MongoliaPersonnel
The Universal Military Service Law declared all male citizens
between the ages of eighteen and twenty-eight to be eligible for
military conscription. Soldiers and noncommissioned officers
(NCOs) in the Mongolian armed forces had been required to serve
three years of active duty--two years, for those with higher
education. In August 1988, compulsory military service for all
conscripts was reduced to two years. Males seventeen or older who
attended military schools were considered to be on active
military duty. Those older than twenty-eight with special skills
who had not been drafted might be accepted into special service.
Male enlisted personnel could serve on active duty until the age
of forty-five. Although there were women in the armed forces in
1989, no information was available on the role women played.
Most officers received their commissions from a military
academy, but some were educated in civilian universities.
Soldiers and NCOs with a secondary or higher education who had
performed in an exemplary fashion also might be granted
commissions after being discharged from active duty. Experts up
to the age of thirty-five might be inducted to carry out such
functions as those of medical officers or computer specialists.
Company-grade officers (junior lieutenant, lieutenant, senior
lieutenant, and captain) were permitted to serve on active duty
to the age of forty-five and in the reserves to the age of fifty.
Field-grade officers (major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel)
were permitted to serve on active duty to the age of fifty-five
and in the reserves to the age of sixty. General officers (major
general, lieutenant general, and colonel general) were permitted
to serve on active duty to the age of sixty and in the reserves
to the age of sixty-five. Those holding the rank of general of
the army or marshal could remain on active duty regardless of
age. (The last person to hold these ranks was Tsedenbal.) In 1989
there were indications that these age restrictions were being
relaxed because of a shortage of middle-aged men.
The uniforms and insignia of the armed forces in the 1980s
were similar to those worn by the armed forces of the Soviet
Union. Mongolian officer and enlisted uniforms differed in
texture and quality of material, but the cut and style were the
same. Women's uniforms generally were the same color and texture
as their male counterparts' in the respective services and
branches.
There were four categories of uniforms in the army and the
air force: full dress, dress, service, and field. The full-dress
uniform was worn during formal reviews, such as parades; during
conferral of a promotion in rank or a military decoration; or in
performance of duties as a member of an honor guard. The dress
uniform was worn during off-duty hours; the service uniform was
worn for duty with troops in garrison. The field uniform was worn
during training, maneuvers, and firing exercises. All four
categories of uniform were olive drab. An ornate gold and red
belt was worn on the service jacket of the full-dress uniform,
along with medals, an olive drab shirt and tie, long trousers,
low quarter shoes, and a service hat. The dress uniform was
similar to the full-dress, except that service ribbons were
substituted for medals and no belt was worn. The service uniform
was the same as the dress uniform, except that leather Sam
Browne-type belts were worn by officers, and garrison caps were
worn by enlisted personnel. Both officers and enlisted personnel
wore breeches, high boots, and steel helmets with their field
uniforms. Seasonal differences allowed for the wearing of an
overcoat, gloves, and a fur pile cap. A quilted olive drab jacket
and field breeches also were worn as a winter field uniform. The
background of the shoulder boards, the collar tabs, and the
service hatband was red for the army and blue for the air force.
All rank insignia were displayed on shoulder boards. Marshals
(when there were any) and general officers wore stars on a broad,
ornate gold stripe with a red background. Field-grade officers
wore two longitudinal gold stripes and smaller gold stars, and
company-grade officers wore one longitudinal gold stripe with
even smaller gold stars. Enlisted ranks were identified by
longitudinal or transverse gold stripes on shoulder boards
(see
fig. 17). Branch-of-service insignias worn on collar tabs were
gold metallic devices, except in the veterinary service, which
used silver devices. Both officers and enlisted personnel wore a
cockade on their headgear.
Figure 17. Officer and Enlisted Ranks and Insignia, 1989
The armed forces maintained a reserve force in excess of
200,000 people. Enlisted personnel automatically were transferred
to the reserves when they were discharged from active duty, and
they remained in the reserves until the age of forty-five.
Data as of June 1989
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