Draftees’ time wasted
My son graduated from college not long ago. After completing his senior-year internship, he decided to first find a job and he might go on to graduate school later if necessary. We all support his decision.
Before he formally enters the workforce, he must fulfill his civic duty by performing the compulsory military service. Although this now only takes about four months, it will be difficult to concentrate on job hunting until he completes it. To finish as soon as possible, he filed an application for early enrollment on the first day when the application process opened.
When the “conscription letter” was delivered in late June, no one was home and the person delivering it did not allow the security guard at the building to receive it on our behalf. They instead left it at the borough warden’s office, so we had to go all the way there to pick it up.
After opening it, there was only a lengthy letter without the specific enrollment time and place that should appear on a regular notice and after reading it more closely, we realized that my son was on the waiting list for this stage of conscription.
When we called the district office’s military service section, the person in charge politely replied that my son was likely to be drafted into the military, as he was second on the waiting list, so he had to be ready at all times. As a result, he canceled his driving lessons and did not find a part-time job.
However, he heard nothing from the district office before this stage of conscription ended and will not have a chance to be drafted until about the end of this month.
This could happen to any household with a son waiting to be drafted. Issuing a conscription notice is not a joke. If a draftee is only on the waiting list, the authorities should avoid trouble by not issuing a notice.
We want a “real” conscription notice that states the specific enrollment time and place, along with a list of things to pay attention to.
Hopefully it would also arrive at least two weeks in advance, so that draftees can prepare themselves. The authorities should not keep draftees blindly waiting, so they do not waste families’ time and national human resources.
Peng Mei-ling
Taoyuan
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