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Uganda Military Service
Recruitment and Training
Both before and after independence, Uganda relied on
voluntary recruitment to the military, although the
government
forced some people to enlist during the 1970s. Minimum age
for
recruits was seventeen, and the maximum age, twenty-five.
Military service required the equivalent of a
seventh-grade
education, although this requirement, too, was suspended
at times
during the 1970s and 1980s. There was no fixed tour of
duty. Army
regulations requiring either five-year or nine-year
contracts for
recruits were largely ignored. Soldiers who sought to
leave
military service applied to their commanding officer, who
could
reject or grant the request. In 1990 military officials
claimed
that women served in the military in the same capacity as
men,
but the number of women in the NRA and their contribution
to
combat were unknown.
Northerners dominated the military well before
independence.
This was in part the result of British economic policies
that
treated the northern region as a vast labor pool for cash
crop
agriculture in the south. Many northerners joined the army
as an
alternative to agricultural wage labor. Protectorate
officials
also recruited more intensely in the north. They posted
most
military recruits away from their home areas and among
people of
different ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds.
This
practice was intended to ensure loyalty to military
commanders
and reduce military sympathies for local citizens.
Before independence professional standards for military
training were high. During World War I and World War II,
the
protectorate fielded an impressive force, and Ugandan
soldiers
earned international admiration. Then during the 1960s,
training
standards declined amid the nation's political and
economic
crises. Morale plummeted when British officers retained
most
commands, although the government tried to increase the
number of
Ugandan officers by granting some commissions after only a
crash
course in military affairs. Professional standards
deteriorated,
and an increasing number of Ugandans found jobs more
easily in
the civilian economy. Military service attracted fewer
educated
recruits.
In the 1970s and 1980s, most training facilities were
located
across the south. Many recruits also trained in other
countries
(see Foreign Military Assistance
, this ch.). In 1986
Museveni
pledged to upgrade educational requirements for military
recruits, improve training standards and discipline, and
override
regional and ethnic loyalties that slowed the pace of
military
development. By late 1990, he had made only limited
progress
toward these goals.
Data as of December 1990
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