This Is An Interesting Read. To Be Transparent, I Didnt Know Anything About The Thai Military Until This

This is an interesting read. To be transparent, I didn’t know anything about the Thai military until this read. 💜💜💜

Thai Military Service & Thai BL

Remember, Thailand is a monarchy meets military regime. 

Like in the USA, all Thai men must register for the draft at age 18. Unlike the USA (where selective service must be activated), conscription by lottery then occurs at age 21. 

Conscription was introduced in Thailand in 1905. According to the Constitution of the Kingdom, serving in the armed forces is a national duty of all Thai citizens. In practice, only males over the age of 21 who have not gone through reserve training are subject to conscription.

From wikipedia

Many high schools coordinate military reserve training as part of their curriculum (it’s run by the military), so in essences it’s possible to partly get out of mandatory service. (This seems to be soemthing wealthy kids manage more than poorer kids.) Colloquially called “Ror Dor” it is operated mainly as a 3 year long after school program starting age 15. If you are in uni you’re exempt from conscription until you graduate. 

In Make it Right 2 remember Tee having his head shaved in the cafe scene in the second to last episode? 

That was because the actor (Boom Krittapak) at the time had his 2nd year Ror Dor away camp training regime (age 16) so they rolled it into the script. 

Note it’s mentioned in the scene that Fuse would have to shave his head soon as well? In the series they are the same age, in reality Boom is several years younger than Peak, who presumably had already been through the shaved-head portion of Ror Dor. 

“Only those young men currently at university, or those who have completed the 3 year Reserve Officers Training Corps programme whilst at school, are exempt from the draft.” source 

We know from publicly report schools and wealth demos of many Thai BL actors (they put education institutions in their bios) that they often attended private school and probably went through Ror Dor. 

Captain as Noh in Love Sick, for example, is exactly the age, education, and wealth level to have been in Ror Dor at the time of filming. In the series, his hair is explained away as a personal choice, but in reality it was most likely because he had done, did do, or would be doing away camp for reserve training just before or during filming. 

It’s also possible that Thai producers cast actors in younger roles so as to avoid the possibility of losing actors mid series to the lottery. 

For the lottery, a man must return to his home district in April of the year in which he turn 21 for the selection process, which is done in person, in public, with age-mates (yes, including the physical exam). If he volunteers, he serves 1 year, if he draws the red card at the lottery, he serves 2 years. 

Every year, about 100,000 personnel are recruited. (source) 

The lottery is quite an event in most Thai communities. The public way it is conducted adds to a sense of occasion. There’s a ton of formality and speeches about civic duty but it’s also raucous, full of cat calls, dramatic behavior, and bawdy jokes. It’s almost, dare I say it, celebratory? 

There is a YouTube video of Bambam from K-Pop giants GOT7 going through the process AS AN IDOL. 

He had to return from South Korea to Thailand to do so. It’s kinda crazy to watch but it gives you an idea of what the lottery is like (a bit more excited than usual because of his presence and because this is a quazi-propaganda vid). His entire zone was released because they had already satisfied their quota via volunteers. 

If you are exempted from service for Ror Dor, medical or kathoey* reasons you are given a certificate which you must present at most job hirings etc… after age 21. However, all black card, red card, and Ror Dor graduates remain on the registry for the draft (like in the USA). 

If the lottery selects you for military service (the red card) active duty will likely involve the ongoing (10+ years) civil unrest in the South of Thailand. Service may also/instead involve manual labour on military bases, irrigation work, or assisting in humanitarian duties. Since Thailand is not a member of NATO, conscripts are rarely involved in foreign conflicts or see overseas action. They receive a fixed monthly salary based on Thailand’s minimum wage. 

Here’s a video of a Thai man talking (in English) about the process. 

Thai BL in general avoids talking about or depicting the lottery or military service. Probably for political reasons. (They also never reference the royal family.) 

I would be remiss if I did not add that Thailand has been accused of various human rights violations with regards to conscripts. 

