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93-696: Tachileik was a border crossing probably used in the opium trade from the Golden Triangle and was the town that the drug lord Khun Sa used to live in. On 24 March 2011 a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the region very close to Tachileik. It caused some damage as far away as Chiang Mai . On 24 March 2012 a bomb wounded 2 people at the Regina Hotel golf course in Tachileik, followed by a second bomb that exploded an hour later. The border trade post with Thailand opened on 16 March 1996. In 2022, total trade volume at

186-532: A $ 2 million bounty on him. The American diplomat to Thailand referred to him as "the worst enemy the world has". After his release Khun Sa went underground, and in 1976 rejoined and reformed his forces in Ban Hin Taek , in northern Thailand, close to the border with Burma. Soon after he began to reform his forces he adopted the Shan name "Khun Sa" (literally "Prince Prosperous") for the first time. He renamed his group

279-532: A Colonel ( Bo hmu gyi ), is made up of three or more combat battalions, with command and support elements similar to that of brigades in Western armies. One infantry battalion is held in reserve. As of 2000, all LIDs have their own organic Field Artillery units. For example, 314th Field Artillery Battery is now attached to 44th LID. Some of the LID battalions have been given Parachute and Air Borne Operations training and two of

372-622: A Japanese general and made an alliance with Japanese Army. In the early 1940s, Aung San and other 29 participants secretly went for the military training under Japanese Army and these 30 people are later known as the " 30 Comrades " in Myanmar history and can be regarded as the origin of the modern Myanmar Army. When the Japanese invasion of Burma was ready, the 30 Soldiers recruited Myanmar people in Thailand and founded Burmese Independence Army (BIA), which

465-509: A Thai election campaign. During the next two decades, from 1974 to 1994, Khun Sa became the dominant opium warlord in the Golden Triangle . The share of heroin sold in New York originating from the Golden Triangle rose from 5% to 80% during this period, and Khun Sa was responsible for 45% of that trade. The DEA assessed that Khun Sa's heroin was 90% pure, "the best in the business". During

558-613: A brigadier general, are similar to infantry brigades in Western Armies. Each consists of 4 Infantry battalions (Chay Hlyin Tatyin), HQ and organic support units. Commander of ROC is a position between LID/MOC commander and tactical Operation Command (TOC) commander, who commands three infantry battalions. The ROC commander holds financial, administrative and judicial authority while the MOC and LID commanders do not have judicial authority. ROC (Laukkai)

651-584: A buffer between them and more radical revolutionary groups active in Laos and Burma at the time. After combined forces of the Thai military and remaining Kuomintang in Thailand defeated entrenched Communist rebels in Northwest Thailand in 1981, American officials began to pressure the Thai government to expel Khun Sa. In July 1981, Thai authorities announced a 50,000 baht ($ 2,000 US) bounty on his head. In August this

744-1020: A dramatic expansion of the Tatmadaw as it established 11 Military Operations Commands (MOC)s in that month. MOC are similar to mechanised infantry divisions in Western armies, each with 10 regular infantry battalions ( Chay Hlyin Tatyin ), a headquarters, and organic support units including field artillery . In 1996, two new RMC were opened, Coastal Region RMC was opened in Myeik with Brigadier Sit Maung as commander and Triangle Region RMC in Kengtung with Brigadier Thein Sein as commander. Three new ROCs were created in Kalay , Bhamo and Mongsat . In late 1998, two new MOCs were created in Bokepyin and Mongsat. The most significant expansion after

837-590: A foot in the construction industry". He ran a large ruby mine, and invested in a new highway running from Yangon to Mandalay . While living in Yangoon, Khun Sa maintained a low profile. His movements and communications with the outside world were restricted by the Burmese government, and his activities were monitored by Burmese intelligence. Following Khun Sa's retirement and the voluntary disbandment of his private army, many of his followers joined local militias controlled by

930-701: A framework of Bureau of Special Operations (BSOs), which are equivalent to field army group in Western terms. . ( မြောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အရှေ့မြောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အရှေ့ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အရှေ့တောင်တိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( တောင်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အနောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အနောက်တောင်တိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အနောက်မြောက်တိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( ရန်ကုန်တိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( ကမ်းရိုးတန်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( တြိဂံတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အလယ်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( နေပြည်တော်တိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) ( အရှေ့အလယ်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) Regional Operations Commands (ROC) ( ဒေသကွပ်ကဲမှု စစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) are commanded by

