Thailand - Military Personnel

Estimates for the size of the Royal Thai Armed Forces vary widely, but there are approximately 350,000 active-duty personnel (240,000 Army, 65,000 Navy, and 45,000 Air Force) and 200,000 reserve personnel – nearly one percent of the country's population. The RTARF has a large number of generals and admirals for a military of its size: sitting around 1,400. In early 2021, the Ministry of Defence announced a program to reduce the number of flag officers (generals and admirals) by 25% by 2029.

As of 2022, Thailand had a total of 456,000 military personnel. As of 2020, the Royal Thai Armed Forces number 360,850 active duty and 200,000 reserve personnel, nearly one percent of Thailand's population of 70 million. Recently the Armed Forces only needed around 77,000 conscripts to meet quotas, which at some selection centres is covered/filled by volunteers. After the enlisting, volunteers are dismissed for the day and the lottery process begins. Each man who stays for the lottery draws a card out of an opaque box: a red card for military service and a black card for release from the requirement.

Thailand is a country of independence, identity, culture and customs.good traditions and most importantly, Thailand was abundant with many natural resources in the past as a symbol of the peoples of the nations who want to occupy this land but with sacrifice of Thai ancestors who protect this land for Thai descendants to have a place to live in live life with happiness and peacefulness. One thing that has always been the pride of Thai people is Thailand has never been a colony of any nation. Even in the current situation, fighting for territories is a small chance. But it cannot be trusted. Therefore, having a strong army is powerful, to build confidence in the people of the nation and to prevent foreigners from invading Thailand.

In rural locations, some young men welcome the opportunity to serve. The demand for active duty troops is about 100,000 people a year, which the army is currently restructuring to be compact, modern, and is expected in the future, the number of active duty troops will decrease. Currently, troops come from selection. and recruitment. In 2019, there were about 560,000 people who came to check, and the military selected about 100,000 people, 40% or 40,000 people volunteer annually, 60% or 60,000 people come to check and when they are discharged from service, there are about 2,000 people per year, each unit has an account containing reserve power. Part of the reserves come from military students. It's a reserve force at the rank of sergeant. As for the privates, they come from active duty soldiers. and military personnel

The National Defense Strategy of the Ministry of Defense 2017-2036 is in line with the 20-year national strategy. On 15 June 2020, Lt. Gen. Khongcheep Tantrawanich, Defense Spokesman, revealed the army reform plan, setting a goal to reduce the number of military servants and solve the congestion issue. The policy was ready to accept civil servants to perform duties that require specialized expertise. It is expected that the number of general-ranking officers will be reduced by 5-10 percent. On August 26, 2021, Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, as Minister of Defense, ordered the army to effectively drive planned military reforms. Especially the reduction of personnel to a size suitable for the army, such as the collapse of units that are redundant. and develop army capabilities with modern technology.

The Military Service Act, administered by the army, implemented these requirements. The act—a national conscription law—required two years of active military duty. Thailand has always had an ample source of manpower for its military needs. In 1987 population estimates indicated that the country had nearly 13.6 million males aged 15 to 49, of whom an estimated 8.4 million were considered physically fit for military service. Roughly 520,000 young men reached the age of 18 each year, but the total annual induction averaged only about 30,000 men.

Because the supply exceeded the demand, only those in the best physical condition were selected for service. Many inductees came from rural areas and were reliable, hardy, physically fit, adaptable, and accustomed to working outdoors in tropical heat, humid climate, and monsoon rains; many possessed a keen interest in learning and developing new skills. The average conscript accepted his military obligation as a necessary duty. Many were exempt from compulsory military service because of exemptions provided for in the law (for example, taking a Territorial Defense course). Disabilities or infirmities, etc.) and those not covered by the law (such as bribery, use of connections, etc.), but many people are inevitably subjected to red carding.

