The Ministry of National Defense has proposed a NT$1.19 billion (US$39.2 million) budget to increase the pay rate of 29,995 military personnel who were not included in a previous raise for combat troops, a ministry official said.
To boost enlistment and morale, units not included in the 2015 pay raise are to be classified as either “type one” or “type two” combat units, the official said.
The army’s 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion and the drone-flying squadrons of its Aviation and the Special Forces Command are among the units that are to receive better pay under the new plan, the official said.
The plan has been submitted to the Executive Yuan as a ministry priority and is to be implemented as soon as January next year if both it and the Legislative Yuan approve the proposal without alteration, the official said.
The previous pay increase for combat troops was implemented on April 1, 2015, but many units continue to experience recruitment shortages, the official said.
The exclusion of many units within brigade-level organizations is believed to be the cause of the problem, the ministry said.
To address the issue, the ministry devised the proposal to incorporate the units that were left out of the original plan, the official said.
Under the proposal, the army’s drone squadrons and the 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion are to be included in the “type one” classification, increasing members’ pay by NT$5,000 per month, the official said.
Other units to be incorporated as type one include the navy’s 256th Submarine Unit’s support squadron; the Hai Feng Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile Group squadrons; and the marines’ Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit’s reconnaissance teams and underwater demolition team, the official said.
Units within the army’s brigades and corps that did not receive pay raises, such as chemical warfare, communication, electronics and information, engineering, maintenance, sanitation, military police and training, are to be classified as “type two” combat units, increasing the soldiers’ monthly pay by NT$3,000.
The infantry, armor and artillery units organic to the battalion headquarters of the army and the marines are to be reclassified from type two to type one, a ministry official said.
The official said the reclassification of formations from type two to type one would add an estimated NT$62 million to the ministry’s annual budget, which is not included in the NT$1.19 billion figure.
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