Army History - 1980s
The Military Council, originally established by the Mongolian-Soviet defense accord of 1921, was responsible in the 1980s to the Council of Ministers for all defense matters. Observers thought that the council was composed of the minister of defense (who was called the minister of people's army affairs until March 1968) and his deputy ministers, the chief political commissar of the army, and top party officials with military experience and orientation. The Military Council worked in close conjunction with the Special Military Department of the party Central Committee, which lent political authority to its directives.
In 1987 the Ministry of Defense was allotted an annual budget of US$249.44 million. It was administered by the minister of defense, Colonel General Jamsrangiyn Yondon, assisted by the chief of the general staff, Lieutenant General C. Purebdorj, and by deputies responsible for various functional directorates, including operations and intelligence, organization and mobilization, military transportation, and signal communications, the main inspectorate, the main directorate of the rear services, and the main political directorate. More than 70 percent of armed forces personnel were members of either the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party or the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League.
In 1988 the armed forces consisted of 24,500 active-duty personnel (21,000 army and 3,500 air force), augmented by 200,000 army reservists and by various paramilitary forces, including militia (internal security troops and frontier guards attached to the Ministry of Public Security) and military construction troops. The army included approximately 17,000 conscripts. It was organized into four motorized rifle divisions and equipped with Soviet weapons and equipment ranging from relatively modern to obsolete.
The Universal Military Service Law declared all male citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight to be eligible for military conscription. Soldiers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in the Mongolian armed forces had been required to serve three years of active duty--two years, for those with higher education. In August 1988, compulsory military service for all conscripts was reduced to two years. Males seventeen or older who attended military schools were considered to be on active military duty. Those older than twenty-eight with special skills who had not been drafted might be accepted into special service. Male enlisted personnel could serve on active duty until the age of forty-five. Although there were women in the armed forces in 1989, no information was available on the role women played.
Most officers received their commissions from a military academy, but some were educated in civilian universities. Soldiers and NCOs with a secondary or higher education who had performed in an exemplary fashion also might be granted commissions after being discharged from active duty. Experts up to the age of thirty-five might be inducted to carry out such functions as those of medical officers or computer specialists. Company-grade officers (junior lieutenant, lieutenant, senior lieutenant, and captain) were permitted to serve on active duty to the age of forty-five and in the reserves to the age of fifty.
Field-grade officers (major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel) were permitted to serve on active duty to the age of fifty-five and in the reserves to the age of sixty. General officers (major general, lieutenant general, and colonel general) were permitted to serve on active duty to the age of sixty and in the reserves to the age of sixty-five. Those holding the rank of general of the army or marshal could remain on active duty regardless of age. (The last person to hold these ranks was Tsedenbal.) In 1989 there were indications that these age restrictions were being relaxed because of a shortage of middle-aged men.
The educational level of the Mongolian armed forces compared favorably with that of the armed forces in most other countries. All officer and enlisted personnel in the mid-1980s had at least a secondary education, and many had received a specialized civilian education. Most officers were educated in the academies and schools of the Military Institute, an outgrowth of the Sukhe Bator Military Academy of the 1930s. Among those who were offered direct commissions were some discharged enlisted personnel with secondary or higher education, whose enlisted performance was exemplary, and civilians up to thirty-five years of age who had expertise useful to the military. Many officers received higher education and high-level training in the Soviet Union.
In the late 1980s, arms training at individual, small unit, and combined arms levels was supervised by Soviet instructors and advisers, or by Mongolian army instructors thoroughly trained in Soviet army courses. The training met Soviet military standards, and it was conducted under both winter and summer conditions. Discharged enlisted personnel with up to two years of active military service received two months of reserve training every two years. Those who had more than two years of active military service received up to two months of reserve training every three years.
Officers who registered in the reserves after completing their active duty, no matter what the source of their commission, received up to three months of reserve training every two years. Soldiers received a thorough political indoctrination. The technical training required for their military specialty was related constantly to civilian needs after military service. Soldiers trained as tank drivers could apply these skills in civilian life as tractor drivers, and soldiers trained as truck drivers in the army could be used as civilian drivers. The army also trained printers and tailors, as well as specialists in agriculture and animal husbandry.
In the mid-1980s, the Mongolian armed forces instituted major improvements in the content and methodology of staff, logistical, and field military training. Tactical training grounds, firing ranges, tank training grounds, and airfields were mechanized and automated. Field and training exercises included good-quality live firings, rocket launches, and operational training flights.
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