Inductees were usually sent to the nearest army, navy, or air force installation where the need was greatest. There the conscripts were assigned to units for training and then to appropriate service elements for duty. After a two-year commitment, conscripts who did not choose to reenlist (or were not permitted to do so) were released and placed on unassigned reserve status for an additional twenty-three years. During this period of reserve service they were subject to recall whenever a need arose. The priority of recall was based on age, the youngest reserves being reinducted first. In 1987 observers estimated that the system had produced more than 500,000 reserves whose military training and physical fitness made them reasonably available for emergency use in the army. Noncommissioned officers (NCOs) were, in most cases, former conscripts who had reenlisted to make a career of the military service. On the basis of past performance, they were selected to attend an NCO school and upon graduation returned to their units in their new status. A limited number of NCOs were procured by placing on active duty graduates of reserve training programs conducted by the Ministry of Defense.

The officer corps of the armed forces was composed mainly of graduates of the service academies and officer candidate schools. It also included a small number of reserve officers who had completed training courses while in college and subsequently assumed military careers. A few officers with special qualifications were commissioned directly from civilian life. In the past the practice of appointing civilians to military positions was fairly widespread and had important political effects. Under the Civil Service Act of 1928 (amended in 1954), a number of high-ranking officials once prominent in the political bureaucracy became generals and acceded to prominent positions within the military hierarchy without undergoing military training or rising through the ranks. Although most of these senior officers worked as administrators on headquarters staffs, they had political clout and were important members of the contending military cliques that figured prominently in the coups and countercoups after 1932. Thailand's laws governing mandatory military retirement eventually eliminated these old guard generals and admirals, but the established pattern of rival cliques within the armed forces—particularly the army—persisted in the late 1980s.

Within the army, in particular, military academy classmate groupings were important. Officers identified with their classmates, and detailed records were kept of each academy class. Most Thai officers knew with which class any other officer had graduated. In the mid-1980s, officers from Class Five, led by Lieutenant General Suchinda Kraprayoon, the army deputy chief of staff, commanded seven of the army's thirteen divisions and formed a crucial base of political support for Prime Minister Prem.

Little information was publicly available on promotion criteria and the rate of upward mobility within the officer corps. It was known, however, that the pay — even for senior officers — was low by Western standards. This fact of military life encouraged officers of every rank to engage in outside commercial activities — a practice that not only supplemented their service income but also enhanced their influence within the society. Many in important military positions served simultaneously on corporate directorates, family real estate companies, and other business ventures. For the most part, the Thai citizenry had come to accept their leaders' threefold roles as soldiers, businessmen, and politicians.

Following the coups of the 1950s and 1960s, officers in the losing factions were either purged or relegated to positions of little importance or potential threat. Falls from grace, however, were less permanent or violent in the Thai system than in some other countries. At the same time, officers who backed the winning group were usually promoted and given assignments supporting the new leaders. Other officers played important roles in expanding the power of governing regimes by transferring from the army to the police and from the military to the bureaucracy.

By the late 1980s, the Thai army had a large group of well-trained, forward-looking officers, many of whom occupied influential command and staff posts. This group of younger officers was described as increasingly outraged at the inefficient, expensive Thaistyle democracy. Their growing influence was reflected in the increased attention given to their views by the government.

Because of a perennial surplus of senior officers--in 1987 there were some 600 generals and admirals in a total force of about 273,000--Thai staff positions were often held by officers of higher rank than would have been the case in the United States or other Western military establishments. Thai military personnel were highly conscious of rank distinctions and of the duties, obligations, and benefits they entailed. Relationships among officers of different grades and among officers, NCOs, and the enlisted ranks were governed by military tradition in a society where observance of differences in status was highly formalized. The social distance between officers and NCOs was widened by the fact that officers usually were college or military academy graduates, while most NCOs had not gone beyond secondary school. There was often a wider gap between officers and conscripts, most of whom had had even less formal education, service experience, or specialized training.

Formal honors and symbols of merit occupied an important place in the Thai military tradition, and service personnel received and wore awards and decorations with pride. The government granted numerous awards, and outstanding acts of heroism, courage, and meritorious service received prompt recognition.