Almost half of all new military recruits this year had reportedly volunteered for service, totaling more than 50,000.
Spokesperson for the Royal Thai Army Col Sirichan Ngathong reported that the military draft of 2017 was held from April 1st – 12th. She said the army has expressed gratitude to all officials involved in drafting process, which was administered without incident.
This year, the military drew 103,097 new recruits from a pool of 532,277 young men. Of the new recruits, 78,677 were drafted into the Royal Thai Army, 16,000 went to the Royal Thai Navy, and 8,420 went into the Royal Thai Air Force. Of the total number of recruits, 50,580 or 49% volunteered for military service, an increase from the previous year.
The spokesperson attributed the increase in volunteers to improvements in officer compensation and public relations, as well as career advantages conferred by military service.
New recruits are expected to report for duty on May 1st.
