The military yesterday unveiled details of its new reservist training regimen that would provide more intensive training in a bid to improve the combat readiness of reserve forces.
Under the new program, which is to begin on Saturday, reservists would undergo two weeks of training rather than the current five to seven days, Ministry of National Defense All-out Defense Mobilization Agency Director Yu Wen-cheng (俞文鎮) said.
Reservists would not have rest days during the two-week period and would spend more time on combat training, such as shooting pistols, rifles and machine guns, based on their specialties, to maintain basic combat skills, Yu said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense via CNA
They would train for 10 hours a day, including two hours at night, undergo bivouac training and be required to complete a 10km march in full gear, he said.
Reservists would only be allowed to use their mobiles phones twice a day, from 7pm to 8pm and from 9pm to 10pm, during the two weeks, he said.
While training of reservists would be longer and more intense under the new guidelines, overall time spent in training would not be much longer.
Currently, reservists are required to report for training up to four times in the eight years following their discharge from active duty, but under the new rules, they would receive training only twice in eight years.
The new regimen would be tested in the first three quarters of this year on about 15,000 reservists at 24 battalions and one company across the nation, Yu said.
The military would review the program in the fourth quarter to see if it is generating the desired results before deciding whether to fully commit to it, he said.
In the meantime, another 97,000 reservists would be trained under the current program, he said.
The new program was devised after the military in 2020 said that it wanted to ensure that the nation’s reserve force can more reliably back up regular forces amid increased Chinese military maneuvers around Taiwan.
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