When you go inside, even five minutes of freedom is valuable
Asking a friend about compulsory military service in Taiwan…
All of my male Taiwanese friends have completed military service. It’s optional for women, but compulsory for men aged over 18. The service requirement has changed over time: some friends did two years; some did just four months.
However, in response to deteriorating relations with China, recently the duration was raised from four months to one year.
One of my friends just completed his service. Although the one year requirement was already in place, his birth date meant he only had to do four months.
He was randomly assigned to the army (as opposed to the air force or navy). He completed two months of training before moving to a different base.
Most of my Taiwanese friends did their service many years ago, so I was curious to hear about a more recent experience. We met at a cafe to discuss.
With permission, here’s a transcript…
What are your thoughts about compulsory military service?
I think it’s good. Because it’s very necessary for us to maintain the quality of our troops. Because the situation between us and China is a little bit awkward right now.
So I think it’s good for our country. But personally, I just don’t like it because I’m not very into military things. So it’s terrible for me, but that’s personal. But for the whole country, I think it’s very good.
And I feel very lucky to be almost the last generation of taking only four months in the military… but four months is totally not enough to train as a real soldier. One year is probably more appropriate.
But overall it’s good, I think.
How did you decide when to do it?
You have to apply first. There’s a website, and you have to register on it. You click on this and say you want to go earlier. So they will try to arrange for you to go earlier than before.
So I just registered, and then I actually didn’t expect that it would come so early. But yeah, it comes and I just go there.
Why did you decide to do your service after finishing your master’s, instead of when you were younger?
I actually wanted to do it after finishing the master’s degree, but I was going to have a work visa in other countries. I’m not sure where I would be. If I had to do the mandatory service, I would have to go back to Taiwan, of course. So I would waste maybe four months or maybe half a year of my visa. So I would prefer to finish it right now instead of having it later.
Before you started, did you work on your fitness or do any other preparation?
I’m a person who loves sport. So, for me, I trained every week. But it’s not for the military. I didn’t train on purpose for that. But yeah, that made it much easier to conquer all the training parts in the military, because sometimes it is very exhausting.
You have to do push-ups in there. I would say maybe 80% of people there cannot do it. So I think it’s appropriate to train.
How many push-ups did you have to do?
I think 28 push-ups in two minutes. Around that number. It’s not that difficult. But if you are a person who loves to stay inside, it’s very terrible for you.
I think 20 is pretty easy, but if you add 8 more, it’s a little bit harder. It’s actually harder than you think.
What kind of military service did you do?
For the first two months, I called it training. We were trained how to shoot and how to fight with someone. And how to attack them, step by step. So that’s basically the first thing we do.
Where were you based?
We were allocated to different cities around in Taiwan, but we probably have around 10 bases for the training part. Those bases are for training only. Taichung is the main base for the training. And there are two in Tainan. So I was there.
We have one more in Kaohsiung. Unluckily, I didn’t get assigned to it.
So the commute was very terrible. My mom drove to pick me up every week. So it saved lots of time. Because time is money—like, when you go when you go inside, even five minutes of freedom is valuable.
When you first arrived there, how did you feel?
We were just very curious. But actually, we got scolded as soon as we arrived there.
Why?
They tried to get us disciplined. There was no reason, but they just shouted at us. Yelled at us. So I felt so terrible.
But I didn’t feel very, very, very bad because I actually expected this kind of scenario before entering. And also, I had been in this type of environment before, starting at junior high school. It’s kind of the same system. They were very strict. So I can get used to that environment very quickly.
Did you know anyone else in your group?
Yeah. That’s the funny part. I was with two high school friends, and we are very close to each other. And luckily—because every class has 12 people—I was the second one in my class, and one of my best friends was the 12th one. So we stayed in the same dorm.
So we almost did everything together. As I said, my mom picked me up there every week, so my mom picked him up as well.
And if I felt very tired or like I really needed someone to help me, I could immediately find someone to help me. I don’t have to pay him back something. We were kind of cooperating with each other.
And also, because we already knew each other, it was easier for us to meet new people. Like “hey, he’s my high school friend…”
We could introduce each other with this kind of approach.
What were the other people like?
It’s pretty easy to have a great relationship with them because you cannot use your phone almost the whole day. You are only allowed to use your phone for 30 minutes to one hour every day.
And so for the rest of the time, you had to spend your time with your classmates. You would be very close to each other because the only thing you can do is talk. So, you can share a lot of stories.
So I think like during those two months, we had a stronger connection than I had with my university friends in four years. Just because they know everything.
Because you don’t have anything to do. Just like share your personal experience. I say I was blessed because I had really, really good roommates. The 11 people, they were very fantastic.
After two months, when you transferred to another base, did you also have a good experience with other people?
Not really. We lived in a dorm with six people in the room. And five of us were obligatory soldiers. We lived together so we talked, of course. We talked while using our phones because phones were not prohibited. So you could use your phone anytime. So actually we didn’t have a strong connection then.
I’m the person who loves making new friends. So I would get a good relationship with everyone.
So I feel very comfortable with that. But yeah, I can definitely feel I didn’t have that strong connection with them, like I had with those people in the training center.
So when you were at the training center, and when you were in the other base, what was a typical day like?
I woke up at 5:00 when doing training. And we went back at around 9:00 to 9:30pm. But you would fall asleep easily.
