Conscription in Vietnam

Last updated

Conscription in Vietnam has existed since 1975 and requires male citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 (18 to 27 for those who attend colleges or universities) to perform compulsory military service. [1] Women are not required to perform military service, but they may voluntarily join the military.

Contents

General regulations

According to Article 4 of the Military Service Law, 2015 (effective from 1 January 2016): [2]

  1. Military service is a glorious duty of citizens serving in the People's Army of Vietnam. Performing military service includes active duty service and service in the reserve ranks of the Army.
  2. Citizens of military service age, regardless of ethnicity, social class, religion or belief, education level, occupation, or place of residence, must perform military service in accordance with regulations of the law.
  3. Citizens serving in the Vietnam Coast Guard and joining the Vietnam People's Public Security are considered to have performed active military service.
  4. Citizens falling into one of the following cases are recognized to have finished active military service in peacetime:
The core militia and self-defense force has completed the obligation to join the militia and self-defense force, of which at least 12 months have been on the duty of standing militia and self-defense force;
Complete the task of participating in the Commune Police continuously for full 36 months or more;
Cadres, civil servants, public employees, university graduates or higher who have been trained and conferred the rank of reserve officer;
Young people who have graduated from universities, colleges or intermediate schools volunteer to serve at the economic – defense delegation for full 24 months or more according to the scheme decided by the Prime Minister;
Citizens who have served in Coast Guard for 24 months or longer.

Service length

The de jure length of compulsory military service in Vietnam is 2 years. Unlike in South Korea and other countries or territories with compulsory military service, Vietnam have a fixed enlistment date on February or March every year. The de facto period usually ends before Tết two years after enlistment (e.g. if one's military service started in February 2020 (after Tết 2020), they will be discharged before Tết 2022). [3]

In some cases, the Minister of the Ministry of Defence may decide to extend the active service period of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, but not exceeding 6 months:

Exemptions

These are exempt from military service:

Salary, Allowances and Benefits

TypesAllowance coefficientAllowance level per month
Private0.4VND 596,000
Private first-class0.45VND 670,500
Corporal0.5VND 745,000
Sergeant0.6VND 894,000
Sergeant Major0.7VND 1,043,000

Controversies

Hazing

Unsuspicious cases

  • 20 January 2004 – Private first-class Trần Văn Đại was attacked by six men from the Guards platoon of the 209th Regiment, 312th Division, 1st Corps. [4]
  • November 2020 – Từ Văn Nghĩa, Vương Phước Tự, Nguyễn Hữu Nghĩa and Lê Văn Vĩnh, along with some other soldiers, voluntarily left the barracks to drink alcohol. When they were discovered by their superiors and asked to disperse and return to the barracks, these soldiers beat up their superiors and comrades. [5]

Unusual or suspected unusual cases

Since the effective of the Military Service Law 2015 (effective since 2016), there have been many deaths of draftees which their families or acquittances suspected them to be unusual:

NameEthnicityDeath dateAgePlaceNotes
Lê Công Đức Kinh 24 October 201621Brigade 147 – 1st Regional Command (Quảng Yên, Quảng Ninh province)Claimed to be a suicide. [6] [7]
Dương Hiển Thanh Vinh Kinh 9 June 201819Battalion 9, Company 1, Army Officer School 2 (Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai province)Claimed to be a suicide. [8]
Nguyễn Quốc Thái Kinh 24 February 201924 Chợ Mới District, An Giang Province Claimed to be drowning. [9]
Phạm Đình Hưng Kinh 9 April 201923Artillery Brigade 572, 5th Military Region (Bình Định province)Claimed to be a suicide. [10]
Phạm Minh Huy Kinh 18 August 201919Air Defense Brigade 77 (152 Nguyễn Oanh Street, Gò Vấp District, Ho Chi Minh City)After asking personnel of the brigade, an officer stated that Huy fell from the 3rd floor, but the person on duty with Huy said that Huy was on the 1st floor, then saw that Huy had gone to the toilet for 10 minutes and had not returned, and another said Huy jumped from the 2nd floor. [11]
Huỳnh Trung Khmer 28 November 201919 Cần Thơ Claimed to be a suicide. [12]
Trần Đức Đô Kinh 28 June 202119Battalion 4, Company 14, 1st Military Region Military School (Phú Bình District, Thái Nguyên province)Do's family said that on 25 June 2021, they received a call from Do saying that his commander attacked him. At the same time, they required district and provincial authorities as well as the central government to handle this case. [13] This was concluded to be a suicide by hanging. [14] [15]
Nguyễn Văn Thiên Kinh 29 November 202123Infantry Battalion 50, Infantry Regiment 991 (Đức Cơ District, Gia Lai province)First claimed to be intracerebral hemorrhage. [16] The local government is said to enforce his family to bury him if his family refuses. [17] On 5 January 2022, three were prosecuted in this case. [18]
Hoàng Bá Mạnh Kinh 20 December 202120 Hải Dương province Suspected to be assault. [19]
Lý Văn Phương Hmong 10 June 202222Army Officer School 1 (Quang Phuc village, Yen Bai commune, Ba Vi district, Hanoi)Claimed to be drowning. [20]

