Thai soldiers- real fighters

• LazerLordz

  31 Oct 04, 15:01

  Originally posted by Moxie:

  The possibility of heavy-handededness exists in every army; the Thais are sometimes accused of extra-judicial killings & citizen disappearances as well, though not high-profile or extensive as the Indonesians.
  
  No need to suspect them. The Thais are very skillful in maintaining political neutrality as well, having fending off European colonialism as well as, in the 20th century, the Jap aggression & the neighborly Vietnam War.
  
  Do I respect their common soldier? Yes. (They serve 2-year NS as well, plus possible reservist until age 55.) Their command & control? Less so. It's a big country, & like the rest of the SE Asian armed forces, the armies are delegated more for internal security & counterinsurgency ops. Also, from a certain level of higher staff command onwards, there's a lot of political ambitions mixed in with regular-army duties. Nothing like the regional warlordism associated with early-20th C China, of course, or the military cliques of Myanmar. But I think the opportunity's there for Thai generals to establish power bases.

  I recall that there was a clash between a Myanmar army unit and a squad of Thai Border Police.They are tough nuts to crack and this is one more proof of it.Myanmar troops pursuing Karen rebels regulary clash with Thai Border Police..Heh.Army vs Police.Nuff said.
• tvdog

  1 Nov 04, 01:16

  Originally posted by Shotgun:

  Hahaha, I liked the iron man story. If it was me, I dunno wad they would call me.
  
  I'll be the first to hit the dirt, crawl AWAY from the sound of fire, take out something nice to eat, and enjoy my last meal. LOL.
  
  Just kiddin

  This Iron Man title is not improbable you know.
  
  When walking in the jungle during excercise in Singapore, my unit NEVER took cover when they hear shots fired unless our instructors told us we have to.
  
  Why? Are we stupid? Are we Iron Men?
  
  No. It is because Singapore is so small, we frequently encounter other units doing OTHER excercises in the same area we are passing through. So if we hear a shot fired it is probably other people's excercises. We frequently hear shots all the time. If you keep taking cover you're gonna get laughed at.
  
  So in Thailand, when you hear a shot fired, you tend to wonder for a fraction of a second whether you should react or not.