How Many Military Generals And Police Generals That Thailand Really Has?

[3183h]

I took a Tuk-Tuk to the Royal Palace today and heard one of the ladies in green uniform assisting the tourists in English. My couriosity told me to ask these questions because I heard that Thailand has over 5,000 Generals in both Military and Police.

One of the ladies told me that, the Army had over 1,500 Generals (from four stars down to two stars), the Navy has almost 1,000 and also the Air Force. The Police also has its own Generals. These make a total of 5,000 of them.

Another lady in the military uniform told me that, she really did not know because around 300 of the Generals are working in the Ministry of Defense alone.

I told her that in the States, we have a total of 50 four-star generals because it is specified in the constitution. All of the branches have less than 1,000 Generals combined.

The ladies laughed and said that, I should have seen the military parade. THis is because I could see all of the Generals in the stands...

I said that, if there are many Generals like this, they should have at least 50,000 Senior officers (Colonel down to Major). They said that, it was closed to my guess.

---------------------------------

5,000 Generals mean that the they should have over 2 million in troops, which I am doubtful. I think the military budget should be skyrocketed to pay the salaries to these Generals.

Look like if I throw the rocks into the crowd, it might hit couples of the Generals for sure.

Wow !!!

Did the information that I received from these ladies seem accurate to you or they had just given me a good laugh?

[mahtin]

Yes, took a tuk-tuk, you are confusing.

[somluck]

Half that number is probably more accurate. 2500 as a ball park figure.

Promotion in the Thai military is based more on time in service and patronage more than anything else.

I read some where about a quarter of the generals have no specific responsibilities and as early as a decade back when they realized the problem, the government came up with a early retirement scheme for these generals but was not well received. A joke going round about generals always out playing golf is because most of them do not even have an office

[eljeque]

About 10 years ago there were 1800

They realized that was too many.

About eight years ago there were over 2,000 ???

[slapout]

If the Thai system follows its normal form, no one knows the exact number, do not care and would wonder why anyone would raise such a question.

[sanook2me]

If the Thai system follows its normal form, no one knows the exact number, do not care and would wonder why anyone would raise such a question.

You have been here a long time or are very astute !

[AleG]

This reminded me of an article I read some time ago...

[Briggsy]

I do know Thailand has a huge number of its population in uniform. This is even more striking when you consider Thailand is not under threat of imminent attack or in readiness for war. cf. South Korea or Israel etc.

Many of these troops end up doing very little or working directly for all these generals in money-making schemes such as passenger vans or security services.

Similarly Thailand also has a huge police force relative to its population. The activities of many police officers are often either little or not related to crime prevention or detection.

These two "states within a state" are good examples of how the patronage system hinders national development as huge numbers of people are employed in unproductive roles.

[Plus]

Military service has long been an opportunity to advance in life that anyone could take reagardless of birth, just like temple education was the only option for the poor in the past.

I heard Thailand has more generals than tanks.

>>>

They get to keep the title even after retirement, btw, thus the total number doesn't mean the number of generals on active duty.

[pitrevie]

Many years ago some astute civil servant realized the British Royal Navy had more admirals than ships. I think at that point they decided to prune the tree.

[BigSnake]

About 6000 if you count all the INactive Posts, not kidding

[oldsparrow]

For the Police

Around 10 four stars for the top boss and deputy (gen. has four and the major gen. start at two), may be 40 three stars for assistant and bureau commisioner, 80 two stars for the provinces and bangkok, may be 100 more two stars for the commander positions of some bureau and wherever.

May be 230 for Police.

The Army alone has LESS personal than the police. Let say 450

The RTAF and RTN together may be 700

May be 1300 ++

Interesting to check for the real figure.

[oldsparrow]

Military service has long been an opportunity to advance in life that anyone could take reagardless of birth, just like temple education was the only option for the poor in the past. I heard Thailand has more generals than tanks. >>> They get to keep the title even after retirement, btw, thus the total number doesn't mean the number of generals on active duty.