1023-505: A hospital in Taunggyi, where they had been working. A division of soldiers from the Burmese army were tasked with rescuing the doctors, but failed. The doctors were ransomed for Khun Sa's freedom, and he was subsequently released in 1974. Khun Sa's release was secretly brokered by Thai General Kriangsak Chomanan . After his release Khun Sa maintained a good relationship with Chomanan, and in 1981 secretly contributed $ 50,000 US to support him in

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1116-518: A large fortune and four young Shan mistresses. Following Khun Sa's surrender, opium production in the Golden Triangle declined (this shift coincided with a dramatic rise in opium production in Afghanistan ). During his retirement he became a prominent local businessman, with investments in Yangon , Mandalay and Taunggyi . After his retirement he described himself as "a commercial real estate agent with

1209-422: A memorial was held for Khun Sa in his former stronghold in Thailand, Thoed Thai , close to the Myanmar border. Asked why they honoured Khun Sa, the local people said that he helped the town to develop: he built the first paved roads in the area, the first school, and a well-equipped, 60-bed hospital staffed by Chinese doctors. He was building a hydro power plant, but after his departure construction on that project

1302-523: A program of crop substitution, education, and health care. The offer was rejected as blackmail by US authorities; and, rather than accepting his offer, the American government placed a $ 2 million bounty on him. He imposed a 40% tax on all opium growing, refining, and trafficking in return for protection from other warlords and the Myanmar government, but refused to discuss his total opium income with international reporters. To protect against air raids, he amassed

1395-467: A reward for his retirement and relocation to Yangon, his children were allowed to run and operate business interests in Myanmar. At the time of his death, in 2007, his favorite son was running a hotel and casino in the border town of Tachilek , while one of his daughters was a well-established businesswoman in Mandalay. In 1989 Khun Sa told Karen Petersen, a reporter for People magazine , that he also had

1488-445: A rival Shan organization, the "Shan State National Army". Khun Sa exported his heroin through a network of underworld contacts and brokers based in Thailand, Yunnan, Macao, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Once he sold his products to these dealers, he had no control of where they were transported. Some of his business associates believed that he was only a front man for underworld Chinese drug interests, and many were terrified of him. By 1995

1581-692: A second wife in Bangkok. When he moved to Yangon he brought four young mistresses with him. All four were teenagers from Kengtung , in eastern Shan State. Khun Sa is mentioned in Japanese manga and anime Black Lagoon , for his role on the drug trade in Southeast Asia as well as one of his subordinates being targeted by the NSA . Khun Sa was featured in a 1990 edition of The Cook Report entitled "Heroin Highway". Khun Sa

1674-456: A supply of locally made rockets and Surface-to-air-missiles purchased in Laos. In the 1990s Khun Sa's influence and power in the region declined. Part of this was due to the opening of new trade routes for heroin that ran from Yunnan to ports in southeastern China, which reduced his importance as a middleman for the drug along the Thai border. Other drug trafficking routes opened up to India, Laos, and Cambodia, which Khun Sa did not control. In

1767-492: A total of 15 rifle battalions at the time of independence and four of them were made up of former members of PBF. All influential positions within the War Office and commands were manned with non-former PBF Officers. All services including military engineers, supply and transport, ordnance and medical services, Navy and Air Force were all commanded by former officers from ABRO and British Burma Army. The army has always been by far

1860-440: A working relationship with the Burmese military and intelligence services, who again tolerated his presence in return for fighting other ethnic and communist rebels. He maintained a cordial relationship with the highest-ranking Burmese general in the region, Maung Aye , and established relationships with many foreign socialites and business people, including Lady and Lord Brockett , and James "Bo" Gritz . In 1984 his forces bombed

1953-724: Is a charge of US$ 10 or 500 Thai Baht on the Burmese side. Khun Sa Khun Sa ( Burmese : ခွန်ဆာ , pronounced [kʰʊ̀ɰ̃ sʰà] ; 17 February 1934 – 26 October 2007) was an ethnic Han drug lord and warlord . He was born in Hpa Hpeung village, in the Loi Maw ward of Mongyai , Northern Shan State , Burma . Before he assumed the Shan name "Khun Sa" in 1976, he was known primarily by his Chinese name, Zhang Qifu ( simplified Chinese : 张奇夫 ; traditional Chinese : 張奇夫 ; pinyin : Zhāng Qífū ). In his early life Khun Sa received military equipment and training from both

