Thoughts on military service in Taiwan

As someone seeking greater cultural immersion in his adopted home country of Taiwan, my recently completed year of service in the Taiwanese military was worthwhile and eye-opening, and personally speaking, I got a lot out of it, something evident from the fact that a lot of my diary entries over the past year have been of a more introspective nature, which is good in that I didn't really write about self-exploration much before. That said, my year has also given me much cause to examine and criticize the military as an *institution*, and the way it affects everyone within it.

I met up with a friend from my college acapella group last week, and it was a interesting meeting not only because it was the first time we'd seen each other for 8 years, but because Hyungi is Korean, and also finished his mandatory military service fairly recently, so that was a particularly pertinent and fascinating discussion filled with comparison and contrast. In a sense, the modern Korean military shares many similarities with the Taiwanese military back in the day; back when the standard term of mandatory service lasted between 2-3 years, and conscripts comprised the backbone of the military as a whole, and can serve as non-coms and even officers. Currently, the length of mandatory service is 21 months for the Army and Marines, 23 for the Navy, and 24 for the Air Force. Supplemental service (similar to Alternative Service in Taiwan) starts at 24 months, but can last up to 36 months for certain fields such as public health and law.

As an interesting aside, Hyungi informed me that getting into college - a competitive test score-based process fairly similar to that in Taiwan and Japan - allows men to defer service until graduation, but most people actually choose to first complete their 1st year to guarantee their spot, and then go into military service, returning to school to complete their degree afterwards. The idea is that transitioning from college into the workforce is easier than transitioning from the military, which makes sense. STEM jobs are highly desired in Korea (as is the case in much of the world), and 2 or even 3 years in some cases is a long time to spend away from a field, especially fast-changing ones like tech. This approach obviously isn't something that would be practical in Taiwan, where most conscripts only serve 4 months (my 1 year term made me an exception that basically doesn't exist anymore), which is basically as long as an extended summer vacation.

My friend noted that his personal experience was rather atypical, in that he served as a liaison with Boeing regarding F-15s and also worked with the logistical corps, but from what I could tell, it's clear that conscripts are treated seriously. Obviously, there are still disparities in responsibilities and opportunities compared to the volunteers, as is the case in Taiwan, but the difference isn't nearly as stark. For example, while I was able to go to Jump School as a Special Forces volunteer (though still a conscript, you had to volunteer for this unit), I didn't have the opportunity to undergo more advanced combat training, largely due to lack of time. By the time I finished Jump School, (very) Basic Mountaineering training, and officially joined my unit, I had already burned through 12 weeks, or 1/4th of my entire term. Army Ranger School lasts 10 weeks (closer to 12 including preliminary training). Let's say I was even physically qualified to graduate, which is by no means guaranteed - I would have spent nearly half of my conscription period in training before actually contributing anything to the Army. That's a pretty shitty ROI, and it's no wonder our superiors as a rule wanted to save valuable training slots and opportunities for volunteers who'd be serving for at least 4 years.

I guess the point is this: Korea as a society takes the threat of war seriously, something reflected both in the length and depth of mandatory service. In Taiwan... well, not so much. Putting aside a true outbreak of war (in which case the Korean system would undoubtedly prove superior to the Taiwanese model), what's better in our age of uneasy peace?

Service in Korea can be something you'd be proud to put on your resume, because it's actually demanding, and may create a favorable impression for employers, depending on your unit. In Taiwan, the military's reputation as a whole isn't quite so favorable, which is something I have mixed feelings about. Undoubtedly, the elite units earn every last bit of prestige (and cash); they really are the best Taiwan has to offer. But the average military zhou - both conscript and volunteer - is in sad shape both physically and mentally.  Hell, I'd be hesitant to hire someone who'd just finished his 4 year volunteer contract - I'd be sure to get the details on what he actually did and the specifics on how he did his work, because unfortunately, way too many volunteers picked up extremely shitty standards and work ethic while in the military. I consider myself lucky in that my unit overall was actually pretty decent in this regard - but this sort of work ethic was what I expected to be the standard, not the exception.

All that said, I hesitate to place the blame disproportionately upon the military itself. As mentioned above, the short time they have to work with us conscripts makes it quite difficult to get any meaningful training and work out of us. The military is a reflection of the society from which it draws its members, and in that sense you get what you deserve. But it's certainly true that not all units are interested in providing a tough and fruitful experience for its soldiers, conscript or not - and shit rolls downhill. When commander's priorities are misplaced, then you have institutional problems. For example, it takes time, effort, and expertise to be able to evaluate if professional training is doing well, and if it's effective. It's virtually impossible to evaluate if you haven't spent a fair amount of time observing a unit in a variety of situations to see how they react. So inspections tend to be cursory and focused on pretty banal stuff - which is a nicer way to say useless. You can see at a glance if grass is too long, if everyone's uniforms are up to standard, if everything looks to be in order on paper. It's teaching to the test, in a sense, and underlings react accordingly. Why spend valuable time and manpower (again, stretched to the limit with the ridiculously short term of service for most people nowadays making them essentially useless) training for things that you won't be evaluated on, when real consequences exist for being penalized for the realistically useless but practically important (affecting your promotion and pay) things?

Would a longer term of service prove useful for Taiwan and its young men? By itself, I don't think so. Conscripts might learn more under the Korean model yes - but that the things you learn will actually prove useful for the rest of your life is by no means guaranteed. Some of military service's best lessons - learning to work as a team, to put the goals of a mission above the self, to endure adversity, to life and work with people from all sorts of backgrounds - are indeed useful in life, but first of all, it doesn't necessarily take 2 years to learn, and can also be learned more effectively in a non-military setting. All that said, if you look at it from a sunk cost perspective, it makes sense: we need to conscript men in order to have enough soldiers to counter a Chinese invasion anyway, so might as well make the time spent more worthwhile - it's not really pulling men out of their normal lives specifically to do this; they would have to put their "normal" lives on hold anyway to serve.

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This is the English version of this post.