Myanmar junta intensifies efforts to bring veterans back into active service

Retired military personnel are coming under increasing pressure as Myanmar’s coup regime steps up its efforts to restore its dwindling troop numbers, according to sources close to the armed forces. Since the beginning of June, more than 100 former army officers have arrived at the Ywar Taw military guesthouse in Naypyitaw to undergo physical examinations and receive their orders, a person living near the guesthouse told Myanmar Now. “Those who worked in logistics bases are given logistics duties, while former trainers and others with technical skills have been reassigned to their respective positions,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to Myanmar Now’s investigations, at least 50 military trucks full of former officers have arrived at the guesthouse since early last week. Some higher-ranking officers, including captains and colonels, have also been seen arriving in their own vehicles. “Those who had high ranks and salaries are eager to get back into the army,” said the source. According to a sergeant who is currently serving in the military, most of those who have willingly returned to active duty are using their positions for personal gain. “They just see it as an easy way to make money,” he said, noting that due to the prevailing lawlessness in the country since the coup, it is easy for them to impose arbitrary “fines” on the public. While higher-ranking officers are able to take advantage of their positions, ordinary soldiers and officers of lower rank have fewer opportunities and are simply shipped off to the frontline soon after being assigned, according to one veteran. “I was sent to Kalay a month after I was summoned,” he said, adding that he knew at least 30 other former officers who were similarly deployed. Some officers that he knew of had also tried to get out of being forced back into the military, but were threatened with having their pensions cut off. “Only those whose adult children make enough money to support them are able to move away so they won’t have to serve again,” he said. The new recruitment drive is based on Myanmar’s Reserve Forces Law, which requires military personnel who have been retired for less than five years to return to active duty if summoned. Anyone who fails to comply with the law faces up to three years in prison. The junta raised the military retirement age two years ago, from 60 to 62, meaning that any former soldier up to the age of 67 can be called on to rejoin the armed forces. “Having to serve in a reserve force after reaching the full retirement age is like being told to serve in the military until you die. But there’s no way out for us, so we just have to go along with it,” said a sergeant who has been in service for over 30 years. He added that many military families are more focussed on ensuring that their younger members are not conscripted into the army. “I sent my two sons to Thailand once the conscription law went into effect. I just tell people that they’re away working somewhere else,” he said. For now, he said has no plans to try to evade being sent back into the military, because he thinks he will only be given an urban security detail. But if it begins to look like he might be sent to the frontline, he will reconsider his options. “If the situation gets any worse, I’m thinking about going to join my sons,” he said. Others who aren’t able to flee say they are prepared to face the consequences rather than be forcibly recruited into the military. “Considering that they’ve even started calling up elderly veterans, there’s a real danger that I could be summoned, too. But if they do, I’ve already decided that I will go to jail instead of going back into the army,” said a former lance corporal who was previously imprisoned for desertion. In 2019, Myanmar’s then civilian government reported that there were 250,000 military veterans in the country, accounting for 28 percent of its pensioners.

Myanmar junta intensifies efforts to bring veterans back into active service

Retired servicemen up to the age of 67 are being ordered to return to military duty or face up to three years in prison

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