How Realistic is Taiwan's Mandatory Military Service?

An overview of Taiwan's 1 Year Conscription Program.

A Summer Camp

Back in January when the first wave of 1 year conscripts entered service, many were not only nervous and anxious but some even looked upset. Understandable as with Taiwan extending the mandatory military service program from 4 months to a 1 year, these young men now had to do 3x more compared to their older classmates.

Having gone to university here, I can’t tell you how many of my classmates dreaded military service. The 4 month stint was often referred to as a “summer camp” and “a waste of time”. A lot of my friends were more concerned about what to do with their girlfriends during this time away….many hearts are usually broken. It also delays alot of plans as many will have to wait on getting a job or doing a masters.

However, with this extension came a brand new wave of reforms to make conscription more “realistic”, but what does that mean? Well here is the complete program:

Basic Training

Not too much has changed when it comes to basic training but conscripts now fire more than 800 rounds from a rifle.

Salary also went up a substantial amount to account for all the young men taking the time to spend a full year in the military.

At the end of the 8 weeks all conscripts complete a variety of tests on an obstacle course. I was part of the media group that was invited to see the first test back in March.

Before you come to any conclusions… this is a media event, a highly coordinated media event. So Taiwan’s defense ministry has a lot of control over what we get to see.

Unit Training

After basic training is completed, all conscripts are then assigned to a unit/brigade and move on towards the 2nd part of the program which is 44 weeks of unit training.

This is broken down to various section like so:

1. Practical/unit training-18 weeks ( 駐地訓綀 )

2. Specialized training-7 weeks (專精訓綀)

3. Base training-13 weeks (基地訓綀)

4. Joint training-6 weeks (聯合演訓 )

Practical Training

In this stage, conscripts are given individual positions/responsibilities and depending on those assignments they are given more weapons and combat training.

Soldiers are also taught how to protect important military and critical infrastructure, disaster prevention and where to support with logistics.

Specialized Training

The important thing here is that the conscripts are given roles within units across Taiwan.

They learn how to come together and work towards defending their own designated zones.. so like… territorial defense. This is also where the big guns come in. Various conscripts are tested on mostly artillery systems.

Over the course of their 1 Year training, conscripts should be able to use the following:

• Handgun (手槍)

• Machine Gun (排用機槍)

• T85 Grenade Launcher (榴彈發射器)

• Taiwan’s equivalent of the M72 LAW (66火箭彈)

• Kestrel Rocket Launcher (紅準火箭彈)

• 60mm mortar

• 81mm mortar

• 120mm mortar

• Small UAVs

Im not a fan of using promotional content but this military video actually does an ok job showing all the equipment being used.

Only after conscripts have passed all their tests can they move on to one of the most important and new portions of the program, Joint Operations.

Joint Training

Towards the very end of the program, young conscripts now have a chance to test their abilities in live-fire joint exercises.

The main focus is to enable both officers and soldiers to make decisions based on the environment and battle conditions. Conscripts this year for example took part in the annual Han Kuang exercises and mainly served in supply logistics.

This is a great start to contributing to Taiwan’s concept of a “whole of society approach”. The idea that everyone will know where to go and what to do when (or if) the bombs start dropping. For conscripts, having rehearsed a real combat scenario will help them understand how to provide relief for the actual volunteer force.

It has been said multiple times before, conscripts will NOT be on the front lines. Right now Taiwan has roughly 170,000 active soldiers but if needed, Taiwan can mobilize about 1.7 million men. If everyone of these guys knows at least what the plan is, this gives Taiwan a good chance to fight. BUT, add the additional training, weapons, and experience in a combat drill and this gives Taiwan a much better defense.

Problems

First of all, Taiwan is set to train about 9000 conscripts this year… that’s … not enough. Even worse, the previous defense minister has said that that number looks closer to 7000.

Second, a group of officers in the army have already come out to say that they lack the equipment and personnel needed to train conscripts. They say that without sufficient communication equipment, armored vehicles and fire trucks they can’t test if conscripts have passed the necessary requirements.

Also, some of the “realistic training” that is being taught…might not be so realistic.

Take this section for example. This conscript is trying to tie a tourniquet while “blood” is spewing out, with smoke and under fire.

I don’t have any military experience but I imagine there is a better way to train basic first aid?

What’s next?

Well…. that’s another problem. We don’t know.

Although Taiwan has taken a huge step in extending military service there are still a lot of things to improve. The military could start with upgrading some of its facilities to expand training. It might also look towards other types of training like urban warfare to at least give conscripts some insight into what other countries like Ukraine are doing.

But as with many of the MND’s policies towards a credible defense, it’s also two steps forward, one step back. So… at least this is a start.

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