The age for conscription may be raised to 27.

Minister of Defense Phung Quang Thanh said that the draft revised Law on Military Service proposes increasing the maximum age for conscription by 2 years, meaning that instead of 25 years old, citizens can still be called up for military service at 27 years old.

Minister of National Defence Phung Quang Thanh. Photo: VNA

Presenting the draft Law on Military Service (amended) to the National Assembly on the afternoon of November 3rd, Minister of National Defense Phung Quang Thanh stated that the current law's regulations on the term of service in peacetime for non-commissioned officers and soldiers have revealed many shortcomings and have not met the requirements for building the People's Army and the task of defending the Fatherland in the new situation.

Therefore, the draft law stipulates a unified service term of 24 months for non-commissioned officers and soldiers during peacetime to ensure sufficient training and combat readiness to meet the requirements of army building and national defense in the new situation; and to reduce the level of human and weapon losses when combat occurs.

According to General Phung Quang Thanh, the Vietnam People's Army is building up its Navy, Air Force, and several other branches to become modern with many high-tech weapons and equipment. Therefore, the troops must have sufficient time for advanced training. In addition to training and combat readiness, the army also has to carry out many other important tasks assigned by the Party and State, such as: search and rescue, disaster prevention, post-war recovery, and civilian affairs work... which occupy a significant portion of the troops' training time.

"The current law stipulates two different terms of military service (18 months and 24 months), which is not truly fair and affects the morale of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, especially those serving 24 months. Every year, the Ministry of National Defense also has to organize two recruitment and demobilization periods, causing significant material and time costs for localities," General Thanh said.

One new aspect of the revised draft law on military service is the change in the age limit for conscription. The current law stipulates that the age for conscription in peacetime is from 18 to 25 years old, resulting in a low percentage of citizens with a university degree or higher being called up for military service each year. Furthermore, a large number of citizens who are granted a temporary deferment from conscription to pursue university studies have already passed the conscription age limit after graduation. Therefore, the draft law adds a provision extending the age limit for conscription in peacetime to 27 years old for citizens pursuing university degrees who have been granted a temporary deferment.

"The current Military Service Law does not specify the exact time for conscription, so citizens cannot proactively arrange their time for studying and working. The draft law stipulates that the conscription of citizens will be carried out in February or March every year," the Minister of National Defense said.

The current Military Service Law stipulates that the scope of those eligible for temporary deferment of conscription during peacetime is too broad, resulting in a low percentage of college and university graduates serving in the military. Some citizens even exploit the temporary deferment policy to evade military service… Therefore, the draft Law stipulates that temporary deferment only applies to high school students and full-time university students, and abolishes the provision for temporary deferment for citizens "participating in the development of new economic zones during the first three years." To ensure policies for those affected by Agent Orange, the draft Law adds a provision for temporary deferment of conscription during peacetime for one child of an Agent Orange victim with a disability of 81% or more.

Presenting the verification report on the project, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security, Nguyen Kim Khoa, commented that from 1981 to the present, the Law on Military Service has adjusted the term of active service for non-commissioned officers and soldiers twice during peacetime, differentiating the term for two categories of personnel. Now, the Government proposes to uniformly regulate the term of service for non-commissioned officers and soldiers from 18 months to 24 months. The Committee on National Defense and Security believes that regulating the term of active military service is an important issue that requires a political, social, legal, and scientific basis to ensure that it meets the objectives of building and enhancing the combat readiness and fighting capabilities of the army, combining the building of a reasonably sized standing force with the building of a strong reserve force...

The mandatory military service period may be increased from 18 months to 24 months. (Illustrative image)

After discussion, the majority of committee members proposed implementing the unified 24-month military service period as presented in the Government's proposal. However, some opinions remained divided, including suggestions to maintain the current law's provisions, or to establish a general 18-month period for all active-duty military personnel to ensure fairness in fulfilling military obligations, or to uniformly reduce the military service period to 12 months (especially for citizens who have graduated from university).

Committee members also recommended that, in order to improve the quality of military building, it is necessary to closely combine innovative solutions in recruitment, especially recruiting young people who have been trained at universities and colleges to perform military service and immediately deploy them to positions requiring appropriate expertise and technical skills.

Regarding the age for conscription, many opinions agree with the draft law that the maximum age for conscription is 27. This would allow for the recruitment of more citizens who have completed university-level training programs, improving the quality of recruits, reducing training costs, and overcoming current limitations and obstacles in recruitment quality. At the same time, it would ensure fairness in fulfilling the duty to protect the Fatherland and the right to education for citizens.

"However, some opinions suggest maintaining the current regulations on the age for conscription from 18 to 25 years old as stipulated in the Military Service Law, as it has been implemented stably. The recent difficulties in the selection and conscription of citizens, particularly university graduates and civil servants, are not due to age restrictions but rather to organizational issues," Mr. Khoa said.

According to VnExpress