Sunday evening video- Inside Thailand's Military Draft - Pot Luck Fate

[GON]

Interesting system over 100 years old of Thailand's military draft system for men when they turn 21 years of age.

Red or black, that is all it comes down to. Red means the young man has been selected for military service, while black means the young man is exempt.

Have seven minutes- enjoy the video. I worked with Thai conscripts, every one was very professional.



And a unique reaction to his red/ black fate:

 

[Passport1]

My brother lives in Phuket for about 15 years. I should ask him how his friends feel about this. Thailand is a peacefull country and the chances of going to war is remote. I was being drafted in 1970 during the VN War so I joined before getting selected. Better deal. I still don't like the idea of drafting people into the Army. Only about 23% of draft age people in the US could qualify for the military. Lots of them wouldn't get through basic training and would get admin seps.

Huge waste of money.

 

[scoot]

My brother lives in Phuket for about 15 years. I should ask him how his friends feel about this. Thailand is a peacefull country and the chances of going to war is remote. I was being drafted in 1970 during the VN War so I joined before getting selected. Better deal. I still don't like the idea of drafting people into the Army. Only about 23% of draft age people in the US could qualify for the military. Lots of them wouldn't get through basic training and would get admin seps.

Huge waste of money.

Could you imagine these fat kids in basic training.

 

[GON]

Thailand is a peacefull country and the chances of going to war is remote.

Times are very dynamic in SE Asia with one nation claiming the teritorial waters of a half dozen nations. One of many examples are subsistance fisherman are no longer able to fish, their livelyhood for generations, in their nation's water, because another nation is claming these waters.

These are not big commercial fisherman, just crude fisherman without even fuel powered boats, forbidden by another nation from fishing in their traditional waters. Many would say unless complete capatulation to this single nation-- a tiking time bomb is going to go off in the region, and Thailand at a minumum will more likely than not be directly impacted by the tiking time bomb.

A recent connected development, the Vietnamese military, which traditionally learned Chinese for defense purposes, and later Russian with communists being their playbook, are now learning English as the Vietnamese military's primary language outside of Vietnamese. Even Vietnam, a socialist republic with a one-party system led by the Communist Party, cleary sees the storm on the horizon.

I was being drafted in 1970 during the VN War so I joined before getting selected. Better deal. I still don't like the idea of drafting people into the Army. Only about 23% of draft age people in the US could qualify for the military. Lots of them wouldn't get through basic training and would get admin seps.

Huge waste of money.

Thanks for your service and stepping up to the plate. especially during a very challenging time. Thailand was a significant staging location for U.S. military during the Vietnam war.

My younger brother enlisted. My youngest son enlisted (currently serving in Korea). Our family subscribes to volunteering for military service, when feasible, as a appropriate way to serve one's nation.

 

[raaizin]

How does this compare to when the US had the draft?

 

[factorytuned2012]

how could they draft a monk.

 

[GON]

how could they draft a monk.

Asked myself the same question.

Monks are in a very unique place in Thailand. Monks are strictly forbidden from even brushing against a woman. An example, on a train monks have to sit in a distinct place so if the train hits a bump, they won't accidentally brush up against a woman.

 

[PandaBear]

I'm not 100% sure if Thailand is a 100% peaceful country. They do have a drug den up north in the golden triangle, that the military either don't want to mess with or turn a blind eye to, and possible threat from other SE Asian countries (although they are currently on friendly term with China, it is not possible to guarantee in the future).

Also in 2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Thai_military_crackdown

It is still better than many other nations near by (absolutely better than China and Vietnam for sure), but I wouldn't call it peaceful.

 

[GON]

I'm not 100% sure if Thailand is a 100% peaceful country. They do have a drug den up north in the golden triangle, that the military either don't want to mess with or turn a blind eye to, and possible threat from other SE Asian countries (although they are currently on friendly term with China, it is not possible to guarantee in the future).

Also in 2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Thai_military_crackdown

It is still better than many other nations near by (absolutely better than China and Vietnam for sure), but I wouldn't call it peaceful.