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2046-525: Is a formidable conventional defence force for the Union of Myanmar. Troops ready for combat duty have at least doubled since 1988. Logistics infrastructure and artillery fire support have been greatly increased. Its newly acquired military might was apparent in the Tatmadaw's dry season operations against Karen National Union (KNU) strongholds in Manerplaw and Kawmoora . Most of the casualties at these battles were

2139-469: Is a porous border and is not difficult to wade across the river. Burmese merchants used to be able to cross over and do business in Mae Sai for days at a time. The border is also a popular destination for Westerners who either reside in or are visiting Thailand and who need to get their passport visas renewed. There is no charge for a 'visa run' going from Thailand to Burma on the Thai side, but there

2232-422: Is an Akha hill tribe , over an hour's walk north-west of Tachilek called Ho Yu. There are no maps and no guides for such excursions, and Burmese authorities frown on foreign visitors leaving the beaten track. Pasa Wildlife Reserve is located in the eastern side of the district. Tachileik has an airport which links to four Burmese cities – Yangon , Mandalay , Taungyi Heho and Kengtung . By road Tachileik

2325-653: Is an accepted version of this page The Myanmar Army ( Burmese : တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း) ; pronounced [taʔmədɔ̀ tɕí] ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw , the armed forces of Myanmar , and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southeast Asia after the People's Army of Vietnam . It has clashed against ethnic and political insurgents since its inception in 1948. The force

2418-919: Is commanded by a lieutenant colonel Du Ti Ya Bo Hmu Gyi or Du Bo Hmu Gyi with a major ( Bo Hmu ) as second in command. In 1966 structure, ကဖ/၇၀(၈)/၆၆ , a battalion has an authorised strength of 27 Officers and 750 Other Ranks, totaling at 777. Light infantry battalions in the Myanmar Army have much lower establishment strength of around 500; this often leads to these units being mistakenly identified by observers as under-strength infantry battalions. Both Infantry Battalions and Light Infantry Battalions were reorganised as 857 men units, 31 Officers and 826 Other Ranks, in 2001 under structure of ကဖ / ၇၀ - ဆ / ၂၀၀၁. However, currently, most battalions are badly undermanned and have less than 150 men in general. With its significantly increased personnel numbers, weaponry, and mobility, today's Tatmadaw Kyi ( တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း) )

2511-552: Is connected to Kengtung, which lies 106 km (66 miles) to the north, by the Asian Highway route AH2, and via Kengtung west to Taunggyi , capital of Shan State, and east by route AH3 to Mongla and on to Yunnan Province , China. Tachileik can be accessed from the Thai town of Mae Sai , which sits directly south on the other side of the small Mae Sai River . There are two bridges that provide access between Mae Sai and Tachilek. It

2604-572: Is currently within Operation Aung Zeya. Missile, artillery and armoured units were not used in an independent role, but were deployed in support of the infantry by the Ministry of Defence as required. The Directorate of Artillery and Armour Corps was also divided into separate corps in 2001. The Directorate of Artillery and Missile Corps was also divided into separate corps in 2009. A dramatic expansion of forces under these directorates followed with

2697-466: Is generally rated as one of the toughest, most combat seasoned in Southeast Asia". In 1985, a foreign journalist with the rare experience of seeing Burmese soldiers in action against ethnic insurgents and narco-armies was "thoroughly impressed by their fighting skills, endurance and discipline". Other observers during that period characterised the Myanmar Army as "the toughest, most effective light infantry jungle force now operating in Southeast Asia". Even

2790-713: Is headed by the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Army , currently Vice-Senior General Soe Win , concurrently Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services , with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services . The highest rank in the Myanmar Army is Senior General , equivalent to field marshal in Western armies and is currently held by Min Aung Hlaing after being promoted from Vice-Senior General . With Major General Zaw Min Tun serving as

2883-558: Is now in a much better position to deter external aggression and respond to such a threat should it ever arise, although child soldiers may not perform very well in combating with enemies. The first army division to be formed after the 1988 military coup was the No. (11) Light Infantry Division (LID) in December 1988 with Colonel Win Myint as commander. In March 1990, a new regional military command

