Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said he is doing his best to manage the ministry's affairs but admitted he needs to play a stronger role as a number of nagging problems remain unresolved.
He also said he saw no point in pushing for legal amendments in a bid to stave off future military coups.
Rating his performance directing the ministry since his stint began on Sept 3, Mr Phumtham, who is also a deputy prime minister, said on Tuesday there have been certain shortcomings.
He said some outstanding problems have not been resolved in the way he intended.
"But we have to start somewhere and deal with the problems based on our understanding," Mr Phumtham said.
He said he views the military in a different light compared to when he was a university student.
"Now that I've helmed the ministry, it's a whole new perspective," the minister said, adding any dissenting ideas he had with the ministry were being fine-tuned.
"I trust that after having met the military leaders, the defence permanent secretary and the deputy defence minister, who are career soldiers through and through, we can build mutual confidence with each other," Mr Phumtham said.
The key to this is arranging talks and respecting the challenges they face. "I respect the armed forces' leaders," the minister said.
Mr Phumtham was viewed by some as unfit to assume the defence portfolio because he joined the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) in the 1970s, which pitted him against the military.
Mr Phumtham said he has risen through the political ranks and arrived at a point where he now issues policies.
Politicians and state officials are often at odds, he noted. However, he believes he has set off on the right foot as defence minister since he resorts to dialogue with military leaders as a means of tackling problems.
"No issue can be fixed overnight," he said.
Mr Phumtham insisted it was pointless to try to amend the Defence Ministry Administration Act to fend off military coups.
Pheu Thai Party MP Prayuth Siripanich sponsored a bill seeking to change the act to add a prohibition on the use of military force or military personnel in cases where the government's administrative power is seized or controlled.
It said officers ordered to lead such acts had the right not to comply and risked being considered a party to the violation of military criminal law.