Weakening and Attrition in the Myanmar Military

Aung Myo Htet | Captain, Light Infantry Division 80, Regiment 66 | ယခုဆောင်းပါးကို မြန်မာဘာသာဖြင့် ဖတ်ရှုရန် ဤနေရာတွင် နှိပ်ပါ

Cite as: 
Aung Myo Htet. (2025). Weakening and Attrition in the Myanmar Military. Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship, 5. https://ijbs.online/?page_id=5259


Abstract

The Myanmar military is weakening and its overall number of soldiers has been reducing over time. This is because of poor recruitment standards and processes, entrenched corruption, battlefield defeats, and the ruthless treatment of its soldiers, including an unjust hierarchical system, favoritism and nepotistic advancement. The army loses up to 6,000 unreplaced soldiers each year, and what is left is a collection of increasingly random individuals led by unskilled leaders. Because of this, the institution will inevitably fail in the face of sustained, countrywide revolution against military rule.

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The Myanmar military has held power in important sectors of the nation since independence in 1948, with its tyrannical leaders wielding this power to oppress the people. They controlled the caretaker government under military purview from 1958 to 1960, the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma and Burma Socialist Programme Party from 1962 to 1988, the State Law and Order Restoration Council from 1988 to 1997, the State Peace and Development Council from 1997 to 2011, and the Union Solidarity and Development Party government from 2011 to 2015. Although the National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the 2015 elections and formed government from 2016 to 2021, the NLD operated within a system that was under the shadow of the military, whereby the military always undermined the authority of the civilian government.

On 1 February 2021, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing carried out a military coup, arresting the sitting President, State Counsellor, and other members of the governing NLD. It was devastating for the people of Myanmar to watch their own military, an organization sworn to protect the country and its people, not only forcefully seize power but then go on to destroy all that belongs to the people of the country.

Military Recruitment

When individuals join the military, they need to attend basic military training for four months (i.e., 16 weeks). After finishing basic training, cadets become soldiers and go on to sign a contract with the military. In signing this contract—which states that individuals are joining the military of their own accord, without anyone’s influence—cadets agree to abide by the 1959 Military Act and its rules. In the contract, it is stated that individuals must serve in the military for five years and then continue serving for another five years thereafter. After ten years of service, soldiers can either extend their service time or leave the military if they wish to do so.

Although I was lucky enough to eventually learn about the details of these contracts, new recruits (who are still civilians at the time of signing) are not encouraged to study their own contracts carefully. Additionally, one’s contract is seen only at the time of joining up and never again, or at least until the individual retires at the age of 60—according to veteran officers and soldiers. Permission to quit the military is not given easily, except for when an individual suffers severe injuries (e.g., the loss of a limb), when they are often given a medical discharge—this is why the military is known as an organization that is easy to get into, but hard to leave.

There are nine types of rules that all soldiers need to follow in the military. They are:

  1. The 1959 Military Act
  2. Military-specific rules
  3. Military appeals court rules
  4. Criminal codes
  5. The 1974 Narcotic Drugs Law
  6. The 1923 Confidential Matters of the Government of Myanmar Act
  7. Gambling laws
  8. Special regional laws, such as arms laws
  9. Orders and directives released by the Military Rules Defense Council

Although the Myanmar military has had control of the country for years, there have been numerous flaws in its strategies to maintain its strength, crucial to any army. The establishment of many new military bases without commensurate increases in recruitment has meant the military has not been able to provide full units for all its bases. Additionally, although there are many infantry battalions, getting new recruits to make up the full structure of these battalions has been a challenge. Therefore, to make up for its current human resources needs, the military has ignored the requirements a soldier must normally meet when going through the military recruitment process.

In 2001, the military released a directive aimed at helping all battalions, companies, and units reverse attrition rates and form full military units; these units then began restructuring in accordance with the directive. According to Directive No. KAPA 70, HSA 2001, the military tried to recruit 170 soldiers for each light infantry battalion, which each includes five companies and a battalion headquarters. However, they were still unable to recruit enough soldiers to make full military units; the attrition rate was significantly higher than the number of incoming new recruits. To my knowledge, there are four recruitment bases (i.e., (sa ta sa 1-4), and even though the military sent everyone out from them (apart from sub-squads, which are three-soldier groupings from 10-soldier squads) to different towns to find recruits, they could not recruit enough new soldiers. The military then ordered each battalion, each company, and even the staffing department to recruit at least one individual per month. In doing so, it turned the recruitment of new soldiers into a business, with each recruit supplied earning the sponsor between 1-1.5 million Myanmar Kyat; as such, military recruitment turned into a form of human trafficking.