“Human rights groups have documented cases of young men allegedly killed by their peers or senior officers through brutal hazing rituals, corporal punishment and even torture.” (source) 

Generally speaking, exposés on the military in Thailand are dangerous for all those involved and difficult to find as a result. Articles I’ve found tend to be written by those who are not Thai citizens and use coded language to refer to their sources. 

South Korea, on the other hand, has several BLs that have dealt with military service openly, most notably, 2009′s Just Friends? and Strongberry’s 2021 2 part mini A First Love Story both of which are really good and higher heat than normal for South Korea.

But military service is different in South Korea. It’s mandatory for every male - as anyone in the K-pop world knows and can tell you about at length. 

Taiwan, of course, has historical gay drama Your Name Engraved Herein which features two boys falling in love, in part inside the military. 

* One final note on the Thai lottery 

Kathoey (the Thai term, often translated as ladyboy or 3rd gender) are usually exempted from conscription. It is implied (although I don’t know how often it is actually done) that there are some who pretend to be kathoey on lottery day so as to cheat the draft. However, since there is a physical medical exam as part of the process, exemption probably actually rides (again implication) on at least top surgery if not full gender reassignment. 

(source)

Hello, dearest readers-

I have just spent the last several hours in the ER.

I ended up with a 103 fever with dizzy spells, body chills, weakness, wanting to pass the fuck out, migraine, black spots in my vision, vomiting and constant nauseousness.

I am getting discharged. They lanced and drained the abscesses. The infection hasn’t gotten to my blood stream yet but it’s was showing signs of necropathy which they got rid of. I have to follow up with asap to get referred to general surgery to have them fully removed.

The next few chapters may be delayed because they are putting me on some strong antibiotics and Tylenol 4.

I ask for your patience as I deal with this health complication that popped up out of no where.

Thank you! 💜💜💜

FAVOURITE CHARACTER CHALLENGE

Challenge: Make a poll with five of your all-time favourite characters, and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favourite.

tagged by @imminentinertia

I’ll keep mine to all-time favorite Thai BL characters. And I did six because I don’t like maths. :>

Visual references:

Win (Until We Meet Again/Between Us)

Arthit (SOTUS)

Kawi (Be My Favorite)

Sing (Triage)

Team (Until We Meet Again/Between Us)

Kongphob (SOTUS)

AND NOW—

thank you for the new update! i’m excited to catch up on a couple of the past chapters i’ve missed!! (work and depression have hitting me hard) but i wanted to thank you for creating such a wonderful story and characters that have given me so much joy since the very first chapter. your writing and pacing in this story is just so good! like really not too fast or slow, literally just right! so looking forward to seeing the story develop even more 🩷

💜💜💜

~giddy squeals of happiness~

Your kind words make my feelings soar! Thank you for your support.

I understand depression hitting hard. I actually use my writing to help me through those times!

This is my first time writing a story like this, and your comments are like fuel for my soul.

I hope to continue to bring you writings that are worth your time.

💜💜💜

I know he sent this to everyone and its not specific but he still makes you feel special.

💜💜💜

STAYS!!!

if you've ever felt worthless or undervalued.. this is for you

Transcript: "Thank you for coming.. 'ma go to sleep now but.. you made me realise how, important it is to think of you and STAY.

And I'm just really glad and grateful.. For.. You being in, my life.

Even though time flies.. I'm so grateful that you were always there for me and my team. So thank you and.. I hope to see you soon. Goodnight"

I have a request~ what about San from Ateez getting paired up on a variety show with a designer that is getting popular in South Korea?? For plus size fashion? And I can totally see him just falling head over heels for her~ ^-^

Hello, my dearest reader!

I was so excited to write this for you. You have been my main support for a long time when it comes to my writing. Your thoughts and support are invaluable to me.

I am sorry it took so long to write it, but it is finally done!

Was it Fate?

I hope it is what you were looking for! This was my first time making a reader request and my first time writing a variety show-type fic!