The Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee yesterday completed an initial review of amendments that would extend the maximum length of service for all field-grade officers.
The proposed amendments to the Act of Military Service for Officers and Non-commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍軍官士官服役條例), would affect lieutenant second-class officers and field-grade officers.
The amendments are to be submitted to the full legislature for deliberation and voting.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
In its current form, the act stipulates that officers must serve at least 20 years to be eligible for a lifetime pension. There are also limits on how long an officer can serve without promotion.
For example, an officer cannot serve for more than 10 years as a lieutenant or more than 15 years as a captain.
Officers who reach the service length limit appropriate to their rank before being promoted would be discharged without receiving full benefits.
After discussions with the Ministry of National Defense, the committee resolved to increase the length of service for field-grade officers.
According to the proposed amendment, lieutenants would see their service limit increased from 10 years to 12 years and captains from 15 years to 17 years. Majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels would see their service raised from 20 years, 24 years and 28 years to 22 years, 26 years and 30 years respectively.
In response to reports that the military is not retaining enough officers, the committee proposed several schemes to increase the maximum length of service.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) proposed to increase for lieutenants and captains from 10 years and 15 years respectively, to 15 committee and 17 years.
DDP Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲) proposed the maximum length of lieutenants increase to 15 years and captains to 20 years.
Wang and Lu proposed an additional increase the service limit of majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels from 20 years, 24 years and 28 years to 22 years, 26 years and 30 years.
In a report to the committee, the ministry’s Director of Resource Planning Chen Cheng-chih (陳正棋) told lawmakers that extending the length of service for captains to 20 years would cause a bottleneck in the career paths.
Chen recommended a compromise that would incorporate Lo’s proposal for lieutenants and captains, while using Wang and Lu’s proposal for majors and colonels.
The committee also passed an additional resolution that would allow lieutenants and captains to apply for merit-based deferments on forced retirement.
The measure is necessary for maintaining the size of the military and its institutional knowledge, the committee said.
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