Previously, soldiers’ personal identification numbers (IDs) were designated following the format of ‘ka pa 123456’. However, after 2002, the personal ID system was changed to adhere to the ‘ta ta/123456’ format. Recruits’ minimum education level also dropped to being barely literate. In 2018, the military released an order that recruits needed to at least finish middle school. However, recruits could pass two grades per year at their base, following their own plan, without needing to sit any tests. In addition, recruits with the new ID format do not need to undergo medical checkups or possess any recommendations. Individuals are contracted to serve for five years and allowed to leave the military after that but are not entitled to any pensions or bonuses.

The military recruits every random person it can find. As a result, there are now cross-eyed and flat-footed individuals in the military, soldiers with skeletal abnormalities or kyphosis (roundback or hunchback) and speaking disorders; the military prioritizes quantity over quality. According to military service rules, new recruits must be between 18 and 25 years old. However, in desperation, the military issued a directive that recruits can be as old as 35. The military has attempted to solve its human resources needs by extraordinary  means.

When joining the military, new recruits are supposed to be assessed for the following conditions:

  1. Stuttering or muteness
  2. Deafness
  3. Blurred vision or cataracts
  4. Physical deformities
  5. Flat feet
  6. Skin conditions
  7. Tumors
  8. Hemorrhoids
  9. Dental caries
  10. Peripheral neuropathy
  11. Testicular swelling, hydrocele, and phimosis
  12. Varicose veins
  13. Bodily defects (loss of limbs), polydactyly, excessive scar tissue, etc.

The following is a poem to help easily memorize these conditions.

The Thirteen Visible Factors Poem

How can one be a soldier,
With leprosy, blurred vision,
Cataracts in your eyes, with a mouth that stutters,
And a deformed body?
How can one be a soldier,
Having flat feet, marked skin,
Tumors aplenty, posterior piles,
Dental issues, bodily nerve problems,
Swollen scrota, and various other conditions?
The back of the legs and ankles covered in varicose veins,
One can never be a dutiful soldier,
From the age of eighteen until death,
Regardless of what Myanmar may face.

Although official instructions prevent recruiting people with these conditions, in reality the military constantly recruits such candidates, simply because it needs more bodies. Captains awaiting promotion to the rank of major, and serving as temporary division commanders at infantry bases (known as “major-captains”), headquarter commanders at staff offices, and temporary base commanders awaiting promotion to permanent base commanders (known as lieutenant colonels), must all recruit one new soldier every month, or else be removed from the list of those being considered for promotion. Even then, many recruits only ‘join’ involuntarily after being threatened by the police for crimes like using narcotics. Others arrested on robbery charges are given the option of joining the military or going to jail. There are also others lured into the military voluntarily by the prospect of gaining a new occupation.

Weakening of the Myanmar Military

This quantity over quality approach is the main reason why there are very few good and ethical soldiers in the military, as well as the reason for many soldiers going absent without official leave (AWOL). Attrition is also high because of the unjust system of hierarchical governance within the military. When I was in the army I learned that the military’s overall strength is weakening, as there are only approximately 6,000 new recruits every year, while the military loses close to 12,000 soldiers every year via the five modes of attrition: natural death, death during active duty, resignation, discharge, and desertion.

On top of that, since the coup, the military has been unable to recruit new soldiers as it had anticipated. The military has taken to moving soldiers from areas where there are no active combat engagements to those where there are active military operations, combining three battalions into one when mobilizing troops. The military’s primary goal is to recruit officers and build the army up from the division to the corps level, then have a Senior General as leader. However, it has not been able to fulfil the number of soldiers required for that kind of structure. The Myanmar military’s primary goal for its organizational structure, with desired numbers for each instance of the army’s various nodes is at the time of writing in 2022 as follows:

  1. Regional Command: 85 officers, other ranks 621, total 706.
  2. Division Headquarters: 37 officers, other ranks 324, total 361.
  3. Regional Command Headquarters: 25 officers, other ranks 205, total 230.
  4. Military Operations Command Headquarters: 36 officers, other ranks 324, total 360.
  5. Operational Strategy (Based): 12 officers, other ranks 114, total 126.
  6. Artillery Operation Command: 25 officers, other ranks 205, total 230.
  7. Air Defense Operation Command: 68 officers, other ranks 193, total 261.
  8. Light Infantry Battalion: 31 officers, 826 other ranks, total 857.
  9. Air Defense Battalion: 48 officers, 482 other ranks, total 530.
  10. Tank Battalion: 31 officers, other ranks 626, total 657.
  11. Support Battalion: 33 officers, other ranks 1,091, total 1,124.
  12. Logistics Battalion: 36 officers, other ranks 1,635, total 1,671.
  13. Farming Battalion: 17 officers, other ranks 709, total 726.
  14. Military Hospital (700-bed): 174 officers, other ranks 1,039, total 1,213.
  15. Frontline Medic Battalion: 43 officers, other ranks 428, total 471.
  16. Military Hospital (100-bed): 29 officers, other ranks 310, total 339.
  17. High-Tech Communication Battalion: 40 officers, other ranks 973, total 1,013.
  18. Communications Battalion: 35 officers, other ranks 1,181, total 1,216.
  19. Communications Workshop: 5 officers, other ranks 190, total 195.
  20. Engineering Company: 5 officers, other ranks 165, total 170.
  21. Frontline Engineering Battalion: 29 officers, other ranks 829, total 858.
  22. Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Battalion: 29 officers, other ranks 310, total 339.
  23. Vehicle Storage Battalion: 18 officers, other ranks 379, total 397.
  24. Weaponry Company: 5 officers, other ranks 160, total 165.
  25. Military Police Company: 4 officers, other ranks 133, total 137.
  26. Accommodation Camp: 3 officers, other ranks 60, total 63.
  27. Combat Advocacy Training Center: 23 officers, other ranks 189, total 212.
  28. Education Center: 11 officers, other ranks 128, total 139.
  29. Military Academy: 44 officers, other ranks 311, total 355.
  30. Military (Army) Combat Training School: 82 officers, other ranks 1,048, total 1,130.
  31. Military (Army) Cadet Training School: 82 officers, other ranks 725, total 807.
  32. Military Advanced Training Depot: 131 officers, other ranks 915, total 1,046.
  33. Officer and NCO Training School: 34 officers, other ranks 608, total 642.
  34. The Defense Services Technological Academy: 610 officers, other ranks 1,496, total 2,106.
  35. Artillery Battalion: 40 officers, other ranks 680, total 720.
  36. Workshop Platoon (Electronics/Mechanical): 3 officers, other ranks 79, total 82.
  37. Military Security Affairs Company: 7 officers, other ranks 150, total 157.

But in actual fact, on the ground, the military has only one tenth of the numbers assigned above. The military created another recommended structure in 2001, alongside orders from the relevant Ministry of Defense Council departments, in order to be able to better facilitate the military’s governance mechanism.

In 2022, the military administration allowed all applicants to pass the entrance examinations for military academies, sergeant/clerk training, nurse training, and other military-controlled technological training courses, in order to increase recruitment, in my view. I learned from internal sources that new recruits are still a rarity—in fact, close to zero to this day. The military is also breaking human rights standards by forcing the wives of officers and soldiers to learn basic military skills and providing them with weapons to go on watch and defend military bases.

A light infantry battalion originally consisted of 857 people; however, the military is now struggling to fill even 200 people in each battalion, and addressing attrition has become a major hurdle. The number of soldiers in a battalion that go out to on a mission used to be 120: 12 in one platoon, led by the battalion commander; eight in another platoon, led by the deputy battalion commander; 50 in Unit 1, led by a company commander; and 50 in Unit 2, led by another company commander. However, because of the shortage of soldiers in commands and divisions, battalions are being combined and the real number of soldiers going on missions is around 90. Therefore, when carrying out military operations, battalions must work together. Although the number of soldiers is in decline, the battalions must still carry weaponry as per the full military unit structure, and therefore they cannot use the backpacks issued by the military; instead, they use bamboo/cane baskets to carry all that equipment.

Causes of Attrition in the Myanmar Military

As mentioned, there is only one-tenth as many soldiers in reality as there are on paper, with officers and soldiers carrying out the duties and work of 10 people each, causing them to burn out. When soldiers are overworked for a long period of time they feel depressed and want to escape. This is a primary cause of desertion. The military attempts to address this issue by moving officers and soldiers around to different locations, but the situation everywhere is the same. Additionally, soldiers who serve under oppressive commanders that spout the talking point that soldiers are all “acting as one” are further incentivized to abandon their positions, as there is imbalance between their workloads and their capacity.

