Mongolia - Construction Corps

In peacetime, the construction corps are to pursue construction activities. At the same time, they are to be trained to fulfill missions according to mobilization requirements. On 1997, the Mongolian Armed Forces has 20,000 personnel, of which 500 were the in the civil defense forces and 1500 in the construction corps.

The army over the Cold War years had a generally positive impact on the national economy. Although the work-force shortages and military expenses of World War II imposed austerity on personal consumption and retarded social development and the economy's civilian sector, many soldiers acquired valuable technical skills. In 1934 the Choybalsan industrial combine with 1,500 workers was established to produce cloth, clothing, saddles, harnesses, fur coats, and footwear for the army. By 1939 its production almost completely supplied the army with clothing and individual equipment. Beginning in the early 1950s, wartime facilities turned to producing items both for the civilian sector and for export.

The Military Construction Administration, developed out of the Darhan Military Construction Project in the late 1950s, continued in the late 1980s as a paramilitary organization under the Mongolian army. Between 1981 and 1984, military construction troops helped to establish the new city of Erdenet; they built more than 1,000 installations and enterprises--including state farms, a shoe factory in Ulaanbaatar, and an international camp for young pioneers--for the civilian economy.

According to the Fundamentals of the Military Doctrine of Mongolia, the main mission of the construction corps in peacetime is to pursue construction activities and, at the same time to be trained to fulfill missions according to mobilization requirements. Units and organizations of the construction corps regularly participate in military exercises, command and staff games, and operational training assemblies conducted in accordance with Ministry of Defense and General Staff training programs. Acting on the decisions and directives of competent state and local administrative bodies, they build military and civil defense objects, construct and reconstruct roads and bridges, and participate in civil defense activities during such natural disasters as fires, snowfalls and so forth.

In observance of the General Staff of the Armed Forces training program, the construction corps headquarters annually works out and accomplishes a general plan and instruction on the organization of military training for construction troops. Training for privates and sergeants consisted of 28 days of primary and basic military training and 45 days of military professional specialty training (a total of 316 hours). Command training for officers and non-commissioned officers is organized in the form of annual assemblies, the dates of which depend on the construction and production tasks of subordinate units and organizations. During their service in the construction corps, conscripts acquire a military professional specialty through military training program and a speciality in the construction field through on-the-job training, as well.

In the 20 years 1977-1997, the construction corps of the Mongolian Armed Forces trained more than 40 thousand people in about 30 specializations. In other words, a citizen of Mongolia who served in the construction corps acquired a military professional specialty and became a member of the armed forces reserves. In addition, a specialty in the construction field allowed him to participate in the peaceful construction of the country.

In the years of transition to a market economy (1991-1996), the construction corps executed construction and capital repair work worth 4525.6 million tugriks, completed construction of 179 objects and buildings with a total basic funding of 2715.1 million tugriks, produced construction materials worth 556.6 million tugriks, and accomplished 69.4 million tons/kilometers of transportation service work. As a result, the construction corps of the Mongolian Armed Forces has been covering all their of expenses, except for training, conscription and clothing costs, since 1980.