Junta soldiers parade during a ceremony to mark Myanmar's Armed Forces Day in Nay Pyi Taw on March 27. (AFP)

Once more into the breach: Veterans redeployed

With the Myanmar military overstretched, veterans are being recalled into service, angering them and their families, but there is little sympathy for their plight in the broader public.

By YE MON | FRONTIER

Army Captain Hla Moe fought on the front lines of the battle for Laukkai in 2015, when the Myanmar military dramatically repelled an attempt by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army to reclaim its lost territory.

By then he was already over 50 years old. Five years later – suffering from blurred vision, hypertension and diabetes – his request to retire for medical reasons was granted. He looked forward to enjoying his twilight years with his family, proud of the storied 35 years of service he’d dedicated to the military.

But in May, he received an unexpected letter.

“We don’t know where my father is now,” said his son Ko Zaw Lin, who asked that he and his father be identified by pseudonyms. “I only know one thing: he is no longer in Nay Pyi Taw.”

Like hundreds of other veterans, Hla Moe was recalled into service.

Since seizing power in a 2021 coup, the military has faced widespread armed resistance across the country from newly formed pro-democracy militias and longstanding ethnic armed groups. The regime has suffered unprecedented losses in territory and manpower, especially since October last year, when the MNDAA and its allies launched stunning offensives across northern Shan and Rakhine states.

In the first week of June, 60-year-old Hla Moe presented himself at the Nay Pyi Taw interrogation centre and guest house, as instructed in his summons. The family was shocked and distraught when he passed his medical tests, despite his condition, but relieved when he was assigned to guard duty at a military base in the heavily fortified capital.

“My father did not want to serve again in the military, but we didn’t have another option. We couldn’t run and hide from that,” said Zaw Lin, who hasn’t seen his father since June 3. When he went back to the interrogation centre in August, he was informed Hla Moe had been transferred to southern Shan, but was given no further details.

Under the 2010 Reserve Forces Law, all former military personnel are eligible to be recalled within five years of their retirement. Those who refuse a summons can spend up to three years in prison. 

The veteran recall follows February’s activation of a 2010 conscription law, allowing the military to call up any man aged 18-35 or women aged 18-27. The military has said it intends to draft 50,000-60,000 people in the first year. 

Zaw Lin had already sent his 27-year-old son abroad in April to avoid conscription and couldn’t afford to relocate the entire family.

The veteran recall has once again angered and embarrassed some military supporters, who have increasingly expressed frustration with coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. But the hapless retirees receive little sympathy from the general public, which has long suffered under the military and sees the latest episode as karmic retribution.

A soldier stands guard along a sidewalk during Myanmar’s New Year water festival in Yangon on April 16, 2022. (AFP)

Deployed again

Ma Nay Chi Lin, who lives in Yangon, said her father was summoned by phone call to participate in military training at the Central Institute of Civil Service in Hlegu Township on April 11.

Her father was a former army corporal who retired in 2019 at the age of 61, after serving in the supply unit, a logistics division. Nay Chi Lin, who also asked to be identified by a pseudonym, hopes her father has been reassigned to the same unit in the same area, which she said is relatively stable, but which she declined to identify.

“I believe that soldiers from the supply unit are at less risk than other soldiers. Also, his original unit is in an area where there is no fighting. I won’t say where exactly because of his safety concerns. I hope he’s fine,” she said.

A serving major in the army, who requested anonymity, told Frontier on August 28 that veterans will be recalled to the last place they served, but that only veterans in good health who are around 55 or younger would be deployed to the front lines.

“If you retired while serving in the Northern Command [in Kachin State], you will be summoned and must return there. Same rank, same place, same salary. But if you are over 60, don’t worry, you won’t be sent to the front lines,” he said.

But Zaw Lin still has cause for concern. His father’s last assignment was with the North Eastern Command in Lashio Township, which was seized by the MNDAA in August. The regime has reportedly established a replacement command centre in Mongyai Township, less than 100 kilometres from Lashio.

Even if Hla Moe isn’t sent to the battlefield, the battlefield could come to him – the MNDAA has overrun the North Eastern Command and dozens of other regime positions across northern Shan. 

“I think he’s made enough sacrifices for the military,” Zaw Lin said.

A 70-year-old retired major-general in the navy told Frontier the military’s decision to recall veterans when the country isn’t under attack from an external threat is “shameful”.

“It appears to me that the military leaders are using reservists to protect their own lives rather than the country,” he said. “What if all the reservists are killed? Who is going to defend the country?”

He also criticised regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing – who has faced unprecedented discontent even within pro-military circles – accusing him of destroying the lives of soldiers to satisfy his own personal lust for power.

“Sending veterans to the front line is really funny. There are many veterans in the USDP. Are they going to the front line?” he asked. 

The Union Solidarity and Development Party is the military’s proxy political party, founded by former generals. It ruled the country from 2011-2016, during the now-aborted democratic transition, but was trounced at the polls in 2015 and 2020 by the National League for Democracy. The USDP and the military refused to accept the results of the latter election.

A senior USDP official said that if any party members were summoned to serve they would have to resign from their post and comply, but Frontier is not aware of any such cases.

“We do not encourage our members to run away and hide from conscription,” the official said.

Regime spokesperson Major-General Zaw Min Tun did not respond to requests for comment.

Supporters of the Union Solidarity and Development Party attend an election campaign event in Yangon on November 4, 2020. (AFP)

Bad karma

But while Hla Moe may have drawn a bad lot, there is little sympathy for him and other veterans among the general public.

Veterans have always played a key role in enforcing oppressive military rule. Since 2021, many of them have served as local regime administrators, helped form pro-military militias, or acted as informants.

Ma Shin Thant, a 24-year-old in Yangon’s Sanchaung Township, said it’s now veterans’ turn to suffer.

“Min Aung Hlaing is good at causing problems for everyone. Some veterans are now being redeployed to the battlefield,” she said. “It’s fantastic, and they should all be killed.”

She said veterans should have to suffer the same as the young people they’ve helped oppress, who were gunned down at protests and tortured in interrogation centres.

“We’ve seen photos of old soldiers arrested by resistance groups, but resistance groups are not the same as them. They have been detained as humans. It’s not fair to those who have been killed by the military,” Shin Thant said.

A young man from the Mon State capital Mawlamyine told Frontier that veterans in the town were happy when the regime announced the youth conscription law, and helped ward administrators collect data on how many eligible people lived in each household.

“Mawlamyine is my hometown, but I was unable to stay there because of those veterans. I don’t know if they’ve been summoned or not, but I pray for them to be.”

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