Senior leaders in the military always say, “in the military, death is the only way out—there is no quitting”. In reality, military directives state that soldiers need to serve only until they reach the age of 60. When people who are not happy with their military life apply to leave and are refused, they desert.

One of the main reasons for attrition in the military is its unjust governance, favoritism and nepotistic advancement. In the military there is a saying: “if you like the person, you change the rules; if you hate the person, you use the rules against them”. As the saying suggests, it has long been common for military leaders to only lightly punish sycophants who err, but severely punish those they do not like, even for the smallest of mistakes.

A large portion of the salaries earned by officers and soldiers in the military are put into the Aung Myint Mo Min life insurance company, owned by the son of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, as well as into Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), which was founded in 1990 to support the existence of the military. The Aung Myint Mo Min company only became well-known in November 2012 when Min Aung Hlaing became commander-in-chief; from then on, all officers and soldiers in the military were instructed to switch their life insurance from the publicly owned Myanmar Life Insurance company over to the Aung Myint Mo Min company. The monthly premium was increased and deducted directly from salaries. Not only were the soldiers not allowed to read their own life insurance contracts, but the company allegedly changes the contract terms and conditions every five years. That way, officers and soldiers are only able to receive their premiums back every five years. This allows the military to use these salaries in businesses for their own personal gain without any returns or interest going to the officers and soldiers who fund such endeavors.

Moreover, all people in the military are forced to deposit a certain amount of money according to their ranks from their monthly salaries to MEHL every month, and MEHL is supposed to give back 30 percent of this investment every year. However, in reality, MEHL does not give the 30 percent back to the soldiers; thus, all officers and soldiers are forced by their superiors to effectively forfeit a proportion of their salaries.

Soldiers are also forced by military leaders to deposit savings into banks. According to a military directive, soldiers need to always have over 1 million Myanmar Kyat in savings and therefore must set aside a portion of their salary for that. However, they are not allowed to withdraw their own money from these saving accounts, even in cases of emergency. Soldiers usually have to borrow money at a huge interest rate to pay for unexpected emergencies and, over time, accrue huge debts, sometimes deserting the military because they cannot pay it back. The mandatory savings plan was implemented with the idea that if large amounts of soldiers’ savings are under the control of the military, then they will not leave the military because they would not want to lose their savings.

In addition to soldiers deserting, there are many occasions where officers go AWOL. Previously, military promotions were given based on rank and duration. High-ranking officers have left the military when they are passed over for promotions because there are no positions available at the senior level.

Other causes of attrition include service fatigue from years of serving in infantry units and going on consecutive frontline missions; forced investment of salaries in MEHL and cutting of life insurance premiums and other benefits (such as rations); unfair treatment, such as when benefits go to sycophants; and, of course, officers and soldiers joining the Civil Disobedience Movement to stand with the citizenry against the 2021 military coup.

The military has been suffering from a scarcity of new recruits and increasing attrition since 2001, and to counter this, in 2013 the military increased the punishment for desertion from one to five years’ imprisonment; in 2019 it again raised the punishment, to seven years. Military leaders tried to decrease desertion rates through increasing punitive measures instead of thinking about and fulfilling soldiers’ social wellbeing, junior officers’ feelings, and service conditions within the military. Desertion numbers did not decrease as anticipated; instead, the opposite happened, with more people deserting and, if caught, being put in prison.

Formerly, soldiers could get a medical discharge if they bribed the assigned medical officer. However, later on, they did not allow anyone to resign unless they were physically disabled. Some officers would ask their wives to report to their senior officers that they were having an affair with another woman just so they could be dismissed from the military. Thus, more and more soldiers use a variety of means to try and leave the military.

Reasons Why Soldiers Want to Leave the Military

Soldiers desire to leave the military for a variety of reasons: undersupplied equipment, rations, salary, and other benefits, and owed interest. At each level leadership takes a cut before passing things down. Other reasons include involuntary investment in MEHL; being forced to deposit a portion of their salary as savings; military equipment intended for them being sold to external buyers and then replaced with lower quality equipment; and having to serve under leaders who know what is happening and yet refuse to take any action because they are gaining from the status quo.

Junior officers/soldiers and senior officers differ not only in rank but also in their authority and the benefits they receive; therefore, the wealth gap between rich leadership positions and poor lower-ranked positions is massive. Married soldiers are entitled to only just enough salary and benefits to feed their families, but even then, they do not receive those full benefits. They must pay their last month’s debt with the current month’s salary, and many end up in a debt cycle, with families struggling more and more; this makes them increasingly discontent with the military and willing to desert.

