Twenty Years After the Law, Cambodia’s First Conscripts Report for Duty

Cambodia passed a military service law in 2006. It took twenty years for anyone to actually be called up under it. On Monday, 9 November — the 73rd anniversary of the country’s independence from France — the first intake of draftees began training at a base in Kampong Speu province, west of Phnom Penh.

The group is 5,000 young men, chosen from more than 15,000 who registered during an initial recruitment drive in October. The government wants 10,000 recruits in total for 2026, brought in in phases according to the armed forces’ needs. Prime Minister Hun Manet, who presided over the opening ceremony broadcast live on state television, said the next batch of 5,000 would be announced on 25 November and would start training in February 2027.

How the system works

Under the law, updated in May this year, men aged 18 to 25 who are drafted must serve 24 months; women may volunteer. Recruits spend the first three months at training centres learning to adapt to military life, then 21 months posted to bases alongside professional soldiers.

Selling service as an investment

Hun Manet’s message to the recruits was notable for how practical it sounded. He urged them not to think of the two years as wasted time but as an investment, with the return being the chance to serve the motherland and to learn skills — in the infantry or the air force — that few people ever get to acquire. Both hard and soft skills, he argued, would help them for the rest of their lives. He also stressed discipline and teamwork.

The Defence Ministry framed the launch as part of a broader effort to strengthen national defence and modernise the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. The backdrop includes the deadly border clashes with neighbouring Thailand in 2025. In principle, a growing pool of trained former conscripts would give Phnom Penh more depth than a purely professional army.

The open questions

A voluntary-first approach — oversubscribed three to one in its first round — has made the rollout look smooth so far. The harder tests come later: whether demand holds once the novelty fades, how the programme affects young men’s education and jobs, and what it costs a government with limited budgets to house, train and pay 10,000 recruits a year. For now, Cambodia has turned a law that lived only on paper into a working system, and done it on a day chosen for its symbolism.