Currently the Thai populace is up in arms over the damage and deaths in Thailand a few weeks ago from the Mynmar/Burma earthquake. The Thai populace is holding China fully responsible for the Thai deaths.

The only buildings in Thailand that received measurable damaged, the resulted in death and destruction, were recent buildings engineered, constructed by China, and with Chinese steel.

As soon as it was identified "fraudulent" ratings on Chinese steel was the center of gravity for building destruction, Chinese websites erased all traces of Chinese involvement in these buildings, design, and materials. It was well reported that China sent in their associates to remove all blueprints on the Chinese built buildings in Thailand. Can't make this stuff up.

We have seen it throughout history, just one event exposing the truth can immediately turn one from hero to zero.

Reference the wiki link you posted, that wiki is holistically inaccurate and is meant to influence, rather than inform.

 

[Vil_Riker]

Currently the Thai populace is up in arms over the damage and deaths in Thailand a few weeks ago from the Mynmar/Burma earthquake. The Thai populace is holding China fully responsible for the Thai deaths.

The only buildings in Thailand that received measurable damaged, the resulted in death and destruction, were recent buildings engineered, constructed by China, and with Chinese steel.

As soon as it was identified "fraudulent" ratings on Chinese steel was the center of gravity for building destruction, Chinese websites erased all traces of Chinese involvement in these buildings, design, and materials. It was well reported that China sent in their associates to remove all blueprints on the Chinese built buildings in Thailand. Can't make this stuff up.

We have seen it throughout history, just one event exposing the truth can immediately turn one from hero to zero.

Reference the wiki link you posted, that wiki is holistically inaccurate and is meant to influence, rather than inform.

The rebars were made in Thailand by a Chinese owned company and the ones on the lower levels were from a batch that had been recalled. Not sure why upon knowing that the rebars used in the pillars were defective, the contractor didn't start reinforcing the them. The architects, a Thai firm, and the inspectors, a Thai firm as well, should have brought this up and not allowed to move forward.

I think the Chinese contractors are being thrown under the bus - it's easy to blame the farangs.

 

[GON]

The rebars were made in Thailand by a Chinese owned company and the ones on the lower levels were from a batch that had been recalled. Not sure why upon knowing that the rebars used in the pillars were defective, the contractor didn't start reinforcing the them. The architects, a Thai firm, and the inspectors, a Thai firm as well, should have brought this up and not allowed to move forward.

I think the Chinese contractors are being thrown under the bus - it's easy to blame the farangs.

There are dozens of published articles from sources around the globe that do not align with what you have posted. Further, 48 hours ago I met in person with engineers from the US just returning from the rescue/ recovery effort in Thailand and their first hand accounts do not align with what you posted. Finally, China has thousands of "shell" companies around the world, that imply ownership is of the host nation, but is in fact Chinese owned. Most Vietnamese factories/ plants are in fact secretly Chinese owned.

A few paragraphs from just one published article:

"Attention on the companies also intensified this week after four Chinese employees were caught removing documents from the site after the disaster."
" Beijing is censoring references on China's internet to the skyscraper that collapsed in Bangkok, as the Chinese company involved in the project faces mounting scrutiny in Thailand.

The partially constructed tower, set to be the Thai government's State Audit Office, was the only high-rise building to completely crumble in Bangkok last Friday, after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake nearly 1,000 kilometres away in Myanmar shook the Thai capital.

China Railway Number 10 Limited, a subsidiary of China's state-owned China Railway Group, had hoped to use the joint-venture project — its first skyscraper project outside China — to promote its business in Thailand."

" University of Toronto Chinese politics professor Lynette Ong said the news was likely being censored in China to limit discussions that might be "embarrassing" to the state-owned construction company.

"Available information indicates that the Chinese-built building was the only one that collapsed in the neighbourhood of tall buildings," said Professor Ong.

"This has raised suspicion that construction might be shoddy, mirroring the 'tofu' construction in China, many of which collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake," she said, adding investigations were yet to establish if poor construction played a role in the collapse.