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2976-578: Is portrayed by Ric Young in the 2007 film American Gangster . Khun Sa is mentioned in Hong Kong movie To Be Number One in which real life triad boss Ng Sik-ho connects to him circa 1973 in order to supply Hong Kong domestic supply and export. The film includes footage of Khun Sa. Khun Sa is mentioned in Jo Nesbø 's Cockroaches , the second novel in the Harry Hole series. Myanmar Army This

3069-650: The General Staff Office on 28 April 1978 and 1 June 1979. In early 1978, the Chairman of BSPP , General Ne Win , visited the Northeastern Command Headquarters in Lashio to receive a briefing about Burmese Communist Party (BCP) insurgents and their military operations . He was accompanied by Brigadier General Tun Ye from the Ministry of Defence. Brigadier General Tun Ye was the regional commander of

3162-466: The Kuomintang and Burmese Army before claiming to fight for the independence of Shan State and going on to establish his own independent territory. He was dubbed the "Opium King" in Myanmar due to his massive opium smuggling operations in the Golden Triangle , where he was the dominant opium warlord from approximately 1976 to 1996. Although the American ambassador to Thailand called him "the worst enemy

3255-651: The Mong Tai Army (MTA). Through that alliance he gained control of a 150-mile Thai-Burma border area from his base at Ho Mong , a village near Mae Hong Son , to Mae Sai . When the Americans donated several million dollars to the Burmese government for "drug suppression" in 1987, the Burmese military fabricated reports, leaked to the Thai press, that they had attacked and defeated Khun Sa in battles involving thousands of Burmese and Thai soldiers and several F-5E jets. However, these reports were completely false, and no action

3348-712: The Patriotic Burmese Forces (PBF). In accordance with the agreement reached at Kandy Conference in September 1945, the Tatmadaw was reorganised by incorporating the British Burma Army and the Patriotic Burmese Forces. The officer corps shared by ex-PBF officers and officers from British Burma Army and Army of Burma Reserve Organisation (ARBO). The colonial government also decided to form what were known as "Class Battalions" based on ethnicity. There were

3441-460: The Shan United Army , began to claim that he was fighting for Shan autonomy against the Burmese government, and told international reporters that his people only grew drugs to pay for clothes and food. In 1977 he offered to take his territory's entire opium crop off the black market by selling it to the American government, but his offer was rejected. Although Khun Sa was not the mastermind of

3534-403: The Thai people , not known to praise the Burmese lightly, have described the Myanmar Army as "skilled in the art of jungle warfare ". The Myanmar Army had reached some 370,000 active troops of all ranks in 2000. There were 337 infantry battalions , including 266 light infantry battalions as of 2000. Although the Myanmar Army's organisational structure was based upon the regimental system ,

3627-628: The 1960s Khun Sa became one of Burma's most notorious drug traffickers. He challenged the local dominance of the Kuomintang remnants in Shan State, but in 1967 he was decisively defeated in a battle involving both the Kuomintang and the Laotian army on the Thai–Burma–Laos border. In that battle he led a convoy of 500 men and 300 mules into Laos, but the convoy was ambushed by Kuomintang forces en route. As

3720-406: The 1990s he had co-opted many of the most high-ranking military leaders in the country. By 1996 they made a secret agreement for Khun Sa to surrender to the Burmese government, under the understanding that he would receive government protection and that he would not be extradited. Khun Sa surrendered to the Burmese government on January 5, 1996, gave up control of his army, and moved to Rangoon with

3813-474: The 2011 budget was for military expenditures. In the late 1930s, during the period of British rule , a few Myanmar organizations or parties formed an alliance named Burma's Htwet Yet (Liberation) Group, one of them being Dobama Asiayone . Since most of the members were Communist, they wanted help from Chinese Communists; but when Thakhin Aung San and a partner secretly went to China for help, they only met with

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3906-599: The Art of War and Luo Guanzhong' s Romance of the Three Kingdoms , after which he developed a political philosophy that he exercised later in life: “In politics there are no lifelong friends, and no lifelong foes... They change according to the gains and losses. A good leader must be able to take advantage of every change and utilize it.” After Khun Sa's arrest his militia unit dissolved, but his more loyal followers went underground, and in 1973 abducted two Soviet doctors from

3999-496: The Burmese army. Others, who had believed that he was a Shan patriot, were devastated and refused to accept the ceasefire. They went underground and continued to fight the Burmese army under the name of the " Shan State Army - South ". The Burmese army somewhat disrupted the local opium trade, and the largest opium producer in the Golden Triangle became the United Wa State Army. Khun Sa died on 26 October 2007 in Yangon at