Related Research Articles

"Tiến Quân Ca" is the national anthem of Vietnam. The march was written and composed by Văn Cao in 1944, and was adopted as the national anthem of North Vietnam in 1946 and subsequently the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976 following the reunification of Vietnam. Though it has two verses, only the first one is usually sung.

Articles related to Vietnam and Vietnamese culture include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asia Commercial Bank</span>

Asia Commercial Bank, often abbreviated to ACB, is the largest private bank in Vietnam by assets, headquartered at 442 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, Ward 5, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City. It was registered on 19 May 1993 and began operations in June 1993. The bank trades at the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange under the symbol ACB, where it listed on December 9, 2020 after previously trading at the Hanoi Stock Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cầu Giấy district</span> District of Hanoi province

Cầu Giấy is an urban district of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. It is located within the Nhuệ and Tô Lịch River, situating roughly to the south-west of West Lake. With the sixth-highest population density among Hanoi's districts, Cầu Giấy hosts many administrative and corporate headquarters within the Trung Hoà–Nhân Chính urban area and is the central education hub of Hanoi.

The 5th Military Region of Vietnam People's Army, is directly under the Ministry of Defence of Vietnam, tasked to organise, build, manage and command armed forces defending the South Central Vietnam include the Tây Nguyên and southern central coastal provinces.

The Hero of Labor is the highest title of honor in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It is awarded to individuals or collectives with outstanding achievements in labor. This includes supporting the objective of a strong country and an equitable, democratic, prosperous, and civilized society. Awardees are loyal to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and possess revolutionary virtues and qualities. It can be awarded to collectives for the same reasons that have maintained good internal unity, strong Party affiliations and mass organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trần Ngọc Lan Khuê</span> Vietnamese model (born 1992)

Trần Ngọc Lan Khuê is a Vietnamese model and beauty pageant titleholder. Lan Khuê rose to prominence in 2013 as she won the gold award in the Vietnam supermodel 2013, and became one of the most sought-after models in Vietnam. In 2014, she joined the Miss Aodai Vietnam pageant and won title. Then, she represented Vietnam in Miss World 2015 and was placed top 11. She shoot to fame when she got invited as one of 3 mentors in the reality show The Face Vietnam. Trần Ngọc Lan Khuê is the CEO of Elite Model Management and Elite Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City.

Nguyễn Nhữ Soạn, courtesy name Thủ Trung (首中), pseudonym Hiền Đức (賢德), posthumous name Hiền-đức Mister (橫敏先生), was an Annamese official.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hòa Minzy</span> Vietnamese singer and actress (born 1995)

Nguyễn Thị Hòa, known professionally as Hòa Minzy, is a Vietnamese singer and actress. She was the champion of the reality television competition Star Academy Vietnam in its first season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdication of Bảo Đại</span> 1945 renunciation of the throne of Vietnam

The abdication of Bảo Đại took place on 25 August 1945 and marked the end of the 143-year reign of the Nguyễn dynasty over Vietnam ending the Vietnamese monarchy. Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated in response to the August Revolution. A ceremony was held handing power over to the newly established Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which was established during the end of World War II in Asia as Vietnam had been occupied by French and later Japanese imperialists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bùi Hoàng Việt Anh</span> Vietnamese footballer

Bùi Hoàng Việt Anh is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for V.League 1 club Công An Hà Nội and the Vietnam national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of the Nguyễn dynasty</span> National government of the Nguyễn dynasty

