Absent Without Leave from the Army?

[rexall]

Fri 3 Mar 2017, 3:22 pm

 

Hi ForumMates,

 

Anyone know anything about the Thai army?  Do kids ever get kicked out for discipline problems?  I assume they are not allowed to just quit?  What happens if a young person is absent without leave?  Will the army pursue them aggressively? Are they in the system so that they will turn up AWOL if stopped for a traffic offense?   Are the penalties severe?  I guess in the old days you got shot or imprisoned, but it is a different world.

Any insights appreciated.

Thanks, lah!

[slapout]

Wifes cousins, son ( a real mess from a early age) kicked out of public school, temple , and father fired him from farm work) joined the army, came back to village (home) after about 4 months training or whatever they do as he was bored with it.  He hung arounde village borrowed begged from eveyone he could , moved in with sister in CM for several months. She fed him and gave him cig and beer money. army never even looked for him in the village. he went back to army base after sister kicked him out (6months) the army put him on kitchen duty and cleaning around the base for about 5 months then discharged him. No penalty such as stockade, hard labor, etc were given the kid.

Discharge papers must have been favorable as he got a job as security at a bank and found his true calling as he has been there 4 years now and seems to be weaned from the family/village teat now.

[Thongkorn]

The Army will track them down , dont forget they have to produce their ID card for Jobs or when police ask them for it,  Nobody will Employ without an ID card. And when they are caught they go through a rough time, Two lads Did it in My son In Law's unit, they soon got caught and are now doing two years in prison,  In prison they will be doing menial and monotonous jobs, I can Understand why they do it, becasue  They are Conscripted into the Army, most dont want to go, and most have young families to support, The Army pay is poor and they dont support the Enlisted mans family, so if the guy has a19 year old girl with a baby , she has to look after herself, for the  two years they have to serve. I would not like to think my wife and child was trying to survive for two years. ok some have families but a lot are very poor anyway becasue those with money buy themselves out.

[rexall]

Sat 4 Mar 2017, 9:33 am

 

Thanks Slapout and Thongkorn for the informative replies.  The system has apparently stopped sending me e-mail notifications (Admin?)  so I am just now seeing this. Slapout, your story sounds very familiar, unfortunately.  I think it must be an "old Thai Song."  At least yours, had a happy ending.  Interesting that you two had rater different stories about how aggressively the army treats AWOL. Maybe because in Slapout's story, the boy returned voluntarily? 
Thanks!

Anybodies else?

 

[Langsuan Man]

8 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

The Army will track them down

Only if they are poor and uneducated:

 

Quote

In another case of the way political power and connections can save a person from punishment, the son of Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamarung, Duang Yumabarung, was not only acquitted in 2004 of killing a policeman at a nightclub, but he is now a police officer, The Bangkok Post reports.

 

In 2002, Duang was discharged from the army after fleeing to Malaysia to avoid being charged for the murder of the police officer. He was approved to rejoin in 2008.

 

Duang is now a shooting instructor for the Metropolitan Police, Reuters reports.

 

source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/332144#ixzz4aK0PvtoO

[Thongkorn]

7 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

Only if they are poor and uneducated:

 

source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/332144#ixzz4aK0PvtoO

The rich would not be in the Army in the First place if they did not want to go,

[cyberfarang]

On 03/03/2017 at 6:06 PM, slapout said:

Wifes cousins, son ( a real mess from a early age) kicked out of public school, temple , and father fired him from farm work) joined the army, came back to village (home) after about 4 months training or whatever they do as he was bored with it.  He hung arounde village borrowed begged from eveyone he could , moved in with sister in CM for several months. She fed him and gave him cig and beer money. army never even looked for him in the village. he went back to army base after sister kicked him out (6months) the army put him on kitchen duty and cleaning around the base for about 5 months then discharged him. No penalty such as stockade, hard labor, etc were given the kid.

Discharge papers must have been favorable as he got a job as security at a bank and found his true calling as he has been there 4 years now and seems to be weaned from the family/village teat now.

Sounds like a prime candidate for the police force.

[claffey]

On 3/4/2017 at 0:47 AM, Thongkorn said:

The Army will track them down , dont forget they have to produce their ID card for Jobs or when police ask them for it,  Nobody will Employ without an ID card. And when they are caught they go through a rough time, Two lads Did it in My son In Law's unit, they soon got caught and are now doing two years in prison,  In prison they will be doing menial and monotonous jobs, I can Understand why they do it, becasue  They are Conscripted into the Army, most dont want to go, and most have young families to support, The Army pay is poor and they dont support the Enlisted mans family, so if the guy has a19 year old girl with a baby , she has to look after herself, for the  two years they have to serve. I would not like to think my wife and child was trying to survive for two years. ok some have families but a lot are very poor anyway becasue those with money buy themselves out.

I reckon the majority of young Thai males who impregnate their young girlfriends don't really care and just move on. Hence the high numbers of unmarried mothers with kids. They are more interested in having enough money for themselves and whatever habits they have...ie. bikes, computer game, drugs etc...

 

ps. Massive generalisation but true in many cases as I'm sure that many posters on Thaivisa would back me up on...

[rexall]

2 hours ago, claffey said:

I reckon the majority of young Thai males who impregnate their young girlfriends don't really care and just move on.  

It is a generalization, but to the extent that it is accurate, I don't think "not caring" is the driver.  Obviously, they don't care in the sense of feeling a sense of responsibility.  But I think they suffer from the "idiot teenage disease"  of not believing that anything  bad is going to happen to THEM; to other people, but not to THEM. And then when it does, they don't have the values and training in personal responsibility to respond in a mature way.  Thais hardly have a monopoly on it, but it seems to me that the culture is very permissive, and so loath to criticize that the "institution" of single mothers and fatherless homes is perpetually reinforced. To a greater or lesser extent, this cultural sub-set probably exists in most counties (except China).