Two years later, he emerged poorer, bruised and wondering how "serving the nation" had come to resemble forced labour. The clip drew more than four million views and a flood of comments recounting strikingly similar experiences of forced labour and hazing. In 2025, 429,175 young men were required to report for the draft to fill a quota of 88,255 conscripts. When border tensions flare, it is often conscripts, young men with limited combat training, who find themselves closest to the danger. A military that claims to defend the nation should not do so by breaking its young men.

Source: Bangkok Post January 19, 2026 00:08 UTC