This one is true "more generals than tanks"

Once my uncle was the chief of Army Armament Dept. (Don't know its exact name in English)

[highchol]

similar to numbers after decimal point in Pi

[ballpoint]

Congratulations to the OP. This is the first post ever that truly deserves to be in the General Topics forum.

[DP25]

I do know Thailand has a huge number of its population in uniform. This is even more striking when you consider Thailand is not under threat of imminent attack or in readiness for war. cf. South Korea or Israel etc.

Not really. For it's population size, it's not really that much more than many other countries about the same size. Around 300k active duty military in Thailand, 200-300k for the large European countries (France, UK, Germany, Italy) about the same population size. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count...f_active_troops

Not entirely without threat either, Burma has over 400k soldiers and a much larger military budget, and are unpredictable.

[highchol]

Congratulations to the OP. This is the first post ever that truly deserves to be in the General Topics forum.

[oldsparrow]

The number I think of the service officers. After retirement they keep the rank before the name but have no different than other retire officers.

The following note (dated 12 June 1990) discusses the idea of having retird officers include (retired) after the names but they decided not to.

http://dop.rta.mi.th/dp_04/ad15.doc

[Bagwan]

Many years ago some astute civil servant realized the British Royal Navy had more admirals than ships. I think at that point they decided to prune the tree.

At least 30 years too late in my opinion. I left in 1961 and there was a plethora of passed over Lieutenant Commanders then, the majority knowing that they would never get a sea going appointment again. Many were sheer dross, hanging on for their pension and doing Charles Laughton impersonations.

After I was discharged the RN started to modernise and on small ships Leading Seaman were posted as 2nd Officer of the Watch when at sea and men of the watch on deck no longer detailed off as being the seaboat's crew. The seaboat was a whaler propelled by muscle i.e. oars. Not all changes have been for the better. Officers and ratings drink together ashore now I understand. Unthinkable in my day. The notion of women going to sea would have caused a mutiny.

[Bagwan]

Why is it that the police seems to be entirely staffed by Sergeant Majors and Senior Sergeant Majors and what are all those medals for? I prefer the UK system where medals are awarded after being part of something important and/or dangerous, not for turning up at the recruiting office alone rather than being accompanied by Mummy or having shiny boots. Obviously passing examinations of competence and satisfying other requirements first and then having ones name placed on a roster until a vacancy occurs is not part of Thai thinking. Handing out medals and stripes willy-nilly devalues the system and the force efficiency.

[TIT]

Many years ago some astute civil servant realized the British Royal Navy had more admirals than ships. I think at that point they decided to prune the tree.

At least 30 years too late in my opinion. I left in 1961 and there was a plethora of passed over Lieutenant Commanders then, the majority knowing that they would never get a sea going appointment again. Many were sheer dross, hanging on for their pension and doing Charles Laughton impersonations.

After I was discharged the RN started to modernise and on small ships Leading Seaman were posted as 2nd Officer of the Watch when at sea and men of the watch on deck no longer detailed off as being the seaboat's crew. The seaboat was a whaler propelled by muscle i.e. oars. Not all changes have been for the better. Officers and ratings drink together ashore now I understand. Unthinkable in my day. The notion of women going to sea would have caused a mutiny.

I left the RN in 1994 and one of the reasons was woman being allowed on ships. Total waste of time especially being as at times of War they were taken off the ships to be replaced by men. It was horrible seeing once tough Senior rates being reduced to numpties in front of these girls saying they couldn't do store ship as they had a headache or it was their time of the month. All it meant was more work for us.

There was no drinking ashore with ratings and officers in those days either but I believe according to a few lads I know who are still in, it's all gone to pot now. You can't shout at a junior rating for fear he will report you for abusing him!! They're also allowed to wear footwear of their choosing when going on cross country runs in basic training. Madness. They'll probably be allowed to choose if they want to fight or not when the time comes.............Not like it used to be! I must be knockin' on I guess

[Timthai]

What the... do cross country running shoes have to do with how many generals in LOS?It's often a social status post, and most (allegedly) pay dearly for their promotions. (just like politicians' election campaign I guess).They retain their rank and a fair degree of influence after they retire, so the number just grows. There is a definite respect for class seniority, and they network extremely well. The best way to influence one general is to get another one from an earlier class on side!

