The armed forces have 155,218 volunteers in active service, the fewest professional soldiers in the military in the past five years, a report published earlier this month by the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center showed.
Although the military has received the final deliveries related to multiple arms deals, the weapons systems would likely not prove effective if the nation lacks the necessary number of highly trained soldiers to operate them, the center report said.
The Ministry of National Defense listed a NT$220.5 billion (US$6.85 billion) budget for next year, which represents a 7.67 percent increase in spending over the current year, the report said.
Photo: I-hwa Cheng, Bloomberg
Military investments related to arms procurements are to increase 34.65 percent and would become the fastest-growing spending item in the budget, it said.
Volunteer service members are the backbone of the military’s combat strength, and staffing requirements for professional soldiers are not alleviated by extending the length of the conscription period, it said.
The center said the strength of the volunteer forces peaked in 2021 before declining annually, while many principal combat units designated as Class 1 are below 80 percent of their authorized strength.
The military had 162,039 volunteers in 2019, 164,063 volunteers in 2020, 164,884 volunteers in 2021 and 159,392 volunteers last year, it said.
The dearth of personnel is likely to impede the armed forces’ ability to train and retain soldiers with the skills necessary to operate advanced military equipment, it said.
The program to recruit prospective soldiers and officers through reserve cadet programs embedded in high schools, vocational colleges and universities has not achieved the desired effect, the center said.
Although the Ministry of National Defense has established reserve cadet programs in 410 high schools and vocational high schools since 2018, the number of enlistments from the cadet programs at all levels of schools has fallen every year since 2020, it said.
These programs reported 9,616 enlistments in 2020, 8,293 in 2021 and 7,409 last year, it said.
The drop in enlistments occurred despite the ministry’s steady funding of the programs, which increased to NT$39.89 million last year from NT$14.43 million in 2019, the center said.
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