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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
As of mid-1994, there were approximately 37,000
persons, or
slightly more than 4 percent of the labor force of
approximately
1,574,100 males and females between the ages of thirteen
and
thirty-two, in the military. There was an eighteen-month
minimum
military conscription draft for males seventeen to
twenty-six
years. Most draftees serve the minimum time. The ground
forces are
the primary destination for draftees. The other, smaller
services
seem to get sufficient numbers of voluntary recruits to
fill their
ranks.
Life in the LPA is austere. Pay is low, and there is a
shortage
of uniforms and equipment, including most basic supplies.
Consequently, it is not a popular career path for most
young
Laotian males. In late 1989, LPRP chairman Kaysone
Phomvihan
complained in a major speech to senior LPA officers that:
"Our
youths throughout the country have failed to associate
with the
army and failed to use the army as a school to carry out
practices
as they were expected to do in the past." Seminars were
held in
many districts during 1989-90 to discuss requiring local
authorities to help enforce compliance with draft laws,
which many
Laotian youths were actively seeking to avoid.
During the Pathet Lao's struggle against the RLG,
women--for
the most part voluntarily--played a significant role
fighting
alongside men in combat units. Women also served in a
medical corps
and as porters for combat units.
After 1975, however, the role of women in the armed
forces
changed significantly. Although not subject to the draft,
women are
part of the active armed forces but serve only in minor
administrative functions. Women do, however, serve in
police and
militia forces.
Data as of July 1994
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