one on one. But they received a recent boost from a recruiting advocate whom school leaders couldn’t turn away: the secretary of the Army. During three days of back-to-back meetings across Chicago recently, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth spoke with students, school leaders, college heads, recruiters and an array of young people involved in ROTC or junior ROTC programs. Again and again, she asked, what can the Army do to better reach young people and sell itself as a good career choice.
4. The fate of Bakhmut appeared to be hanging in the balance Monday, as Russian forces continued to encroach on the devastated eastern Ukrainian city but its defenders still denied the Kremlin the prize it has sought for six months at the cost of thousands of lives. Intense Russian shelling targeted the Donetsk region city and nearby villages as Moscow deployed more resources there in an apparent bid to finish off Bakhmut’s resistance, according to local officials.
5. The top U.S. military commander on Saturday visited northeast Syria where American troops and their allies are launching a campaign against the Islamic State group, a U.S. military official said. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley met commanders and troops who updated him on the ongoing operations against IS, said Col. Dave Butler, spokesman for Milley.