Avoid The National Service

[geriatrickid]

Surely a good bluff for eligable candidates living abroad would be to ask the Thai Military to fund their inbound flight so that they can attend the draft.

living abroad you don't even have to attend.

What happens if he is called and doesn't show up? Doesn't the name go on the "list"? What if he then shows up in Thailand at a later date, and he is interdicted at immigration. Yes, he has a legitimate excuse for not showing up for the draft, but until he sorts it out, he can be detained and subject to threats etc. If I have it wrong, then I'm wrong.

[PoorSucker]

Can you select what you want to be....like a heli pilot or a blimp pilot etc

Only if you sign up for the Army.

Wife's little brother have just volunteered to be sure he get a border patrol post near his home in Chiang Mai.

Will get 8000 baht / month for two years, not bad for a farmer boy without education.

[dirk28]

Surely a good bluff for eligable candidates living abroad would be to ask the Thai Military to fund their inbound flight so that they can attend the draft.

living abroad you don't even have to attend.

What happens if he is called and doesn't show up? Doesn't the name go on the "list"? What if he then shows up in Thailand at a later date, and he is interdicted at immigration. Yes, he has a legitimate excuse for not showing up for the draft, but until he sorts it out, he can be detained and subject to threats etc. If I have it wrong, then I'm wrong.

Cant you fly into Thailand with an Australian passport as a tourist and that would register that you as a thai wouldn't be in the country,or stay in Aussie until your 30

[samran]

Immigration and the military don't talk for starters. The requirement to have exemption papers when applying for a passport was done away with years ago.

The rules are very clear. If you can't make it to conscription day, you send a proxy (if you can). There is no penalty if a proxy isn't sent though.

After 30, you can't send a proxy and you must attend yourself (effectively at the first opportunity).

My penalty for reporting late after turning 30? A 200 baht fine. Max 400 baht, but I only needed to pay 200 as I turned up voluntarily.

Edited December 17, 2012 by astral
No need for long quotes. Use the reply button that bottom of the page

[Trembly]

If you've lived abroad the whole time then there are no penalties for not being able to attend, apart from the small fines for late reporting that Samran mentioned.

If you've served in a foreign military under any capacity whatsoever then you are exempt. That means that if someone was was in the reserves (the TA in the UK, for example) just long enough to pass out of training they will have the credentials to exempt themselves from Thai national service.

Edited December 16, 2012 by Trembly

[krisb]

Register your interest with the Australian forces, which doesnt take effect immediately, therefore creating a conflict of interest. Easy enough to then decide you dont want to be in the Australian forces.

[Travel2003]

Can you select what you want to be....like a heli pilot or a blimp pilot etc

Only if you sign up for the Army.

Wife's little brother have just volunteered to be sure he get a border patrol post near his home in Chiang Mai.

Will get 8000 baht / month for two years, not bad for a farmer boy without education.

You mean, he joined the forces?

Not doing the drafted service?

[PoorSucker]

You mean, he joined the forces?

Not doing the drafted service?

Yes, he figured that's a good move.

Not getting drafted and having a good salary.

[Travel2003]

You mean, he joined the forces?

Not doing the drafted service?

Yes, he figured that's a good move.

Not getting drafted and having a good salary.

Sure was a smart move.

And 8K a month as basic pay for a private?

That is a relative high salary.

[Trembly]

These days the Thai armed forces have a policy of supporting servicemen and women in studying out-of-hours for school diplomas and degrees if they wish to have a go at NCO or commissioned officer selection.

The generals that appear in political news are still going to be from CRMA, but the prospects are now much better for those from less advantaged backgrounds. If you're dirt poor and not stupid you could do a lot worse than join the forces, even if it's just to get your life on an even keel for a while.

Edited December 17, 2012 by astral
No need for long quotes. Use the reply button that bottom of the page

[samran]

Register your interest with the Australian forces, which doesnt take effect immediately, therefore creating a conflict of interest. Easy enough to then decide you dont want to be in the Australian forces.

Unfortunately 'registering your interest in a foreign force' is not an exemption clause in the rules.

[chickenslegs]

No worries, pay the tea money.

And let some poor farmers son take his place.

[Chittychangchang]

No worries, pay the tea money.

And let some poor farmers son take his place.

A good oportunity for the "poor farmers son" to increase his education and life skills whilst earning, giving him independence and a good grounding for life.

I wouldn't want to him to miss out on the oportunity because of my sons draft.

[p_brownstone]

If he's lucky he might get a job as Driver or Servant to some Generals' family or mistress - if he's really lucky they may treat him as slightly higher than a "poor farmers son".

Patrick

Edited December 17, 2012 by astral
No need for long quotes. Use the reply button that bottom of the page

[Chittychangchang]

After watching this Thai Army/Navy/Airforce recruitment clip i have changed my views.........

Edited December 17, 2012 by astral
No need for long quotes. Use the reply button that bottom of the page

[astral]

I was under the impression that volunteers have to take exams

and the poor farmer boy might not make the grade......

[Waterloo]

If you've lived abroad the whole time then there are no penalties for not being able to attend, apart from the small fines for late reporting that Samran mentioned.

