Making the Armed Forces Attractive

This promo video makes the ROC armed forces look cool, presumably to attract the hordes of young gamers and Transformer lovers in Taiwan to go out and sign up. The reality is something else...
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2007/01/military-intelligence.html
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2006/12/taiwan-endgame.html


Watching this reminded me of the free computer game that is given away by the army in the US to attract recruits called America's Army.

In the Navy

From 2008_11_16 Good Citizen

Is it just me or is this advertisement for joining the ROC military just a little gay (happy if you wish)?  Aren't military types supposed to be silent and disciplined killers? 

Put it this way, would a bunch of shaved head guys piled on top of each other and smiling like a batch of giddy school boys make you want to join?  It just reinforces the cute image that Taiwan tries to put on everything with mixed results...

Taiwan's cute imagery vs China

The irony is that the morale in the army is very poor.  Lots of suicide.  Superiors drinking on the job.  Initiation involving women of ill-repute.  Not to mention the poor training and sometimes inadequate equipment (Humvees for the narrow alleys of Taiwan?  Give me a break!  The war would be over before they got those things out of the traffic jams!).

Don't believe me about the initiation?  See for yourself.  As most boys who have done their military service will tell you, you'll come out a man whether you want to or not.

Military Precision

It's nice to know that some divisions of the ROC army are disciplined and seemingly ready for real combat. I think the airforce is what really counts. They have the right equipment and are impressive when seen in demonstrations like this at the Double Ten Day celebrations.

(Click on the picture for a great larger view. Further pics of the air show here.)

I've written about the general malaise in the army in a past blog, especially in the consripts but also in the officers. I've always wondered, after all the simulated wargames, and the rhetoric whether the ROC army would be ready should the fight come.

Maybe a better question would be, if Taiwan were to declare independence, how many people would step up to put their muscle where their mouth belongs? Let's hope it never comes to this.

But, who knows, I firmly believe that China is obsessive and crazy enough to pull something foolish and disastrous like this off...

ROC Air Might!

ROC Heavy Metal!

Military Intelligence

Some cadets enjoy some R&R.

I'd like to know what goes on in the hazing of ROC soldiers. I've heard that some activities that conscripts are subject to can get pretty raunchy (when the higher officials are out of sight).

I assume that the army is in a general mess with low morale, alcoholism on the bases, soaring suicide rates and general loneliness and unease.

I have an officer friend in the military who summed it up in one good quote. It was of a new recruit saying to his commanding officer that if China attacked Taiwan, he would kill his officer superiors and therefore merit a medal from China! This soldier was not even given a tap on the hand for this treasonous comment!!!

If you have done your service in the ROC and have any tales, send them to me!

Taiwan Endgame

Taiwan is a little island of the coast of China which a population of about 23 million. China is a large country of roughly the same size as the US with a population of 1.2 billion. We all like to make these kinds of comparisons. They give us perspective.

Also, Taiwan is fairly democratic while China is fairly not. It’s this clash of systems and history that has been brewing war clouds on the horizon for years. In this atmosphere of clear differences, Taiwan, seemingly, has been edging close and closer to declaring independence…

And now we’re approaching crunch time. The playing field is set. China will pass Taiwan in military strength sometime in this decade. And China keeps getting more and more powerful by the moment. Will there be peace or war is the question on a lot of people’s minds.

There is a window that is now open. Just take a look at the timeline of events.

2004 Taiwanese Presidential Election – DPP President (somewhat separatist) elected
2008 Proposed Taiwan constitutional changes
2008 Taiwanese Presidential Election – incumbent President cannot run again
2008 Beijing, China Olympics
2010 Shanghai, China World Fair

But will Beijing risk a war with a few opportunities to shine on the world stage coming so soon?
There are lots of good books and articles about scenarios of how cross-straight relations could play out. In this blog I’m going to take a look at two articles about military confrontations.

The first suggests that the strategy of China would be to decapitate the leadership in Taiwan. It proposes that China special forces, in place in advance of an invasion, would be able to wreak havoc in Taipei. Here’s a thought:
“Many could use taxis to move about the cityunnoticed. Mainland Chinese prostitutes, already in abundance in Taiwan,could be recruited by Chinese intelligence to serve as femme fatales,supplying critical intelligence on the locations of key government andmilitary leaders at odd hours of the night; death is the ultimateaphrodisiac.”

Also accentuated is the soldier apathy problem. Anyone living here who knows a soldier doing military service can understand:
“Taiwan's military is rife with lethargic and ineffectual troops just begging for their 20-month tour of duty to end so they can go back to their girlfriends and jobs. Many call Taiwan's youth, including its young soldiers, the 'strawberry generation' because they are soft and spoiled by the good life. US military officials visiting Taiwan often complain that the military's boot camps are too lax. The military appears more afraid of angering the parents of the conscripts than confronting a Chinese invasion, say visiting US soldiers.”



The second article focuses more on the American reaction to such an invasion. How would the Chinese prevent American intervention?:
“The Chinese might employ nuclear-armed anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, fired from submarines or surface ships, but I think her little surprise for us may be nastier. […] China 'may eventually be able to lob missiles accurately at moving ships in the Pacific' from deep in Chinese territory. […] [W]hat if a Chinese ballistic missile popped a nuke say, 100 miles from an advancing U.S. carrier battle group? No one gets hurt, but the message would be loud and clear: keep coming and you're toast.”

Read these sobering articles here:
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=11a37f595d74bd71
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=abe73f20dc0d8a3c

Of course this is all speculation but it does make you wonder…