4092-606: The DEA managed to discover and break the link between Khun Sa and his foreign brokers. Khun Sa's income then began to decline, and he began to consider retirement. In public the Burmese military claimed that they wanted to hang Khun Sa. They conducted small raids against him, and they carried out public bonfires of "heroin" (largely stones and grass). Despite the Burmese leadership's public attitude towards Khun Sa, they understood that he had long controlled Burma's most lucrative export crop (estimated at $ 600 million US per year in 1997), and by

4185-569: The Eastern Command for three years and before that he served in Northeastern Command areas as commander of Strategic Operation Command (SOC) and commander of Light Infantry Divisions for four years. As BCP military operations were spread across three Regional Military Command (RMC) areas (Northern, Eastern, and Northeastern), Brigadier General Tun Ye was the most informed commander about the BCP in

4278-582: The LIDs have been converted to mechanised infantry formation with divisional artillery, armoured reconnaissance and tank battalions LIDs are considered to be a strategic asset of the Myanmar Army, and after the 1990 reorganisation and restructuring of the Tatmadaw command structure, they are now directly answerable to Chief of Staff (Army). Involved in the Kachin conflict Division Commander Brigadier General Min Min Htun

4371-412: The Myanmar order of battle . For a better command and communication, the Tatmadaw formed a Regional Military Commands ( တိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ် ) structure in 1958. Until 1961, there were only two regional commands, they were supported by 13 infantry brigades and an infantry division. In October 1961, new regional military commands were opened and leaving only two independent infantry brigades. In June 1963,

4464-417: The Myanmar Army at the time. At the briefing, General Ne Win was impressed by Brigadier General Tun Ye and realised that co-ordination among various Regional Military Commands (RMC) was necessary; thus, decided to form a bureau at the Ministry of Defence. Originally, the bureau was for "special operations", wherever they were, that needed co-ordination among various Regional Military Commands (RMC). Later, with

4557-565: The Myanmar Army entered into its third phase, as the Patriotic Burmese Force (PBF), and the country became under British rule again. Afterwards, the structure of the army fell under British authority; hence, for those who were willing to serve the nation but not in that army, General Aung San organized the People's Comrades Force. At the time of Myanmar's independence in 1948, the Tatmadaw was weak, small and disunited. Cracks appeared along

4650-526: The Myanmar Army in 1966 as rapid reaction mobile forces for strike operations. No. (77) Light Infantry Division was formed on 6 June 1966, followed by No. (88) Light Infantry Division and No. (99) Light Infantry Division in the two following years. No. (77) LID was largely responsible for the defeat of the Communist forces of the CPB ( Communist Party of Burma ) based in the forested hills of the central Bago Mountains in

4743-455: The Myanmar Army order of battle as both command 10 infantry battalions through three TOC's (Tactical Operations Commands). However, unlike Light Infantry Divisions, MOC are subordinate to their respective Regional Military Command (RMC) Headquarters. Members of MOC does not wear distinguished arm insignias and instead uses their respective RMC's arm insignias. For example, MOC-20 in Kawthaung wore

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4836-684: The Naypyidaw Command was temporarily formed in Yangon with the deputy commander and some staff officers drawn from Central Command. It was reorganised and renamed as Yangon Command on 1 June 1965. A total of 337 infantry and light infantry battalions organised in Tactical Operations Commands, 37 independent field artillery regiments supported by affiliated support units including armoured reconnaissance and tank battalions. RMCs are similar to corps formations in Western armies. The RMCs, commanded by major general, are managed through

4929-496: The age of 73. The cause of death was not known, though he had suffered from diabetes , high blood pressure , and heart disease . He was cremated four days after his death. His remains were cremated and buried at Yayway Cemetery , North Okkalapa Township, Yangon, Myanmar. Before his death he had decided not to be buried in Shan state, due to fears that his tomb would be vandalized or destroyed. Soon after he died, in November 2007,

5022-500: The arm insignia of Coastal Region Military Command. No. (15) MOC and No. (9) MOC has been captured by AA. No. (16) MOC has been captured by MNDAA. Light Infantry Division ( ခြေမြန်တပ်မ or တမခ ), commanded by a brigadier general, each with 10 Light Infantry Battalions organised under 3 Tactical Operations Commands, commanded by a Colonel ( 3 battalions each and 1 reserve ), 1 Field Artillery Battalion, 1 Armour Squadron and other support units. These divisions were first introduced to

