Voluntary High School Military Training in Thailand

            No matter how large or little a country is, national defense strategies are always taken as a matter of consequence. They are always put in the top orders of priority when it comes to administrating a country. The national defense strategies are seen and operated differently varying from country to country. For Thailand, there are certain sets of modus operandi for the defense strategies which are rather unique to other countries' at the policy level and the voluntary high school military training is one of them. Yet, it has been widely debated in the nation on the advantages and the necessity of this training. Some people even propose abolishing it by assuming it does no more good to the country. After all, it is of benefit to maintain the voluntary high school military training in Thailand if we deliberate over it carefully. .
             The most common reason claimed by many people including some officials in the armed forces who think the voluntary high school military training should be terminated is that the training is the significant factor leading to the gradual decrease of the number of men going for the personnel recruitment year by year. Many young males join the training when they are in high school so that when they graduate from universities in the future they will not have to draw cards worrying over the possibility of being selected. With that privilege, they can continue their jobs after their graduation without any interference from the conscription obligation. However, the situation is not as critical as it is stated by those people. The information released in 2013 from the Center of Thailand's Defense Strategy tells that the possibility of being recruited was 1 out of 2.3. Although this proportion may not be highly favored, it has not been proved by any study to have done harm to the armed forces for the past years. Moreover, according to the statistics until 2014 officially declared by the Department of Recruitment Officers, one-third or more than 30 percent of the conscripts were volunteers.