The Development of the Special Warfare Command Personnel

Abstract

          The dissertation, titled in “The Development of the Special Warfare Command Personnel”, is conducted by using qualitative method in order to analytically study problems and obstacles in the development of the Special Warfare Command personnel, and find out the solutions to deal with those problems and obstacles. The data are collected by in-depth interviews with the military commanders, both at policy and command levels, and by focus group discussion at operational levels in the Special Welfare Command.

          The results of this study reveal that the Special Warfare Command originally recruited its army personnel from all branches in the Royal Thai Army based on their military readiness. However, the recruitment process was later changed in such that non-commissioned officers were selected from reserve soldiers. Requirements of the recruitment process include passing the physical test, junior high school graduation, and completion of the conscription of military service or the three-year course from the Territorial Defense Command. As a result, the recruited non-commissioned officers of the Special Warfare Command are generally educated with only basic knowledge of the enlisted soldiers. This basic knowledge is insufficient for completing military operations in the Special Warfare Command. Guidelines for enhancing the personnel performance of the Special Warfare Command are recommended in this study. The guidelines include revision of the personnel recruitment process for the Special Warfare Command as per the approval letter from the Royal Thai Army, an update on the Thai Royal Army doctrine, and the development of the manual for the updated doctrine. The manual should be developed by the highly knowledgeable and specialized army officers. The training regulations should be revised to include military expertise trainings as well as battalion-level trainings and the personnel should be encouraged to practice performing general staff officer tasks individually and in special warfare operations team.