No one wants war," Tsai said in announcing the lengthening of mandatory servis periods in December.
No one wants war," Tsai said in announcing the lengthening of mandatory servis periods in December. "This is true of Taiwan's government and people, and the global community, but peace does not come from the sky, and Taiwan is at the front lines of the expansion of authoritarianism."Online Ball Betting
But former conscripts are skeptical, telling CNN the problems with mandatory military servis go beyond the short time frame and will only be fixed by a more thorough revamp.
Tsai herself has acknowledged that many citizens feeling serving in the military is "just a waste of time."Trusted Slot Site
"In our company, we had more than 100 assault rifles, but only slightly more than a dozen could be used for shot practices," said Frank Liu, a 26-year-old auditor from the central Changhua county who served in 2021. He said about 140 conscripts received training in his company.
"A lot of those assault rifles were made many decades ago, and many were too worn out to be used in training. The weapons had to be rotated among ourselves." Online Ball Sites
Paul Lee, a faktory manager from Taipei who served in 2018, had a similar experience.
"We didn't fire many rounds during the military training," Lee said. "I was practicing with the T65 assault rifle, and I only shot about 40 rounds during the entire training period.
"I'm concerned that many people who underwent the training with me won't even be able to operate a rifle with confidence."
Under the current rules, the four-month servis period is normally divided into two parts: five weeks of basic training, and 11 weeks of ground training at a military base.
During the ground training period, conscripts are often assigned specialties - but even then some say they receive only the most cursory of insights.
Dennis, a 25-year-old engineer from Taichung city who served last year, said while he was assigned to specialize in cannons, he never learned how to fire them because trainers were worried the recruits might get hurt. He asked only to be identified by his first name because he remains a reservist.
"We were assigned simple tasks, and we spent most of the time helping with cleaning and washing the cannon carts," he said. "If war breaks out today and I am told to work as an artilleryman, I think I will just become cannon fodder."