[isanbirder]

Count the number of golf courses and multiply by...... 10?

[Robby nz]

I have had a bit to do with a public military hospital that treats a huge number of patients and know there are are several Generals at that hospital who are senior doctors (specialists mostly) and teachers.

Most departments have boards with photos and rank of the specialists in that dept.

I also know the Thai military run about 10 public hospitals, there is a list of them somewhere on the health forum, 2 of them I understand are in BKK.

The military also run a banking system (public), all those working there will also hold rank, ie officers of some senior rank as managers of each branch.

So when comparing or just slinging off consider that there are many generals who are not in the fighting, or golfing side of the armed forces but do a valuable job for the country as doctors and bankers, no dont tell me about US bankers.

If you do want to do a comparison have a look to see if you can find any other country where the military run public hospitals.

[happyrobert]

Congratulations to the OP. This is the first post ever that truly deserves to be in the General Topics forum.

:lol: X 2

[jayjayjayjay]

There is acutally a book produced for the Royal Thai Police every year. I would guess the Armed forces have the same thing. Why not get ahold of them and give us the stats when your done. Make sure to include all inactive post generals as well. This would account for approximately 50% of total numbers.

[oldsailor35]

Why is it that the police seems to be entirely staffed by Sergeant Majors and Senior Sergeant Majors and what are all those medals for? I prefer the UK system where medals are awarded after being part of something important and/or dangerous, not for turning up at the recruiting office alone rather than being accompanied by Mummy or having shiny boots. Obviously passing examinations of competence and satisfying other requirements first and then having ones name placed on a roster until a vacancy occurs is not part of Thai thinking. Handing out medals and stripes willy-nilly devalues the system and the force efficiency.

I guess that they just copied the yanks. I served 12 years ( not including 3yrs boys time) and came out with 4 medals, one of them the Singman Rhee (Korean) as a twenty yr old in Hong Kong i was talking with a young USN able seaman younger than me and he had 6 medals by then.

[oldsailor35]

Many years ago some astute civil servant realized the British Royal Navy had more admirals than ships. I think at that point they decided to prune the tree.

At least 30 years too late in my opinion. I left in 1961 and there was a plethora of passed over Lieutenant Commanders then, the majority knowing that they would never get a sea going appointment again. Many were sheer dross, hanging on for their pension and doing Charles Laughton impersonations.

After I was discharged the RN started to modernise and on small ships Leading Seaman were posted as 2nd Officer of the Watch when at sea and men of the watch on deck no longer detailed off as being the seaboat's crew. The seaboat was a whaler propelled by muscle i.e. oars. Not all changes have been for the better. Officers and ratings drink together ashore now I understand. Unthinkable in my day. The notion of women going to sea would have caused a mutiny.

I left the RN in 1994 and one of the reasons was woman being allowed on ships. Total waste of time especially being as at times of War they were taken off the ships to be replaced by men. It was horrible seeing once tough Senior rates being reduced to numpties in front of these girls saying they couldn't do store ship as they had a headache or it was their time of the month. All it meant was more work for us.

There was no drinking ashore with ratings and officers in those days either but I believe according to a few lads I know who are still in, it's all gone to pot now. You can't shout at a junior rating for fear he will report you for abusing him!! They're also allowed to wear footwear of their choosing when going on cross country runs in basic training. Madness. They'll probably be allowed to choose if they want to fight or not when the time comes.............Not like it used to be! I must be knockin' on I guess

Yes TIT bloody pathetic is'nt it

[oldsailor35]

One thing for sure. If any Brit or Commonwealth serviceman wears a medal, he has earned it and its not just a recieved a gift.

Edited April 7, 2011 by oldsailor35

[Eman]

Years ago I used to keep a list of all the Police officer's names I came across while reading The Nation, or ThaiVisa news clippings, or the Phuket Gazette, etc...

You know the "Today Bangkok Pol General XXX said...."

And I "never" saw the same name twice