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MND PLANNING TO EXTEND ANNUAL TRAINING PERIOD FOR RESERVE SOLDIERS

ROC Central News Agency

2006-04-03 13:39:40

    Taipei, April 3 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is planning to extend the annual educational training period for reserve soldiers by one day to three-and-a-half days to meet actual needs, MND officials said Monday.

    Reporting at the Legislative Yuan on the progress in the separation of the active forces' and reserves forces' systems, which is part of the ongoing reform of the armed forces, the MND officials said that the annual educational training period for reserve soldiers will be increased to three-and-a-half days while that for reserve officers will remain at three-and-a-half days to five days.

    Meanwhile, in a planned revision to the Military Service Act, the maximum draft age for reserve service will be lowered from 40 to 35, the officials said.

    If this revision is passed and implemented, the number of reserve soldiers will be reduced to some 2.9 million from the current level of 3.4 million, substantially lessening the MND's management burden, the officials claimed.

    According to the MND officials, there are currently about 410,000 men listed as the reserve forces, mostly Army infantry officers and soldiers responsible for combat, combat support or logistics support missions in the event of war.

    Noting that the weapon systems and related equipment for the reserve forces are not on par with those for active forces, the MND officials said more funds will need to be allotted in the ministry's annual budget toward replacing old weapons and equipment and training reserve soldiers and officers in how to use the new equipment in order to upgrade the reserve forces' preparedness.

(By Deborah Kuo)

ENDITEM/Li