And then, when soldiers spend more time on work such as agriculture, promoting the military to the public, and other such non-combat activities, rather than on their actual military duties (e.g., training, focusing on their duty to protect citizens), their capacity to carry out major duties decreases along with their confidence—another reason for desertion.

Moreover, when it comes to religion, the military prioritizes Buddhism as the religion of the organization, and freedom to worship other religions is indirectly restricted. For example, when soldiers go on a military mission to the frontline, the wives of the soldiers gather and read the Buddhist Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta and other such passages, praying for the safety of the soldiers. During these occasions, wives of soldiers with other religions are told to look after the children in the barracks or carry out other labor such as gardening or cleaning around the base. If these wives do not wish to perform these activities, then they must join the Buddhist readings. The military also prohibits Muslim people from joining the military; if they wish to do so, they are asked to convert to Buddhism.

The Current Situation

As resistance forces increase in strength, the military is struggling to control many parts of the country and has an increasing number of active combat fronts. The military must move forces from areas where there is no fighting, or where it has temporary peace agreements, to other places where there are not enough soldiers in accordance with its organizational structure. If the situation in Rakhine State settles down, then the forces there are sent to Kayin State; when fighting in Kayin State ceases, these forces, as a division, are then sent to Kachin State or Sagaing Region.

Due to such maneuvers, all officers and soldiers suffer from combat fatigue. Consequently, they have become overly sensitive and quick to anger at all times, even when dealing with minor problems amongst themselves; their patience is low, and they have even shot at each other. In addition to that, there are no extra forces that can replace these exhausted soldiers because all troops are currently carrying out military operations throughout the country; as a result, officers and soldiers who are on missions often have not seen their families for more than a year. I assume that those factors have made soldiers angry over time, and because they do not have the chance to talk back to their superiors and are scared to disobey orders, their anger has turned into fire that that they turn against unarmed citizens in terrifying ways.

The military leaders make it mandatory for military families to live in the barracks, claiming that it is unsafe for them to live in civilian areas. In fact, this is done to control desertions, since soldiers’ families are stuck in the barracks. The military also ensures that family members have basic military training and are provided with weapons to defend the bases from enemies. With this, the military aims to kill two birds with one stone. In areas where there is a lot of active conflict, soldiers are also threatened that they will be imprisoned if their families do not come and live in the barracks.

The military also uses women and children as human shields when resistance forces come to fight them, and when there are casualties, they use these examples in the news media to show the international community that resistance forces are committing war crimes and other atrocities against women and children. Recently there have been a large number of deaths on the military side, leaving behind many military widows. Therefore, some officers’ and soldiers’ wives encourage their husbands to join the side of the people, and when they fail to convince their men to do so, the family leaves the barracks and the husband behind. Internal sources show that such things are happening at military bases not only in active conflict areas, but also in areas where fighting is not happening.

Conclusion

Because a handful of tyrants forcefully took over all aspects of state authority, the citizens of Myanmar are disgusted with both the military and the police and would like them to disappear. Although soldiers and police come from the people and are public servants who earn their salary from taxpayers, these authorities perceive the public as enemies, in order to support a handful of tyrant generals or simply to protect their own benefits. As a result, the Spring Revolution started under the leadership of dutiful citizens, and many new people joined the armed resistance against the military.

The military is suffering numerous losses due to many factors—namely, the strategic attacks carried out by the people’s guerrilla forces; the current revolution right across all of Myanmar’s citizenry; and the ongoing recruitment challenges detailed above. In addition, the military divisions, military operation commands, and junior officers and soldiers—who go on consecutive frontline missions without rest—reflects an entire military structure that is suffering from war fatigue.

Prioritizing quantity over quality when it comes to military training and general practice has resulted in an army with many unqualified officers and soldiers; this could be considered a huge flaw. The military faces many defeats because their troops are a bunch of random individuals led by incompetent leaders. I would like to conclude my article with a saying that is used in the army, “ta won pu myin zaun gyee hnit thaung”. This means that the army is a collection of “T/ soldiers” (i.e., soldiers with the army ID number T/00000) without any qualifications, who have been recruited arbitrarily and against their will, and these people are led by those with army ID numbers in the tens of thousands (the larger the number, the more inexperienced that person is). When all these individuals go to war as a collective army, they will experience more losses, which in turn will lead to the eventual demise of the Myanmar military.