If you've served in a foreign military under any capacity whatsoever then you are exempt. That means that if someone was was in the reserves (the TA in the UK, for example) just long enough to pass out of training they will have the credentials to exempt themselves from Thai national service.

Interesting hadn't heard that one before, but with members of the TA currently serving in afghanistan not sure how much of a choice that currently is.

[bobo42]

Can you select what you want to be....like a heli pilot or a blimp pilot etc

Only if you sign up for the Army.

Wife's little brother have just volunteered to be sure he get a border patrol post near his home in Chiang Mai.

Will get 8000 baht / month for two years, not bad for a farmer boy without education.

Would love to know if this is the actual pay he gets. My BIL recently finished his 2yr service (he was drafted). At the time when he started, they also told him the salary would be 8k/month (which he was relieved to hear since he just had a kid). As far as I know, he was never actually paid anywhere close to that amount. MIL ended up supporting his wife and kid while he was doing his service.

I suppose its possible that he was pissing away the money and lying about it, but I don't think so. As far as I can tell, he's a pretty straight arrow, and I certainly don't give him any money, so he's got no incentive to lie to me. My feeling is that graft in the military is rampant, and everybody took a piece, until the lowest guys in line didn't have much left. They always had some excuse about why the money was late, or short, but they never had the money. Most of the time, he would end up with around 4k - and that was nearly always late. I'm pretty sure they planned out those "late" paydays to end up skipping a few during his time in. Needless to say, he was pretty pissed off about it, but not a dam_n thing he could do. Would love to know if this is "normal" here.

[Trembly]

If you've lived abroad the whole time then there are no penalties for not being able to attend, apart from the small fines for late reporting that Samran mentioned.

If you've served in a foreign military under any capacity whatsoever then you are exempt. That means that if someone was was in the reserves (the TA in the UK, for example) just long enough to pass out of training they will have the credentials to exempt themselves from Thai national service.

Interesting hadn't heard that one before, but with members of the TA currently serving in afghanistan not sure how much of a choice that currently is.

Under the current UK reserves Terms and Conditions of Service (TACOS) the reservist may leave at any time with no obligation unless their mobilisation papers are in. You are actually told to put your family first, job second and service last, so unless you actually agree to be deployed you're not going anywhere. Of course, serial deployment dodging has affects on your service career and it is open abuse but that's a whole other thread.

Edited December 19, 2012 by Trembly

[Trembly]

Can you select what you want to be....like a heli pilot or a blimp pilot etc

Only if you sign up for the Army.

Wife's little brother have just volunteered to be sure he get a border patrol post near his home in Chiang Mai.

Will get 8000 baht / month for two years, not bad for a farmer boy without education.

Would love to know if this is the actual pay he gets. My BIL recently finished his 2yr service (he was drafted). At the time when he started, they also told him the salary would be 8k/month (which he was relieved to hear since he just had a kid). As far as I know, he was never actually paid anywhere close to that amount. MIL ended up supporting his wife and kid while he was doing his service.

I suppose its possible that he was pissing away the money and lying about it, but I don't think so. As far as I can tell, he's a pretty straight arrow, and I certainly don't give him any money, so he's got no incentive to lie to me. My feeling is that graft in the military is rampant, and everybody took a piece, until the lowest guys in line didn't have much left. They always had some excuse about why the money was late, or short, but they never had the money. Most of the time, he would end up with around 4k - and that was nearly always late. I'm pretty sure they planned out those "late" paydays to end up skipping a few during his time in. Needless to say, he was pretty pissed off about it, but not a dam_n thing he could do. Would love to know if this is "normal" here.

Just to throw in my 2 satang, I know lots of private soldiers past and present through my extended family and home town / village and they don't get paid late. I'll have to ask them what they actually get paid.

[Boksida]

If you've lived abroad the whole time then there are no penalties for not being able to attend, apart from the small fines for late reporting that Samran mentioned.

If you've served in a foreign military under any capacity whatsoever then you are exempt. That means that if someone was was in the reserves (the TA in the UK, for example) just long enough to pass out of training they will have the credentials to exempt themselves from Thai national service.

My dual national son spent 6 years as a permanent member of the Armed Forces of another country but still had to go through the Thai draft formalities on his return to Thailand. There was no interest in his previous service but he was able to get an exemption on the basis of a previous injury (and a couple of brown envelopes).

[Trembly]

If you've lived abroad the whole time then there are no penalties for not being able to attend, apart from the small fines for late reporting that Samran mentioned.

If you've served in a foreign military under any capacity whatsoever then you are exempt. That means that if someone was was in the reserves (the TA in the UK, for example) just long enough to pass out of training they will have the credentials to exempt themselves from Thai national service.

My dual national son spent 6 years as a permanent member of the Armed Forces of another country but still had to go through the Thai draft formalities on his return to Thailand. There was no interest in his previous service but he was able to get an exemption on the basis of a previous injury (and a couple of brown envelopes).

You have to go through the formalities regardless. If you don't go through the formalities you'll never get officially exempted. Sounds as if they deliberately sidestepped the fact that he was already exempt due to his service in foreign military so that they could get some brown envelopes some other way.