New military recruits from Yangon, Magway, and Bago regions are being sent to frontline combat zones before completing their military training, according to family members of the affected recruits. Specifically, recruits from Training Battalion 8 at No. 1 Advanced Military Training School in Taikkyi Township, Yangon Region, were urgently deployed to the Nyaungkyoe battle in Pantaung Township, Bago Region, while still in training. Around 50 new recruits were sent to the Nyaungkyoe conflict on February 8, and their families have since lost all contact with them, unable to confirm if they are alive or dead.
Although Training Battalion 8’s course was scheduled to complete on February 28, the new recruits were dispatched to the frontlines under the pretext of emergency operations before finishing their training period. Similarly, trainees from No. 6 Military Advanced Training School in Taungoo, Oaktwin Township, Bago Region, were deployed in early February to provide security for defense industry factories. Local sources report that reinforcement troops arriving in Nyaungkyoe and Othitpin areas include many untrained new recruits who were sent directly after only completing basic weapons training. These new soldiers are now being forced to rely on local civilians to prepare and deliver food supplies, with some recruits desperately asking these civilians to help contact their families.
Recruits from No. 7 Basic Military Training Camp in Thaungdwin Gyi, Magway Region, have also been deployed for security operations along the Ann-Padan road before completing their training. According to a mother of a recruit who completed training at the No. 7 Basic Training Camp, families are not notified if their sons are killed or injured in combat, and many families have completely lost contact with their children. There are also reports of families paying substantial bribes to prevent their children from being sent to the frontlines, with one parent revealing they had to pay over 1 million kyats to keep their son stationed in a safer location. The situation highlights the military council’s desperate measures to maintain troop numbers, even at the cost of sending inadequately trained recruits into active combat zones.
