Print

Mail

wiki links

Conscription leaves two foreign grooms with mental illness

Two foreign grooms have developed mental problems as a result of undergoing compulsory military service after becoming naturalized Taiwanese nationals, local media on Wednesday reported the Taichung Veterans’ General Hospital as saying.

Two Filipinos who had married Taiwanese women had trouble adapting to military life because of various language and cultural barriers, the Chinese-language China Times reported.

Both were receiving medical treatment at the hospital after undergoing psychological assessment, the report said.

Lin Ben-tang (林本堂), a psychiatrist at the hospital, said the first patient met his wife in the Philippines and relocated to Taiwan after getting married. Conscripted about a year after obtaining citizenship, he began exhibiting serious anxiety symptoms and eventually had a nervous breakdown.

The patient speaks just a little Mandarin, Lin said.

Whenever they discussed his service, the patient became anxious and said: “No military service. I don’t want to go back!”

Lin said the second patient was experiencing similar problems and was also undergoing medical treatment.

The Ministry of National Defense is expected to make a decision soon on whether to allow the men to withdraw from the military based on the assessment results.

The ministry said on Wednesday that all conscripts, including foreign spouses, were treated equally in the military and could only be exempted from military service based on a doctor’s recommendation.

Lin Han-wen (林漢文), a Civil Affairs Department official at the Taichung City Government, suggested that foreign men in their early or mid-30s delay their naturalization until they reach 36.

The Military Service Act (兵役法) exempts men from the draft from Dec. 31 of the year during which they turn 36.
This story has been viewed 1314 times.