I went to watch our great-nephew take his chance at military conscription on Wednesday the 9th of April. It was at the Amphoe hall in Khumpawapi. He arrived mid-morning with his conscription letter in hand and went through paperwork processing. At this point any katoeys, physically/mentally disabled or requests for deferment are handled. He was then told to wait for his physical processing where he stripped to the waist was weighted, chest measured and checked for any physical disabilities and marked on his arm 597 with an indelible marker.. He was then told to wait again (hurry up and wait is an international thing). We all sat down and ate a late lunch while we waited for the final step, the draft lottery.. They called all young men to queue up outside the hall where Army NCO's put them in columns by numbers, evidently based on their Tambon. Our great-nephew ended up close to the front of the group of 530 young men who'd been found fit for conscription. After sitting these 530 young men into the front half of the hall, a number of military officers gave lectures on the whole draft lottery process. The Khumpawapi District was tasked to provide 234 young men but!!! due to quotas being exceeded due to enlistments in other Issan provinces the final need was for 103 draftees. This news of course was met with loud cheers... In a very ritualistic manner a box with the military "Red papers" was unwrapped with officials seals being removed and shown to the whole crowd. These papers, actually folded/sealed perhaps 14mmX25mm were then put in a large non-transparent jar Then smaller glass jars containing the "Black Papers" (about a dozen or more) were announced as being from Buriram, Khorat, Navy enlistees, etc. and each one held up then dumped into the large jar.

Now it began. The tension was thick in the at least 42 degree air.. The number of the first man was called out along with his first name. He jumped up from where he was sitting and walked up to where two NCO's grabbed him by the elbows and steered him over to the bowl. With an NCO guiding his arm, the fellow reached into the bowl and grabbed a card. This was immediately taken from his fingers and handed to a senior NCO who snapped to attention, and with military precision unwrapped/unrolled the card, looked at it, then presented it to a seated officer, who called out Dahm (BLACK!!).. A huge cheer went up from the sitting 529 men.. The process continued with the fifth man getting a Dang!! (RED) followed by Tahan Bok (Army), Army Region #2..... The crowd erupted in more cheers.. As process continued there were no more cheers for Dahm (Black!) as the remaining realized that the more Black cards handed out meant more Red ones were left in the bowl.. I watched for my great nephew and heard 592 called out (he got a Red Card) and got my camera recording.. The numbers weren't sequential and he was next "597 Chamnan!!" He jumped up, quickly walked to the NCO's who grabbed his arms.. They pushed him to the next set of NCO's at the bowl.. They had his hand, he grabbed his ticket... It was quickly opened and handed to the Officer.. DAHM!!!.. Our great-nephew can now start his career as an IT installer instead of doing 2 years in the military... As he exited the hall his mother and sister were all grins, slapping him on the back.. He felt pretty good...

Aardvark wrote:No offence JP, but let the Kid take his chances who know's if he get's conscripted he might end up enjoying it. If I had my time over I would still join the Navy, had a lot of fun with some great blokes and some of the discipline and hard work have paid off for me in the long run, it's not like Thailand is at War [-o<

And you know the words to the Village People's song " In the Navy " eh ??

Was at the local recruitment session last week . Found out something I didn't know before , apparently if you volunteer for service.ie: not join the lottery, you only have to serve 0ne year not two , and apparently the get out of jail card was costing 30k. :-"

trubrit wrote:Was at the local recruitment session last week . Found out something I didn't know before , apparently if you volunteer for service.ie: not join the lottery, you only have to serve 0ne year not two , and apparently the get out of jail card was costing 30k. :-"

Correct - my son told me after he went to Central Plaza on Friday where he avoided National Service.

socksy wrote:

trubrit wrote:Was at the local recruitment session last week . Found out something I didn't know before , apparently if you volunteer for service.ie: not join the lottery, you only have to serve 0ne year not two , and apparently the get out of jail card was costing 30k. :-"

Correct - my son told me after he went to Central Plaza on Friday where he avoided National Service.

Carrying 30,000 then ??

I wish - just pulled the right colour out - I believe Black - I wasn't there.

seems strange to me to " and stupid " to discuss on line how the rich and or cowards can cheat the rules
just because they have money ... but thats just me ....

so the $64 Question

If you choose to go the lottery line and u loose, does the cost of opting out go up ??

Or is the 30,000 facility fee, payable before the lottery is processed??

wazza wrote:so the $64 Question

If you choose to go the lottery line and u loose, does the cost of opting out go up ??

Or is the 30,000 facility fee, payable before the lottery is processed??

No idea - he didn't even consider it and took his chance.

noosard wrote:

martynsnowman wrote:seems strange to me to " and stupid " to discuss on line how the rich and or cowards can cheat the rules
just because they have money ... but thats just me ....

why is it stange or stupid to discuss what happens
half the country pays and the other half recieves
much like our tax system

I agree that would be another piece of corruption swept under the table. The nation as a whole should be aware of this.

goronnie wrote:My son still has a Thai passport and has lived in the UK for 10 years. He is 16 years old now. Wondering if he would be drafted up. Any-one any similar experience ?

As a dual citizen of Thailand with an older brother, I can tell you that, yes, if you are a citizen of Thailand and want to keep said citizenship, you must register for the draft. As a (I'm guessing half white?) citizen of the UK, it should be very easy to get him a job in, say, an medical unit or administration, and he would probably be favored above most of the orher people there. If he's more than half Thai, however, he's not quite as special.

must register at age 18 and stand for the draft lottery in his 21st year unless exempted for a number of reasons..

if living in the UK and holding a Thai passport, I'd recommend going to the Thai Embassy for official guidance...