The Ministry of National Defense has proposed a NT$1.19 billion (US$39.2 million) budget to increase the pay rate of 29,995 military personnel who were not included in a previous raise for combat troops, a ministry official said.
To boost enlistment and morale, units not included in the 2015 pay raise are to be classified as either “type one” or “type two” combat units, the official said.
The army’s 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion and the drone-flying squadrons of its Aviation and the Special Forces Command are among the units that are to receive better pay under the new plan, the official said.
The plan has been submitted to the Executive Yuan as a ministry priority and is to be implemented as soon as January next year if both it and the Legislative Yuan approve the proposal without alteration, the official said.
The previous pay increase for combat troops was implemented on April 1, 2015, but many units continue to experience recruitment shortages, the official said.
The exclusion of many units within brigade-level organizations is believed to be the cause of the problem, the ministry said.
To address the issue, the ministry devised the proposal to incorporate the units that were left out of the original plan, the official said.
Under the proposal, the army’s drone squadrons and the 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion are to be included in the “type one” classification, increasing members’ pay by NT$5,000 per month, the official said.
Other units to be incorporated as type one include the navy’s 256th Submarine Unit’s support squadron; the Hai Feng Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile Group squadrons; and the marines’ Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit’s reconnaissance teams and underwater demolition team, the official said.
Units within the army’s brigades and corps that did not receive pay raises, such as chemical warfare, communication, electronics and information, engineering, maintenance, sanitation, military police and training, are to be classified as “type two” combat units, increasing the soldiers’ monthly pay by NT$3,000.
The infantry, armor and artillery units organic to the battalion headquarters of the army and the marines are to be reclassified from type two to type one, a ministry official said.
The official said the reclassification of formations from type two to type one would add an estimated NT$62 million to the ministry’s annual budget, which is not included in the NT$1.19 billion figure.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS