The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday it would be ready for the great volume of people expected to begin their compulsory military service between next month and October.
“This year, I promise that college graduates who enroll for military service will be in uniforms before the end of December,” said Captain Wang Kuang-ping (汪匡平), head of the ministry’s Department of Personnel.
Wang made his remarks during a press conference at the MND yesterday morning. He was referring to the congestion that often occurs when male college graduates begin their military service each summer.
Wang said that most male college graduates expect to begin their compulsory military service as soon as possible after graduation, but the numbers between June and November, and the decreasing amount of full-time personnel in the armed forces often mean the military is left lacking the manpower and facilities to take care of the new recruits.
The ministry has received many complaints as graduates are sometimes have to wait months to be called to duty, which means they cannot continue with their plans for a career or continue their studies.
When asked why the military had ignored the problem until now, Wang said staffing shortages were the main reason.
“As we do not have to prepare for a full-scale Han Kuang military exercise this year, we have spare staff to work on other things,” Wang said.
“We decided to take advantage of this chance to increase staff and available facilities for recruiting as many military servicemen as possible,” he said.
With the additional staff and facilities, Wang said an additional 10,000 rookies would be able to begin their military service between next month and October.
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