5115-434: The basic manoeuvre and fighting unit is the battalion , known as Tat Yinn ( တပ်ရင်း ) in Burmese. This is composed of a headquarters company and four rifle companies Tat Khwe ( တပ်ခွဲ ) with three rifle platoons Tat Su ( တပ်စု ) each; headquarters company has medical, transport, logistics, and signals units; a heavy weapons company including mortar , machine gun , and recoilless gun platoons. Each battalion

5208-620: The battle was going on, the Laotian army (which was also involved in the opium/heroin trade) bombed the battleground and stole the opium. This defeat demoralized him and his forces. The Laotian army continued to ambush his mule trains for the next few years, and his military strength declined. In 1969, delegates from a local ethnic rebel group, the Shan State Army , began to hold secret talks with Khun Sa, attempting to persuade him to change sides and join them. He expressed interest, but details of

5301-433: The black markets in Laos and Thailand, and were soon better equipped than the Burmese army. By the late 1960s Khun Sa was one of the most important and powerful militia leaders in Shan state. He held an important pass in Loi Maw, restricting the movements of local communist rebels. During the period, while he was nominally supporting the Burmese government, he maintained contact with Kuomintang intelligence agents. Through

5394-479: The border from Thailand into Burma illegally. Khun Sa offered to sell his entire heroin crop to the Australian Government for A$ 50m a year (paid in either cash or agricultural aid) for the next eight years, a move that would have immediately destroyed half the world's heroin supply. The Australian Government rejected the offer, with Senator Gareth Evans declaring: "The Australian Government is simply not in

5487-462: The border post stood at US$ 130.664 million . In 2009, it was reported that Tachileik vendors openly sold endangered animal parts. Located immediately following the bridge that divides Myanmar and Thailand is a marketplace that sells a large variety of products, including DVDs, perfume, clothing, luggage and wine. Tachileik once had the reputation as a distribution nexus for heroin and ya ba ( methamphetamine pills) moving from rural Myanmar to

5580-583: The business of paying criminals to refrain from criminal activity." In September 1989, when American photojournalist Karen Petersen interviewed the General for People magazine at his camp in Ner Mone, Shan State, he claimed he had a total army of 12,000 men. Soon thereafter, in January 1990 Khun Sa was indicted in absentia by an American federal grand jury on drug trafficking charges. Following his indictment, he

5673-414: The conclusion of the battle Khun Sa was forced to retreat back into Burma. Within a year of losing his base in Thailand, Khun Sa rebuilt his army, defeated a local Burmese rebel group along the Burmese border between Shan State and Northwest Thailand, and took control of the region. He relocated his base of operations to the border town of Homein , established a local heroin-refining industry, and resumed

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5766-493: The early 1990s his organization began to be challenged militarily by another nominally independent ethnic rebel organization in northern Myanmar, the United Wa State Army . This conflict put pressure on his leadership. Khun Sa's surrender to the Burmese government coincided with, and may have been motivated by, a loss of support from other Shan leaders. After his front man within the Mong Tai Army, his longtime subordinate, Chairman Moh Heng, died of cancer in 1991, his control over

5859-457: The equipment procured from China, Russia, Ukraine and India . No. 1 Artillery Battalion was formed in 1952 with three artillery batteries under the Directorate of Artillery Corps. A further three artillery battalions were formed in the late 1952. This formation remained unchanged until 1988. Since 2000, the Directorate of Artillery Corps has overseen the expansion of Artillery Operations Commands(AOC) from two to 10. Tatmadaw 's stated intention

5952-437: The first armoured division of the Tatmadaw as the 71st Armoured Operations Command with its headquarters in Pyawbwe . The Bureau of Special Operations ( ကာကွယ်ရေးဌာန စစ်ဆင်ရေး အထူးအဖွဲ့ ) in the Myanmar Army are high-level field units equivalent to field armies in Western terms and consist of two or more regional military commands (RMC) commanded by a lieutenant general and six staff officers. The units were introduced under

6045-444: The fortified residence of his rival, Li Wenhuan , in Chiang Mai . His organization maintained a trade organization in the government-held city of Taunggyi and re-established cordial relations with the Thai intelligence service after relocating to Burma. In 1985, Khun Sa merged his Shan United Army with another rebel group, the " Tai Revolutionary Council" of Moh Heng, a faction of the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA), forming

