Myanmar Conscripts Sent to Die on Frontlines, Say Defectors

[geovalin]

Militia

 

Myanmar’s military regime is using forcibly recruited conscripts as expendable shock troops in its desperate bid to retake territory lost to resistance forces, according to testimonies from defectors who escaped the front lines.

 

The accounts—shared in video interviews released by ethnic armed groups—paint a grim picture: undertrained, poorly armed conscripts, some as young as 15, are being pushed into combat with threats of execution if they retreat. In some cases, officers have reportedly shot their own men for trying to flee.

 

“All conscripts are sent to the front,” said Nay Lin Aung, who defected to the Arakan Army (AA) after being abducted off the street in Mandalay and forced into military service. “One of my friends was shot in the head by an officer as he tried to escape fighting.”

 

Others describe being tied up as punishment or locked in wooden stocks without medical treatment after deliberately injuring themselves to avoid combat. Some were recaptured after fleeing and imprisoned before being sent back into battle.

 

Since activating the long-dormant Conscription Law in early 2024, the junta has run at least 11 training batches, each with around 5,000 new recruits. Press gangs in cities like Yangon and Mandalay now routinely snatch men and women off the streets. Officially, service is mandatory for men aged 18–35 and women aged 18–27. In practice, child conscription is on the rise.

 

Fifteen-year-old Nay Htet Lin, a street vendor before his abduction, was captured by resistance fighters in Sagaing Region and later released. “They left me behind when they retreated because I was asleep,” he said of his unit. “The PLA troops are taking care of me now.”

 

The junta is reportedly deploying these conscripts across multiple conflict zones—from Shan and Karenni States to the vital Asia Highway in Karen State, where the Karen National Liberation Army accuses the regime of sacrificing recruits in futile offensives.

 

“They gave us little ammunition and ordered us into impossible missions,” said one KNLA-held defector. “The officers stayed behind while we were threatened with death if we fell back.”

 

With casualties mounting and morale collapsing, defectors warn the military’s brutal reliance on conscripts is not only ineffective—but unsustainable.

 

-2025-07-19