Military Recruitment

[The_Zergling]

From some of the posts here I've noticed something that I can't figure out... what system does China use to get soldiers? As far as I remember conscripts were drafted, but now I'm hearing that there are also volunteer sections? (Sorry, I'm pretty ignorant on some Chinese affairs)

And if there is a voluntary section, how does it work? I live in the US, so I am bombarded with US military commercials every day, and it annoys the hell out of me though it's explainable since the US military is entirely volunteer...

Is there similiar Chinese propoganda or is everybody drafted and those that want to get more expertise volunteer?

[PiSigma]

china in theory have a conscription system for the army. the navy and air force is 100% volunteer force. for the army, the grunts they can be conscripted. but i say it's in theory is because a lot of peasants are extremely poor, and for their sons to join the army is a way to get out of poverty. so milions of applications are send to the recuitment office every year. chinese army salary is not very much, but the families are so poor, that when a new recruit send money home, it actuall helps out. now you should get an idea how poor some of these people are. also joining the army means getting more education, if the kid do well, the army might send him to a military school or give additional training like in computers or electronics, then there's real hope for the family because now this kid can find a good join after getting out of the army. also the army help find jobs for their soldiers after their term is up. so extra bonus for the kids.

and the government really like the idea of these poor kids joining the army, since most of the army is infantry, which in china is not very high tech, they can use these kids. and also, these kids knows that their future depends on the army, so they will be extra loyal, work extra hard so can try for military school, and since they come from poor families they can take more hardship than us city boys. which equates to a better grunt can be recruited in a backwater village than a kid that's born in shanghai with 6 cellphones by then time he's 18. this is not the case for officers.

[The_Zergling]

Thanks, that was very enlightening... so I would tend to believe that the Air Force and Navy officers generally come from well-off backgrounds and are more similiar to the average "Western" military? (As opposed to the Army)

[PiSigma]

the navy and air force have specialized training so they want smart kids joining, they don't want someone working on a jet engine and forget what to do after opening the initial stage. these guys all have to have a high school degree. and if have university degree that would be a bonus and means faster advancement. and like the army, if the navy and air force see potential in someone they'll send him/her to military schools for more special training in tech or to be in the officer corps

[Red Guard]

i didn't see what you guys talked about up there. as for me a chinese, i have problems of reading over mass english words.
i am going to cut it short.
chinese law is specificly written about the services "chinese recruitment is based on conscription and volunteering". it's combained.
they don't conscript people if they don't have to. every year we have people fighting over spots to going to the army. people bribe the officers to do so. there is no point of conscription. and the army don't spend money on commercials, recruiting centers, flyers, free giving away stuff, which i had a bunch from canadian force back to when i used to want to join.

there is almost no conscription for ANY trade (as said in canadian force) in either army, navy, nor air force. there will always be a person who is willing to fill in that.

[Dongfeng]

Yes, the PLA is in a mixture of conscripts and volunteers. Normal soldiers are recruited from high-school graduates for a two year service. After the two year service, soldiers with top performance (and maybe some inside connections as well...;) ) will be given to two options: take the college entrance exam and if you pass it you can go a military college to become an officer, or you can become a volunteer (NCO).

Air force, navy and strategic missile force may contain a higher percentage of volunteers because of their more technology-prone nature. PLA may not lack basic soldiers, but it desperately needs some highly educated people (with Bachelor/master/PhD degree) to handle its new toys. That's why the PLA began to recruit NCO and officers directly from university graduates.

The PLA does not do TV commercial or flyers, but it does have a recruitment website in Chinese to attact young people to join.

Apparently the hotest job in the PLA is pilot. Hundreds of kids accompanied by their parents queuing outside the PLAAF pilot recruitment centre (unlike the normal soldiers, pilot students are not recruited via local People's Arms Departments)

[bd popeye]

Thanks to all the posters in this thread!:)
This is the most information I've read on PLA recruitment and training.

I would like to know how long is "boot camp"?? You know basic training. I know in the US it varies depending on what service you join. It is as short as 6 weeks for the USAF and as long as 12 weeks for the USMC.

I understand that boot camp for a PLA recruit is very harsh.

I will appericate any answers.

Thanks!:)

[Dongfeng]

New recruits are trained in one of the several training centres (boot camps) for three months before being assigned to a specific unit. Training mainly consists of marching, physical training, basic tactics, shooting, diciplines and regulations, political studies, etc.

Marching training occupies a great percentage of the all time spent in the training. The PLA believes that marching training helps new recruits to understand more about team working as well as self-dicipline. Sometimes it could be very harsh. Not only you march all day, sometimes it happens at night too. Midnight or early morining you will suddenly be waken up by emergency signal, and you must put on your clothe and your gear within two minutes and rush downstairs for assembly. This is sometimes followed by a 1~2km running before you are allowed to go back to sleep. Not a very attractive choice if you have sleeping problem.

[adeptitus]

From some of the posts here I've noticed something that I can't figure out... what system does China use to get soldiers? As far as I remember conscripts were drafted, but now I'm hearing that there are also volunteer sections? (Sorry, I'm pretty ignorant on some Chinese affairs)


There are approx. 13.2 million males reaching military age annually in the PRC, while the PLA only has 2.25 million active. So from those figures we can conclude that the PRC is not actively drafting like ROC or Singapore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army
Theoretically, all citizens of the PRC have the duty of performing military service. In practice, military service with the PLA is voluntary; all 18-year-old males have to register themselves with the government authorities, in a way similar to the Selective Service System of the United States. The main exception to this system applies to potential university students, who are required to undergo military training before their courses commence.
Residents of the two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau, are prohibited from joining the PLA.

[RavenWing278]

are there any requirements to join sepcific branches of the PLA? like having decent eyesight etc...this might just be a stereotype but since lots of "kids" study their arses off in the city and its surrounding areas, wouldnt they be more prone to bad eyesights? i for one have a terrible eyesight..n im onli 16!!
:(

[ordinary dude]

are there any requirements to join sepcific branches of the PLA? like having decent eyesight etc...this might just be a stereotype but since lots of "kids" study their arses off in the city and its surrounding areas, wouldnt they be more prone to bad eyesights? i for one have a terrible eyesight..n im onli 16!!
:(

RavenWing raises a good point. In reality, most city kids dont opt for the PLA, the main pool of applicants for the PLA comes from the massive rural population of China. Some of the rural kids have very little to moderate amount of formal education, so they have spent most of their life working the fields or other forms of manual labor, so eyesight is really not a problem, another plus for them is that they are used to the hardship offered by the PLA as they have already lived it to an extend during their "normal" civilian life.

The most selective branch will have to be the airforce, due to the technilogical prowness required. But since the applicant pool is so huge, its really not hard to find a few smart kids who have not destoryed their eyes during the high school days.

[RavenWing278]

i know that the USAF don't permit any 1 whose had suffered any eye traumas like wearing reading glasses or had laser eye surgery to server but what about the PLAAF? and what about specops forces?

[PiSigma]

i know that the requirements for pilots are 20/20 eye sight, but don't think they would care if you require glasses if going to be a techy. special ops need 20/20 eyesight. they pretty much require special forces guys to have the perfect health for everything. they got a huge group of people to choose from, so it's not hard for them to find them.