6138-403: The government, but he engaged in "legitimate" business projects, especially mining and construction. He died in 2007 at the age of 73. Today, his children are prominent businesspeople in Myanmar. He was primarily known by his Han Chinese name, Chang Chi-fu (Zhang Qifu). When he was three years old, his father died. His mother married a local tax collector, but two years later she died as well. He

6231-409: The height of his power, in the 1980s, Khun Sa controlled 70% of the opium production in Burma, and built a large-scale infrastructure of heroin refining factories to dominate the market for that drug. He may have once supplied a quarter of the world's heroin supply. He commanded 20,000 men, and his personal army was better armed than the Burmese military. His notoriety led the American government to put

6324-591: The infantry in the army was in armour and artillery. Beginning in 1990, the Tatmadaw procured 18 T-69II main battle tanks and 48 T-63 amphibious light tanks from China. Further procurements were made, including several hundred Type 85 and Type 92 armoured personnel carriers (APC). By the beginning of 1998, the Tatmadaw had about 100 T-69II main battle tanks, a similar number of T-63 amphibious light tanks, and several T-59D tanks. These tanks and armoured personnel carriers were distributed throughout five armoured infantry battalions and five tank battalions and formed

6417-416: The introduction of another bureau, there was a division of command areas. The BSO-1 was to oversee the operations under the Northern Command, Northeastern Command, the Eastern Command, and the Northwestern Command. BSO-2 was to oversee operations under the Southeastern Command, Southwestern Command, Western Command and Central Command. Initially, the chief of the BSO had the rank of brigadier general. The rank

6510-463: The largest service in Myanmar and has always received the lion's share of the defence budget. It has played the most prominent part in Myanmar's struggle against the 40 or more insurgent groups since 1948 and acquired a reputation as a tough and resourceful military force. In 1981, it was described as 'probably the best army in Southeast Asia, apart from Vietnam's'. The judgement was echoed in 1983, when another observer noted that "Myanmar's infantry

6603-443: The lines of ethnic background, political affiliation, organisational origin and different services. Its unity and operational efficiency was further weakened by the interference of civilians and politicians in military affairs, and the perception gap between the staff officers and field commanders. The most serious problem was the tension between ethnic Karen Officers, coming from the British Burma Army and Bamar officers, coming from

6696-438: The local drug trade, he controlled areas where drugs were grown and refined. The owners of the local heroin refineries were from Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and paid Khun Sa in exchange for the protection of his army. American government workers, who visited Khun Sa's compound in 1977 to negotiate with him, believed that the Thai government tolerated his presence on Thailand's northwestern border in order for his army to serve as

6789-586: The meeting were discovered by the Burmese army, and he was arrested On October 29, 1969, at Heho Airport in Taunggyi while returning from a business trip in Tachilek , near the Thai border. After his capture he was charged with high treason for his contacts with the rebels (but not for drug trafficking, which he had government permission to do), and he was imprisoned in Mandalay . While imprisoned Khun Sa read Sun Tzu 's

6882-463: The mid-1970s. Three more LIDs were raised in the latter half of the 1970s (the No. (66), No. (44) and No. (55)) with their headquarters at Pyay , Aungban and Thaton . They were followed by another two LIDs in the period prior to the 1988 military coup (the No. (33) LID with headquarters at Sagaing and the No. (22) LID with headquarters at Hpa-An ). No. (11) LID was formed in December 1988 with headquarters at Inndine, Bago Division and No. (101) LID

6975-626: The official spokesperson for the Myanmar Army. In 2011, following a transition from military government to civilian parliamentary government, the Myanmar Army imposed a military draft on all citizens: all males from age 18 to 35 and all females from 18 to 27 years of age can be drafted into military service for two years as enlisted personnel in time of national emergency. The ages for professionals are up to 45 for men and 35 for women for three years service as commissioned and non-commissioned officers. The Government Gazette reported that 1.8 trillion kyat (about US$ 2 billion), or 23.6 percent of

7068-494: The only formal education that Khun Sa received was as a boy, when he spent a few years as a Buddhist novice , and for the rest of his life he remained functionally illiterate. In the early 1950s he received some basic military training from the Kuomintang , which had fled into the border regions of Burma from Yunnan upon its defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. He formed his first independent band of young men when he