The government of the Nguyễn dynasty, officially the Southern dynasty and commonly referred to as the Huế Court, centred around the emperor as the absolute monarch, surrounded by various imperial agencies and ministries which stayed under the emperor's presidency. Following the signing of the Patenôtre Treaty the French took over a lot of control and while the government of the Nguyễn dynasty still nominally ruled the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin, in reality the French maintained control over these territories and the Nguyễn government became subsidiary to the administration of French Indochina. During World War II the Japanese launched a coup d'état ousting the French and establishing the Empire of Vietnam which was ruled by the Nguyễn government. During the August Revolution the Nguyễn government was abolished in the aftermath of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam</span> Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam

The 4th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) was elected at the 4th CPV National Congress. It elected the 4th Politburo and the 4th Secretariat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thích Minh Tuệ</span> Travelling Vietnamese ascetic

Lê Anh Tú, dharma name Thích Minh Tuệ, is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. Having briefly practiced at a temple after giving up his job as a land surveyor, Thich Minh Tue decided to "study according to Buddha's teachings" by keeping the 13 dhutangas of Theravada Buddhism and begging everywhere in Vietnam as a mendicant monks. His walking journey in 2024 attracted the attention of many Vietnamese people, attracting thousands of people to meet him and sometimes hundreds of people following him, leading to many social disturbances and disorder. self-policing, and at the same time turned him into a "reluctant" Internet celebrity.

References

  1. VnExpress. "2 Vietnamese men face criminal charges for dodging military service twice – VnExpress International". VnExpress International – Latest news, business, travel and analysis from Vietnam. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  2. "LUẬT – Nghĩa vụ quân sự". moj.gov.vn. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  3. "Họp mặt quân nhân xuất ngũ năm 2021". Quận Tân Phú. 20 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021.
  4. "6 quân nhân tham gia đánh chết một đồng ngũ". VnExpress . 19 August 2004. Archived from the original on 30 June 2021.
  5. "Đánh cấp trên và đồng đội, 6 quân nhân ở Kiên Giang lĩnh án tù". 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021.
  6. "Về cái chết khuất tất tại C1D476 Lữ đoàn 147 vùng 1 Hải quân". Dân Luận. 12 January 2017.[ dead link ]
  7. "Những cái chết nơi công quyền cần được sáng tỏ". Radio Free Asia . 8 March 2017. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017.
  8. "Đi tìm công lý cho con tôi bị đánh chết oan trong trường Sĩ quan lục quân 2". Archived from the original on 11 August 2021.
  9. "Tử vong khi đi nghĩa vụ nhưng không có tên trong danh sách quân nhân". Tuổi trẻ. 3 March 2019. Archived from the original on 3 March 2019.
  10. "Một quân nhân thuộc Lữ đoàn Pháo binh 572, Quân khu 5, bị giết chết?". 11 April 2019. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021.
  11. "Một quân nhân chết bất thường, gia đình kêu cứu cộng đồng mạng". SBTN. 21 August 2019. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021.
  12. "Tân binh người Khmer tại Trà Vinh tử vong nghi vấn bị đánh chết". 1 December 2019. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020.
  13. "Quân nhân Trần Đức Đô tử vong, gia đình 'phẫn nộ, yêu cầu điều tra minh bạch'". BBC News Tiếng Việt. 30 June 2021.
  14. "Quân nhân Trần Đức Đô tử vong 'do tự treo cổ'". VnExpress . 12 July 2021.
  15. "Bố Trần Đức Đô 'không tin con trai tự tử' sau khi quân đội kết thúc điều tra". 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021.
  16. "Một quân nhân tử vong do đột quỵ, xuất huyết não". Tuổi Trẻ. 1 December 2021.
  17. "Vụ quân nhân Nguyễn Văn Thiên tử vong ở Gia Lai nhắc lại vụ bộ đội Trần Đức Đô tháng 6". BBC News Tiếng Việt. 2 December 2021. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021.
  18. "Khởi tố vụ án 'Cố ý gây thương tích' liên quan vụ quân nhân tử vong ở Gia Lai". Tiền Phong. 5 January 2022.
  19. "Thêm một vụ bộ đội nghi bị đánh chết khi đang thực hiện nghĩa vụ quân sự". Radio Free Asia (in Vietnamese). 22 December 2021.
  20. "Một quân nhân trường Sĩ quan Lục quân 1 tử vong bất thường". BBC News Tiếng Việt (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 12 June 2022.