'Meticulously evaluate' young men enlisting with tattoos

Today, February 20, the 2019 military enlistment ceremony will be held in 43 provinces and cities including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Thai Nguyen, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak... The remaining localities will continue to hand over troops on February 21 and 22.

Colonel Nguyen Van Tan, Deputy Director of the Military Department, General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, said that the 2019 military recruitment work is carried out in accordance with Circular 148 of the Ministry of National Defense. Accordingly, the Ministry requires localities to thoroughly reform the administrative process in the military recruitment process; apply information technology, grasp the background of citizens; combine to simplify and speed up procedures and documents to minimize the need to travel many times, causing waste of time and money for citizens.

To ensure the principles of democracy and transparency in military recruitment, the People's Committee at the commune level must direct the villages to conduct elections and propose citizens who are ready to join the army (the village level has the right to discuss calling up or postponing military service because they understand the circumstances of each family).

The list of citizens eligible for temporary deferment or exemption from military service; the list of military service members; and the results of health classification must be publicly posted at the headquarters of the People's Committee at the commune level and relevant organizations within 20 days.

According to Circular 148, localities must carefully evaluate cases of tattoos and lettering to avoid missing soldiers who violate regulations on enlisting in the Army or take advantage of them to evade military service...

"Specifically, can the tattoo or the words be erased? Does it have content that opposes the regime, divides national unity, is it horrifying, bizarre, provocative, or sexual?", Colonel Tan said.

He stated that tattoos and tattooed letters that are offensive, revealing, reflect incorrectly on religion and beliefs, are contrary to Vietnamese customs, culture and people, have negative, superstitious, unbelieving thoughts, or bear symbols of foreign armed forces will definitely not be selected for military service.

"On the contrary, the Military Service Councils at all levels must not let citizens take advantage of tattoos or tattooed letters to evade military service; must do a good job of propaganda and education so that citizens do not get tattoos or tattooed letters; or erase them themselves before examination and enlistment. Localities must resolutely and strictly handle cases of intentional violations according to the provisions of the law," he emphasized.

According to Colonel Tan, after joining the Army and completing 24 months of active military service; non-commissioned officers and soldiers can be considered for long-term service in the Army if they meet the following conditions: diplomas, certificates of military training, medical training during active service or have graduated from college or university before joining the army; professional profession suitable to the unit's mission requirements; job title requirements, organizational structure and political, ethical and health standards according to regulations of the Ministry of National Defense...

"There are many opinions that military service should be compulsory for all citizens, the time can be reduced to about 6 months to a year, but that is not enough time to train, educate military subjects, general tactics and techniques, not to mention complex specialized content for soldiers to master weapons and equipment," said Mr. Tan.

There is currently no data on young people joining the army nationwide, but in Hanoi this time there areabout 3,500 new recruits, of which1,300 young people have volunteered.

TThe rate of new recruits in Hanoi graduating from university, college, and vocational high school reached 32.4%;This figure is lower than in 2018 at 40.8%, and in 2017 at 52.2%.

To have enough soldiers to enlist in 2019, districts of Hanoi have screened more than 244,000 male citizens of military age, selected about 49,000 people to participate in the preliminary selection, from which more than 10,400 young men were selected for military service health examination and more than 7,000 people were eligible to enlist.

The criteria for tattoos and eyesight when selecting citizens for military service were previously stipulated in Circular 50 of the Ministry of National Defense - Public Security.

Accordingly, citizens are not selected for military service when their bodies "have tattoos or tattooed letters that oppose the regime, divide the nation, are strange, bizarre, sexually provocative, or violent. Tattoos and tattooed letters that cause offense in exposed areas, such as: Face, head, neck; from 1/2 of the upper arm down, from 1/3 of the lower thigh down. Tattoos and tattooed letters occupy an area of ​​1/2 of the back, chest, abdomen or more".

The Ministry of Defense affirmed that these tattoos are part of political and ethical standards. If the local military recruitment councils allow citizens with such tattoos to enlist in the army, it is "against regulations, offensive, and affects the image, etiquette and demeanor of revolutionary soldiers."