Taiwan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

bsdnf

Junior Member
Registered Member
Taiwanese military operates a three-tier mobilization system, with the lowest tier consisting of 18 local reserve brigades, each with a 4,000 personnel.

Before 2021, each brigade had only a shocking 24 full-time personnel and conducted "training" just once every two years, lasting 5-7 days (in reality, possibly only 3 days, with little to no actual training). After the reserve reforms, by 2024, the number of full-time personnel in each brigade is expected to increase to 200, aiming to raise the full-time ratio to 5%, while reservists will undergo 14 days of annual training. But for now, the reform has taken it back a little bit, 14 days (8 hours per day) of training every two years.

The second-tier "Basic Training Infantry Brigades" aren't much better either. True to their name, they essentially serve as training centers during peacetime, handling military instruction for both active-duty and reserve personnel—in reality, they're just some huge boot camps.
Sorry for the confusion caused by some conceptual errors.

Among Taiwan's 12 basic training infantry brigades, also known as "A class Reserve Brigades," 3 are active-duty brigades, while the remaining 9 primarily function as training centers in peacetime with minimal active-duty personnel, serving as cannon fodder for beachhead defense (Now they are cannon fodder in urban warfare)

Next are the 12 B-class Reserve Brigades, which are organized as infantry or technical reserve units, with their core structure based on academies and specialized training bases.

Finally, there are the 18 C-class Reserve Brigades (local defense brigades).

All reserve infantry brigades follow the same organizational structure: 5 infantry battalions and 1 artillery battalion.
 
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supersnoop

Colonel
Registered Member
What I don't understand is why Taiwan doesn't institute a semi-professional/part-time reserve force like most other countries have (US National Guard/Army Reserve)?

It seems like the biggest problems with recruitment are related with low pay, no practical skills learned, and perception of being useless. The government is clearly not willing to return to full conscription as it was in the past (and still is in SK/SG).
 

gk1713

Junior Member
Registered Member
What I don't understand is why Taiwan doesn't institute a semi-professional/part-time reserve force like most other countries have (US National Guard/Army Reserve)?

It seems like the biggest problems with recruitment are related with low pay, no practical skills learned, and perception of being useless. The government is clearly not willing to return to full conscription as it was in the past (and still is in SK/SG).
Announce such policy and all the middle voters will go another side
 

bsdnf

Junior Member
Registered Member
What I don't understand is why Taiwan doesn't institute a semi-professional/part-time reserve force like most other countries have (US National Guard/Army Reserve)?

It seems like the biggest problems with recruitment are related with low pay, no practical skills learned, and perception of being useless. The government is clearly not willing to return to full conscription as it was in the past (and still is in SK/SG).
National Guard is essentially a semi-reserve unit that falls between the standing army and the reserve forces. Its core still consists of active-duty officers and NCOs, while volunteer reservists maintain longer annual training periods to quickly restore combat effectiveness after mobilization.

The problem is that a ROCA now lacks even enough NCOs and volunteers for its frontline standing units, making it difficult just to maintain their active-duty status without being transferred to the reserves. The reserve forces themselves barely have enough active-duty officers and NCOs to function, leaving no surplus personnel to establish semi-reserve unit
 
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supersnoop

Colonel
Registered Member
There are Reserve officers and NCOs as well.

My logic is that perhaps a semi-professional Reserve element might be more attractive, throw in more incentives like even higher pay, tuition expenses, etc. might help further.

However, I guess you are saying it is too much of a struggle as is, increased recruitment would likely be marginal and strain the existing resources.
 

Bellum_Romanum

Brigadier
Registered Member
It's always good to practice the basics: shoot, move, communicate.

However, these guys . . . Well, the footage speaks for itself:

Maybe they're trying to lull the mainlanders with the appearance of "weakness" and unreadiness so that when the actual fireworks start, the PLA will not be prepared on what's in store for them: A much more battle trained, competent R.O.C. force? Which essentially means employing one of "SUN TZU'S maxim: “Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
 

PLAwatcher12

Junior Member
Registered Member
Reasonably certain the PLA already has a great deal of fidelity on how military forces local to Taiwan will manage and prioritize defensive efforts.

There really isn't much, if anything for them to conceal or obfuscate.

The PLA almost certainly possess multiple classified adversarial CONPLANs for a multitude of potential cross strait scenarios. More likely than not multiple planners drafting such CONPLANs are on the PLA and/or MSS' payroll, given the
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and
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of Chinese HUMINT penetration on the island of Taiwan.

This is in addition to a highly sophisticated set of national technical collection capabilities that are only approximated, rivaled or exceeded by one other nation state, depending on discipline. On top of that rest magazine depths and military industrial capacity that are to a significant extent globally unrivaled.

Besides tucking away certain big ticket items into
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— where they might be preserved, but also where they will likely find themselves non-deployable — any and all military assets exposed or exposed enough are going to get decimated by just about any and every sort of conventional munition imaginable.

Absent direct and immediate US military intervention, DPP led resistance against the PLA will be futile.
I don’t deny that China does, of course China does they know where everything is located in Taiwan, but it’s good for us regular folks to know what they think will happen and what their regular training possibly looks like.
 

MwRYum

Major
Maybe they're trying to lull the mainlanders with the appearance of "weakness" and unreadiness so that when the actual fireworks start, the PLA will not be prepared on what's in store for them: A much more battle trained, competent R.O.C. force? Which essentially means employing one of "SUN TZU'S maxim: “Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
I don't know, man...

Here, what Taipei wants us to see...

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vs. the vibe it gives out...
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Anyone who did the Operation Metro grindfest know what it is...then again, in BF3 and BF4 you don't have access to AGL, thermobaric rockets, flamethrowers, explosive FPVs and quadrupedal drone platform to launch attacks to break any possible chokepoint.
 
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