Conscription in Vietnam

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.

Conscription
Conscription by country

General regulations[2]

According to Article 4 of the Military Service Act 2015 (effective from 1 January 2016):

  1. Military service is a glorious duty of citizens serving in the People's Army Vietnam. Performing military service includes active duty service and service in the reserve ranks of the People's Army of Vietnam.
  2. Citizens of military service age, regardless of ethnicity, social class, belief, religion, education level, occupation, or place of residence, must perform military service in accordance with regulations of this 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 on fishing vessels for full 24 months or longer.

Service length

The de jure length of compulsory military service in Vietnam is 2 years. 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:

  • To ensure combat readiness;
  • In the process of preventing and combating natural disasters, epidemics, rescue and rescue.

Exemptions

These are exempt from military service:

  • People with disabilities
  • People with serious illnesses
  • Mentally ill people
  • People with chronic diseases

Salary, Allowances and Benefits
Types Allowance coefficient Allowance level per month
Private 0.4 VND 596,000
Private first-class 0.45 VND 670,500
Corporal 0.5 VND 745,000
Sergeant 0.6 VND 894,000
Sergeant Major 0.7 VND 1,043,000

Controversies

Cases reported by state-run media
  • 20 January 2004 – Private first-class Trần Văn Đại was attacked by six men from the Guards platoon of Regiment 209, Division 312, Corps 1st.[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 beaten their superiors and comrades.[5]

Unusual or suspicious cases

Since the effective of the Military Service Act 2015 (effective since 1 January 2016), there have been many cases of unusual or suspicious deaths of service conscripts:

Name Ethnic Death date Age Place Notes
Trần Đăng Khôi Kinh 21 October 2016 18 Army Officer School 1 - Vietnam Air Force & Air Defense Academy (Sơn Tây, Hanoi) Claimed to be a myocardial infarction.[6]
Lê Công Đức Kinh 24 October 2016 21 Brigade 147 - 1st Regional Command (Quảng Yên, Quảng Ninh province) Claimed to be a suicide.[7][8]
Dương Hiển Thanh Vinh Kinh 9 June 2018 19 Battalion 9, Company 1, Army Officer School 2 (Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai province) Claimed to be a suicide.[9]
Nguyễn Quốc Thái Kinh 24 February 2019 24 Chợ Mới District, An Giang Province Claimed to be drowning.[10]
Phạm Đình Hưng Kinh 9 April 2019 23 Artillery Brigade 572, 5th Military Region (Bình Định province) Claimed to be a suicide.[11]
Phạm Minh Huy Kinh 18 August 2019 19 Air Defense Brigade 77 (152 Nguyễn Oanh Street, Gò Vấp District, Ho Chi Minh City) After asking the people of the brigade, an officer in the brigade said 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.[12]
Huỳnh Trung Khmer Krom 28 November 2019 19 Cần Thơ Claimed to be a suicide.[13]
Trần Đức Đô Kinh 28 June 2021 19 Battalion 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 the commander or attacked Do; At the same time, it is required from the district to the province and the central government to transparently handle this case.[14] This was concluded to be a suicide.[15][16]
Nguyễn Văn Thiên Kinh 29 November 2021 23 Infantry Battalion 50, Infantry Regiment 991 (Đức Cơ District, Gia Lai province) Claimed to be intracerebral hemorrhage.[17] The local government is said to enforce his family to bury him if his family refuses.[18]

See also

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 2021-12-02.
  2. https://moj.gov.vn/vbpq/lists/vn%20bn%20php%20lut/view_detail.aspx?itemid=30514. Retrieved 2021-12-02. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Họp mặt quân nhân xuất ngũ năm 2021". Quận Tân Phú. 2021-01-20.
  4. "6 quân nhân tham gia đánh chết một đồng ngũ". VnExpress. 2004-08-19.
  5. "Đánh cấp trên và đồng đội, 6 quân nhân ở Kiên Giang lĩnh án tù". 2021-04-08.
  6. "Sinh viên học viện PK-KQ chết bất thường, quân đội đem hỏa táng ngay hôm sau". Dân Luận. 2018-05-12. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25.
  7. "Về cái chết khuất tất tại C1D476 Lữ đoàn 147 vùng 1 Hải quân". Dân Luận. 2017-01-12.
  8. "Những cái chết nơi công quyền cần được sáng tỏ". Radio Free Asia. 2017-03-08.
  9. "Đi tìm công lý cho con tôi bị đánh chết oan trong trường Sĩ quan lục quân 2".
  10. "Tử vong khi đi nghĩa vụ nhưng không có tên trong danh sách quân nhân". Tuổi trẻ. 2019-03-03.
  11. "Một quân nhân thuộc Lữ đoàn Pháo binh 572, Quân khu 5, bị giết chết?". 2019-04-11. Archived from the original on 2021-04-19.
  12. "Một quân nhân chết bất thường, gia đình kêu cứu cộng đồng mạng". SBTN. 2019-08-21. Archived from the original on 2021-08-11.
  13. "Tân binh người Khmer tại Trà Vinh tử vong nghi vấn bị đánh chết". 2019-12-01.
  14. "Quân nhân Trần Đức Đô tử vong, gia đình 'phẫn nộ, yêu cầu điều tra minh bạch". BBC News Tiếng Việt. 2021-06-30.
  15. "Quân nhân Trần Đức Đô tử vong 'do tự treo cổ'". VnExpress. 2021-07-12.
  16. "Bố Trần Đức Đô 'không tin con trai tự tử' sau khi quân đội kết thúc điều tra". 2021-07-13.
  17. "Một quân nhân tử vong do đột quỵ, xuất huyết não". Tuổi Trẻ. 2021-12-01.
  18. "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. 2021-12-02.
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