The last batch of mandatory service personnel — those born in or after 1994 — will not have to continue their training at military bases next year, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday.
All further training will be conducted either at a basic division or at military occupational specialty (MOS) centers, the ministry said.
The new policy on basic training has already seen two adjustments in the past year, it said.
Photo: CNA
Originally set at eight weeks of initial basic training and another eight weeks of basic training with the armed forces, it was changed in April to the current five weeks of basic training and 11 weeks of training with the armed forces, the ministry said.
Yesterday’s changes were the second, it said.
As stipulated by the Military Service Act (兵役法), young men who have passed physical examinations and are fit for mandatory service are to undergo four months of military training.
Following the changes, they will not have to take their basic skills training and MOS at military bases, but rather at basic divisions and other MOS-specific units, Colonel Tung Shao-ming (董紹明) said.
Basic skills include live-
ammunition practice, combat training, tactical maneuvering and in-field training, Tung said.
Specific training, such as for the armored, artillery, chemical corps, engineer corps and signals intelligence corps would be given at their specific units or at the combined MOS training center for potential MOS reserves, he said.
Some recruits might be included in annual exercises that would grant them live-fire and real-time military experience, while others might draw lots that would see them stationed for training at off-island bases, the ministry said.
The ministry expects that its basic training regimen could produce an average of 78,590 soldiers per year, while troops trained in special occupations would average 23,800.
Over the course of one year the ministry expects to train more than 100,000 individuals, Tung said, adding that as the military next year is to become an all-volunteer force, it would have the capacity to train that number of troops.
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