Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has ordered all military personnel and police in eight regional commands into full-time military service on the front line as territory and troop losses mount.
The 1959 Defense Services Act defines “full-time military service” as deployment to a military unit engaged in fighting or a territory partially or completely seized by the enemy.
Soldiers who go absent without leave (AWOL) during full-time military service are penalized with 20 years in prison or death. Personnel not in full-time military service are punished with just three to five years imprisonment for the same offense.
Min Aung Hlaing’s order covers eight of the country’s 14 regional commands: Northern, Northeastern, Eastern, Southeastern, Western, Northwestern, Central, and Southern Command. Soldiers, police and border guards in areas overseen by these eight commands are now in full-time military service.
Swe Taw, a Myanmar military defector, said the junta boss issued the order because 2024 has become the critical year for his regime’s survival amid nationwide armed resistance.
The order covers junta soldiers, police and border guards in Kachin State, northern, eastern and southern Shan State, central Myanmar, and Rakhine, Chin, Kayah (Karenni), Mon and Karen states where the regime is locked in fierce battles with ethnic rebel armies and allied resistance forces.
The regime has lost control of dozens of towns in Shan and Rakhine states since resistance groups launched a coordinated offensive late last year.
Former captain Zin Yaw, another defector, said the order signals that the regime is at war or at risk of imminent attack in the eight commands.
The order covers anyone working for a military unit either in barracks or on maneuvers, anyone serving in a military unit, anyone who accompanies those serving, and anyone who accompanies a military unit.
The order thus applies to Pyu Saw Htee and all other junta-allied militias, family members of military personnel, and civilians employed in military offices, Zin Yaw said.
“Family members of soldiers live at the bases and the military also employs civilians, for example in the Directorate of Defense Industries. They are also affected by the order,” said Zin Yaw.
Min Aung Hlaing announced the order would remain in effect until further notice.
Seriously depleted by troop losses and desertions since the 2021 coup, the regime imposed mandatory military service in February before enacting a law forcing veterans back into active duty a month later.
