Thai Air Force An Alternative To The Army

[peterjay]

My son at 17 is nearing the possibility of being enlisted in the Army.

He dropped out of school after M3 but at last is getting his act together and will possibly qualify for college.

My experience of 4 years spent in the Royal Air Force being beneficial I wondered if the Thai air force was an alternative to the army .

[mstribling]

Just asked the wife. She said he can enlist, but obviously the draftees don't get to choose to much.

Why do you think he will be drafted?

[NanLaew]

My understanding is the draft is a 100% lottery. He won't know for sure he will be drafted and if he is, he will have no say in where he does his national service. My neighbour was inconsolable when her older son was drafted. However, he ended up in the Navy is Sattahip and is having a blast.

The younger son did his bit in the monkhood and someone told me that's a good way of draft dodging as well. Plus it makes mums ever so happy.

[phutoie2]

Age 17 is a bit young for enlistment?, I thought it was nearer 20/21.

My wifes family went to one of these red ball/black ball events held by the Thai Army at out local Amphur. There were 3 areas cordoned off by tape, one for those already selected, one for waiting and one for a rather large group of lady boy's/not sure's.

[samran]

If he is headed for college, then then that opens up the possibility of defering the lottery till he graduates. If he is lucky, the college might have a cadets/ROTC set up. Participation there, offsets either partially or totally, the need to go for conscription.

Once he graduates from college, as long as he ends up with a Bachelors Degree, then he has the choice of volunteering for 6 months in the armed services, which will take care of his military obligations.

However, if he doesn't volunteer, and is chosen via lottery, then he will serve the full two years despite being a college graduate.

[peterjay]

If he is headed for college, then then that opens up the possibility of defering the lottery till he graduates. If he is lucky, the college might have a cadets/ROTC set up. Participation there, offsets either partially or totally, the need to go for conscription.

Once he graduates from college, as long as he ends up with a Bachelors Degree, then he has the choice of volunteering for 6 months in the armed services, which will take care of his military obligations.

However, if he doesn't volunteer, and is chosen via lottery, then he will serve the full two years despite being a college graduate.

[peterjay]

If he is headed for college, then then that opens up the possibility of defering the lottery till he graduates. If he is lucky, the college might have a cadets/ROTC set up. Participation there, offsets either partially or totally, the need to go for conscription.

Once he graduates from college, as long as he ends up with a Bachelors Degree, then he has the choice of volunteering for 6 months in the armed services, which will take care of his military obligations.

However, if he doesn't volunteer, and is chosen via lottery, then he will serve the full two years despite being a college graduate.

[peterjay]

Thanks maybe I am mistaken but it looks as if he could not enlist in the Thai air force directly--

Any idea how the selection for enlistment in a particular area is decided?

[mstribling]

Like most things, ฿

[mstribling]

We had a cousin pay 10,000฿ to avoid the draft all together.

[transam]

I understood that if a kid did not get his papers from finishing school then at 20 you were summoned to the army. BUT, could pay to stay out.

[samran]

Thanks maybe I am mistaken but it looks as if he could not enlist in the Thai air force directly--

Any idea how the selection for enlistment in a particular area is decided?

No idea if he can enlist directly or not. Best to ask the conscription officer.

As for selection:

- each region has a quota each year. If they are filled with volunteers, then there is no lottery that year. If they fall short, the lottery makes up the difference.

- Based on that, you do a health test, this is the point where many trans-sexuals and other people with physical ailments get booted out.

[Thailandf2rally]

I'm half Thai and currently serving in the Royal Thai Air Force, I was not drafted, but I enlisted up upon my uncle's desire for me to get a taste of life in the Thai Armed Forces.

Honestly it's not as bad as everyone says it is, yes there are unorthodox methods of punishment but if 200 other guys can take some pain, i'm sure he will be fine too.

Since the Air Force is considerably smaller than the Army, Airmen have to be more versatile, Basic Training takes around 6 months for the Air Force, where the Army takes 3 Months and they are assign to their respective battalions.

Training is tough, but nothing a healthy young male can't handle, but he has to be mentally prepared, mind games here are the ultimate test, but if he can handle the the mental aspects, the rest is easy.

The Air Force is much more easy in terms of responsibilities compared to the Army and the scope of work is very limited, so unless he's tough enough to make it to an 'active' company (RTAF Air Force Commando Unit) I doubt he will ever face anything life threatening at all.

Basically Air Force ground units are there to protect the Air Base, we have a jurisdiction of 16km area surrounding the air field. Anything further than that, the Army takes care of it.

From my understanding your son is half thai? Is English his mother tongue? If he has specific skills; English, computers, music. Then life will be very easy for him, he'll most probably be given a desk job. This will open up a lot of privileges for him and if he likes it, he could very possibly get promoted to an NCO position and develop this as a career.

If he's up for it, he should enlist directly to the Air Force. Doing the draft draw, his chances of getting drafted the the Army are 9 to1. The quota for Airmen is only around 400/year for each Air Base. Where the Army drafts thousands. The war in the south isn't over so someone's gotta go and fight, unfortunately it's the Army's job.

Here are some pictures I shot during the final training phase for this years drafted Airmen

[NanLaew]

^^ and ^ Excellent and informative posts there, thanks!

Takes the mystery out of the ballot system and lends an insight into options once signed up.

[Bedrockguesthouse]

Brilliant and informative response. Well done

I'm half Thai and currently serving in the Royal Thai Air Force, I was not drafted, but I enlisted up upon my uncle's desire for me to get a taste of life in the Thai Armed Forces.

Honestly it's not as bad as everyone says it is, yes there are unorthodox methods of punishment but if 200 other guys can take some pain, i'm sure he will be fine too.

Since the Air Force is considerably smaller than the Army, Airmen have to be more versatile, Basic Training takes around 6 months for the Air Force, where the Army takes 3 Months and they are assign to their respective battalions.

Training is tough, but nothing a healthy young male can't handle, but he has to be mentally prepared, mind games here are the ultimate test, but if he can handle the the mental aspects, the rest is easy.

The Air Force is much more easy in terms of responsibilities compared to the Army and the scope of work is very limited, so unless he's tough enough to make it to an 'active' company (RTAF Air Force Commando Unit) I doubt he will ever face anything life threatening at all.

Basically Air Force ground units are there to protect the Air Base, we have a jurisdiction of 16km area surrounding the air field. Anything further than that, the Army takes care of it.

From my understanding your son is half thai? Is English his mother tongue? If he has specific skills; English, computers, music. Then life will be very easy for him, he'll most probably be given a desk job. This will open up a lot of privileges for him and if he likes it, he could very possibly get promoted to an NCO position and develop this as a career.

If he's up for it, he should enlist directly to the Air Force. Doing the draft draw, his chances of getting drafted the the Army are 9 to1. The quota for Airmen is only around 400/year for each Air Base. Where the Army drafts thousands. The war in the south isn't over so someone's gotta go and fight, unfortunately it's the Army's job.

Here are some pictures I shot during the final training phase for this years drafted Airmen

[phutoie2]

Good to see the RTAF has a dedicated professional airfield defence unit, airfields and aircraft are valuable assets.

The UK formed the first such units in WW2 after the capture of airfields in Crete. They have served in every British campaign since.

They are course the Royal Air Force Regiment. "Per Ardua"

Edited January 28, 2011 by phutoie2