At the other base, I woke up around 6:00 to 6:10 in the morning. We had to turn off the light after night. But like I said, you could use your phone. So I kind of stayed up late every night.
When you are going into the campus, you have to reset your phone back to the original state. They will install a special app on your phone. You cannot delete it. It blocks your camera, mic, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, of course. The app will know when you are still in the base, so you cannot turn it off until you are out of the area. So you cannot FaceTime. You cannot post anything.
But back to the training part. It’s just the shooting thing, learning how to be very disciplined, that’s what they taught us.
It’s very boring, doing the same thing every day. But later they allowed you to do many things. Different kinds of duties, depending on the commanders, and it’s different every day.
What kind of duties?
We cleaned, and we learned new equipment—mostly communication things. And they would ask you to be a sentry for maybe three shifts in a week.
We had the people from fire station teach us how to save people. So that’s pretty cool and very useful for us.
So, just like I say, I feel very lucky to be only a four-month soldier, but it’s definitely not enough time to be a real soldier.
What did you have to do for sentry duty?
Just get there and watch everyone. And if someone wants to get inside, you have to call the commander with that detail. But it’s for the daytime.
And as for the night shift, just stand there alone. You cannot bring anything except a helmet and a stick.
What’s the stick for?
For safety. Maybe for people, but I don’t think there’s gonna be a person. But we do have snakes. We had a special long stick to pick up snakes because we were in the mountains.
We were surrounded by mountains so you definitely had to have one in case some animals attacked you.
Did you get attacked by any animals?
No, of course not. Otherwise I would not be here.
What was the physical environment like?
It’s very good for you to stay there. The bathroom is good. The restroom is good as well. Because our major job was to keep those places clean. I’m the person who used it so I was gonna clean very carefully.
Did you have air conditioning?
Yeah, of course. That’s the most important part. Before, in the training part, we had AC as well. But it was not actually cold.
But on the other base, every dorm had AC. In my dorm, we set the temperature 22º Celsius every day. So it was very cold. But it was very cozy because you have to wear the long sleeves and long pants. And we have a very thick base sheet. So it made me feel very comfortable while sleeping there.
The environment is better than it used to be. So when we talk to the older soldiers, they are like “hey, you have to be thankful because you have advanced equipment and facilities… every day I slept in water”—because they would sweat. They would sweat all day, you know?
Day-to-day, how did you feel when you were there?
For the first two weeks, when I was in the training center, I just felt so awful because I’m a person who loves freedom. Because you are living in a group, if someone is making mistakes, everyone would get scolded together. So I really don’t like that environment. And they love to yell at you in front of everyone. So I really don’t like that feeling. I felt so terrible for the first two or three weeks.
But after that, I felt like I had to change my mindset. I kept telling myself that I’m very lucky because I only have to do it for four months—and look at those one-year soldiers!
Did you have any days off?
We can get home every weekend. But it depends. We are asked to leave the campus on Saturday morning, at 8am. But if you act well—like you didn’t make any mistakes that week—you can get home earlier, on Friday night.
And of course, we have our public holidays. During my service, I had in total four public holidays.
Did you get paid?
Yeah, but the money is very terrible. For one month, it’s probably around NT$7,000 [NZ$350].
Now that you’ve completed your service, how do you feel?
It’s very mixed. Because I’m very happy that I can get my freedom back. But I still had sentry duty on my last night. I went against my fear again. The last time, I thought I conquered it, but actually not—because when I saw the schedule, I still felt very afraid of that duty.
What were you afraid of?
I was afraid of ghosts, of course. Because there was someone doing suicide there. But yeah, they asked us to go there.
The older soldiers told us a lot of ghost stories. Like the light of the car will turn on without any reason, and they have heard a small girl’s song during the nighttime. I’m the person who will keep thinking about that kind of image in my mind, so I will scare myself. So that’s why I don’t like that.
Yeah… I’m very happy to finish my duty.
Was it worthwhile?
It’s not worthwhile but I think it’s a pretty good memory. I have a lot of stories—either funny or scary—because we went through a lot together. We overcame a lot together.
But if you want to ask me to do it again, I will say no.
If military service was optional, would you recommend it?
No. Definitely no.
Can you be recalled in future? Do you have to do any more training?
Oh, one time for 14 days. But it’s random, so you will not know when it will happen. But if you get a letter at your home, it means that you have to go. I’m not sure about the age range for that. But there’s a limitation for that.
And I know that there are some jobs where you will not get called. Like if you are TSMC staff, you will not get called. And if you are a pilot, you will not get called. So if you don’t want to go back to the military campus again, just do that kind of career.
Is there anything else you think is interesting for foreigners to know about Taiwanese military service?
We sing every day. We have a karaoke machine in the main area, so you can hear the sound every day, every night.
That’s super Taiwanese!
That’s the way they spend their leisure time. In my base, we were surrounded by mountains so we had a lot of aboriginal soldiers and they were pretty good at singing. So you could hear a very fantastic melody every day. I really loved that vibe.
So they would be very strict, but during your leisure time they would be very friendly and love to hang out with you.
Also, you can see a lot of commanders and chiefs riding electric bikes. And it’s pretty funny because they are very strict while you’re doing the training, but they pass by you and they are like [in a friendly tone] “hello! hello! hello!”
And we had a convenience store on campus. It was very good.
And yeah, we played basketball. We played volleyball. Of course, we ran.
Oh, the food was good.
But having KTV was great.