A group of veteran female military personnel are today to start reservist training for the first time, a military source said yesterday.
The women have been asked to report to a “strategic location” in Taoyuan’s Bade District (八德) to complete the same required reservist training as their male counterparts, the source said, adding that they would have separate dormitories and bathrooms.
While the exact number of female trainees in the first group was not disclosed, the Ministry of National Defense previously said it would ask 220 women to undergo compulsory reservist training this year.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
As of 2021, 8,915 women were listed as reservists, and 15 percent of the nation’s 180,000 active military personnel are women, military data showed.
The ministry in January said it would begin training female armed reserve forces, after previously only training male reservists because it did not have sufficient capacity to accommodate men and women.
While men are required to take part in compulsory military conscription and reservist training, women are not, but can join the armed forces voluntarily.
The military runs a dual-track reservist training program, which consists of a new, more intensive 14-day plan, launched last year, and the old system of five to seven days of training.
The ministry said it would increase the number of reservists receiving 14 days of training from 15,000 last year to 22,000 this year, while 96,000 trainees would still participate in the old plan.
The training in both tracks has been changed to “strategic locations” so that reservists can develop a better understanding of the terrain and key infrastructure in the area they are charged with defending.
The change is expected to speed up mobilization and facilitate combat deployments during wartime, the military said.
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