Army reform needed first

EDITORIAL

Published: 8 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The army chief drew flak from the public this week after he announced there was a possibility that high school students who have undergone territorial defence training may no longer be exempt from the annual conscription draw.

Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said a growing number of students are applying to join the territorial defence forces, popularly called Ror Dor in Thai, to avoid the possibility they might be conscripted.

He said this could lead to a shortfall of fresh recruits and military reserves. Also, it perpetuates the disparity when educated young men can avoid conscription, but not their peers who cannot afford higher education.

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spiceman
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Discussion 15 : 09 Feb 2013 at 05.1915
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Khun Eric #12, Israel is always in a perpetual state of war with its surrounding neighbors, so the use of conscripts and reservists is a necessity. Virtually all Israeli males are either serving or ready to be called to mobilization at any time, as it happened many times in the past since its founding in 1948. The same with S Korea which is still technically at war with N Korea. What's about Thailand, are we at war with anyone or surrounded by potential enemies? The US Military is an all volunteer force, which is dramatically being downsized, and replaced with smaller, leaner, and highly specialized special ops and the drones, OK?
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Victor
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Discussion 14 : 08 Feb 2013 at 21.2314
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Reforming the army, like the police, will be easier said than done.
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mogy71
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Discussion 13 : 08 Feb 2013 at 19.4313
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Eric you seem to miss the point (again). What if Joe Soap, who wants to be a farmer (for example), doesn't want to play soldier ? Should he be forced into joining the farce that is the Thai military ?
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Eric
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Discussion 12 : 08 Feb 2013 at 17.1612
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Use of conscripts or reservists are now an important intergal part of a modern army. Isreal and USA are fine example of effective use of conscripts in battle conditions. Vietnam has more than a million conscripts that can be mobilized into the military. However to be effective, conscripts must have the basic military training and consigned to particularly units for battle exercises. That should be extended to recall after their 2 years for training, coordination and war games. Forget Ror Dor as they will never will train to have effective fighting capabilities.
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lungstib
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Discussion 11 : 08 Feb 2013 at 14.2111
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The urgent mission of the military must be to turn the bloated, top-heavy, inefficient armed forces into a compact, modern, and efficient organisation.

That should keep them busy for 50 years or so.
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jck
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Discussion 10 : 08 Feb 2013 at 10.0210
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"It would give more Thai men soldier-like qualities," he said. With “the bloated, top-heavy, inefficient armed forces....” does Thailand really want more men with soldier-like qualities?
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spiceman
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Discussion 9 : 08 Feb 2013 at 09.179
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Thai Military is just a part of Thai society. So, the only way to change the Military, along with Thai Politics, Education, and etch., is by changing the whole Thai society in a positive direction. Example? South Korea!
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felixqui
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Discussion 8 : 08 Feb 2013 at 09.088
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Why not put the Royal Thai Army and it's reputation among Thais to the test.

Abolish conscription and see just how many continue to line up to join that prestigious organization for what it has to offer them as Thai citizens.

In the meantime, there is no good reason not to give everyone an equal opportunity to be conscripted.
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Ian
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Discussion 7 : 08 Feb 2013 at 08.517
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In a modern army a 2 year conscript is simply cannon fodder, all modern armies are advanced technology users who's troops have had years of training in advanced weapon systems. The era of "grunts" with guns has long passed, they are only useful for coups and crowd control.
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1369bill
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Discussion 6 : 08 Feb 2013 at 08.086
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D1 - You can search Wikipedia for size of military of world's countries and learn: The Thai military has 758,700 total. That is twice the size of military troops in the UK, France, Germany & Malaysia. Thais and Israelis have about the same number of soldiers. I have read elsewhere the Thai military has 1,000+ generals & admirals - more than the US military with about 925 stars.

And what is the Thai military used for (other than shooting unarmed Thai civilians every few years)? Beats me....
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Army reform needed first | Bangkok Post: opinion