MORE RESPONSIBILITY:
Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units
By Fang Wei-li and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA
The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said.
The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022.
The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take part in the Lien Yung (聯勇) exercises, with a focus on “bind and strike” tactics, it said.
The drills feature ground troops, attack helicopters, fighter jets and warships fighting together, and emphasize positional defense, command and control, coordinated use of fire and maneuvering, combined arms tactics, and the ability of troops to function under physical and psychological hardship.
The training regime outlined by the document for the infantry battalion implies that conscripts would no longer be deployed exclusively in static defense, and are instead expected to fight alongside professional soldiers in mixed formations.
This means that some of the army’s new combined arms brigades would be able to utilize an infantry battalion of conscripts as a fixing force, while professional soldiers attack the enemy with tanks and armored infantry teams.
The enactment of the policy document would likely require the army to transform the 101st, 109th, 117th, 137th and 249th brigades from training units into combat formations assigned to the defense of key strategic areas in Taiwan proper.
The Executive Yuan also said it has ordered the military to ensure the humane treatment of service members, reduce recruitment standards within reasonable limits, and improve pay and benefits for troops to boost recruitment and retention.
Reforms along these lines have already led to improvements in the military’s staffing, it added.
Last year, the armed forces’ retention rate rose to 87.2 percent, up 5.2 percentage points from the previous year, while the number of active-duty volunteer service members grew by 3,000 compared with the same period, it said.