"Tofu construction" is a phrase used in China to refer to poorly constructed buildings or infrastructure projects."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...ngkok-building-collapse-in-thailand/105126796
https://asiatimes.com/2025/04/chinas-belt-and-road-crediblity-collapsing-fast-in-thailand/#

 

[GON]

There are dozens of published articles from sources around the globe that do not align with what you have posted. Further, 48 hours ago I met in person with engineers from the US just returning from the rescue/ recovery effort in Thailand and their first hand accounts do not align with what you posted. Finally, China has thousands of "shell" companies around the world, that imply ownership is of the host nation, but is in fact Chinese owned. Most Vietnamese factories/ plants are in fact secretly Chinese owned.

A few paragraphs from just one published article:

"Attention on the companies also intensified this week after four Chinese employees were caught removing documents from the site after the disaster."
" Beijing is censoring references on China's internet to the skyscraper that collapsed in Bangkok, as the Chinese company involved in the project faces mounting scrutiny in Thailand.

The partially constructed tower, set to be the Thai government's State Audit Office, was the only high-rise building to completely crumble in Bangkok last Friday, after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake nearly 1,000 kilometres away in Myanmar shook the Thai capital.

China Railway Number 10 Limited, a subsidiary of China's state-owned China Railway Group, had hoped to use the joint-venture project — its first skyscraper project outside China — to promote its business in Thailand."

" University of Toronto Chinese politics professor Lynette Ong said the news was likely being censored in China to limit discussions that might be "embarrassing" to the state-owned construction company.

"Available information indicates that the Chinese-built building was the only one that collapsed in the neighbourhood of tall buildings," said Professor Ong.

"This has raised suspicion that construction might be shoddy, mirroring the 'tofu' construction in China, many of which collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake," she said, adding investigations were yet to establish if poor construction played a role in the collapse.

"Tofu construction" is a phrase used in China to refer to poorly constructed buildings or infrastructure projects."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...ngkok-building-collapse-in-thailand/105126796
https://asiatimes.com/2025/04/chinas-belt-and-road-crediblity-collapsing-fast-in-thailand/#

And now the rest of the story.

Chinese business man owned 49 percent of the joint venture. Thais owned the other 51 percent.

The truth the 51 percent Thai owned was a fraud, Chinese through a secret deal owned the remaining 51 percent.

This is throughout Asia and the world. Labels of made in Vietnam, made in Malaysia, etc....... these are more likely than not Chinese owned firms using other nations to disguise the true origin of the organization.

https://sc.mp/ms2wj

 

[Pew]

The rebars were made in Thailand by a Chinese owned company and the ones on the lower levels were from a batch that had been recalled. Not sure why upon knowing that the rebars used in the pillars were defective, the contractor didn't start reinforcing the them. The architects, a Thai firm, and the inspectors, a Thai firm as well, should have brought this up and not allowed to move forward.

I think the Chinese contractors are being thrown under the bus - it's easy to blame the farangs.

The contractors and inspectors were probably scared of being fired, Boeing'd off, or barred from future employment.

 

[Vil_Riker]

The contractors and inspectors were probably scared of being fired, Boeing'd off, or barred from future employment.

There's an interesting story that the inspectors hired an expert. When the cops showed up to interview him, he claims he wasn't hired. Sounds like a classic case of syphoning government money into private pockets. I think heads are going to roll in the transportation ministry, and blaming the Chinese subcontractors is a defensive act.

 

[Vil_Riker]

And now the rest of the story.

Chinese business man owned 49 percent of the joint venture. Thais owned the other 51 percent.

The truth the 51 percent Thai owned was a fraud, Chinese through a secret deal owned the remaining 51 percent.

This is throughout Asia and the world. Labels of made in Vietnam, made in Malaysia, etc....... these are more likely than not Chinese owned firms using other nations to disguise the true origin of the organization.

https://sc.mp/ms2wj

It's a common approach to skirt the 51% Thai ownership rule. There are consultants that will facilitate it. Shinawatra is going her hands full trying to fix the corruption.