7161-506: The organization began to weaken. After Moh Heng's death he called a Shan "parliament", attracting hundreds of representatives from across the region. At this meeting he declared the creation of an independent Shan State, with himself as president. Many of his rivals from within the Mong Tai Army refused to accept his leadership, claiming that he was using the independence movement primarily as a front for his drug running operations, and formed

7254-547: The result of intense and heavy bombardment by the Myanmar Army. The Myanmar Army is now much larger than it was before 1988, it is more mobile and has greatly improved armour, artillery, and air defence inventories. Its C3I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) systems have been expanded and refined. It is developing larger and more integrated, self-sustained formations to improve coordinated action by different combat arms. The army may still have relatively modest weaponry compared to its larger neighbours, but it

7347-526: The world has", he successfully co-opted the support of both the Thai and Burmese governments at various times. After the American Drug Enforcement Administration uncovered and broke the link between Khun Sa and his foreign brokers, he "surrendered" to the Burmese government in 1996, disbanding his army and moving to Yangon with his wealth and mistresses. After his retirement some of his forces refused to surrender and continued fighting

7440-407: The world market. The main tourist attraction is a large gold-coloured stupa , which, among other things, showcases the seven days of the week. The idea is for a pilgrim to go to the spot which has the day he/she was born known as the planetary post , and do a simple spiritual worship. West of town there are hiking trails, though currently they are designated for locals, not for tourists. There

7533-450: Was based in nearby Lashio . In return for fighting local Shan rebels , the government allowed him to use their land and roads to grow and trade opium and heroin . By allowing them to be financed by opium production, the Burmese government hoped that these local militia units could be self-supporting. Many government-supported warlords, including Khun Sa, used their profits from the opium trade to buy large supplies of military equipment from

7626-653: Was captured by MNDAA on Jan 5, 2024. Military Operations Commands (MOC) ( စစ်ဆင်ရေးကွပ်ကဲမှုဌာနချုပ် ), commanded by a brigadier-general are similar to Infantry Divisions in Western Armies. Each consists of 10 Mechanised Infantry battalions equipped with BTR-3 armoured personnel carriers, Headquarters and support units including field artillery batteries. These ten battalions are organised into three Tactical Operations Commands: one Mechanised Tactical Operations Command with BTR-3 armoured personnel carriers, and two Motorised Tactical Operations Command with EQ-2102 6x6 trucks. MOC are equivalent to Light Infantry Divisions (LID) in

7719-526: Was captured by TNLA No. (11) Light Infantry Division: The Division GOC Brigadier General Min Min Htun was killed on Feb 7, 2024, during skirmishes at Mrauk U. All 10 battalions/regiments under its command suffered heavy casualties and are no longer combat effective. The division has neither been reinforced nor rebuilt. It has withdrawn from action. No. (22) Light Infantry Division: The division, similar to No. (11), suffered heavy casualties in 2022. It withdrew from combat later and mostly operates as reserve. It

7812-581: Was created in Monywa with Brigadier Kyaw Min as commander and named the North-Western Regional Military Command. A year later, 101st LID was formed in Pakokku with Colonel Saw Tun as commander. Two Regional Operations Commands (ROC) were formed in Myeik and Loikaw to improve command and control. They were commanded respectively by Brigadier Soe Tint and Brigadier Maung Kyi. March 1995 saw

7905-443: Was formed in 1991 with its headquarters at Pakokku . Each LID, commanded by Brigadier General ( Bo hmu gyoke ) level officers, consists of 10 light infantry battalions specially trained in counter-insurgency , jungle warfare , "search and destroy" operations against ethnic insurgents and narcotics-based armies. These battalions are organised under three Tactical Operations Commands (TOC; Nee byu har ). Each TOC, commanded by

7998-515: Was halted. He also built an 18-hole golf course for foreign visitors and a functional water and electrical infrastructure. The local Thai authorities ensured that the ceremony remained relatively simple. Khun Sa was married to Nan Kyayon (died 1993) with whom he had eight children: five sons and three daughters. His children, listed in order of their birth, are Nang Long, Zarm Merng, Zarm Herng, Nang Kang, Zarm Zeun, Zarm Myat, Nang Lek, and Zarm Mya. All of Khun Sa's children were educated abroad. As

8091-665: Was interviewed by Canadian journalist Patricia Elliott at his base, accompanied by photojournalist Subin Kheunkaew, for the Bangkok Post . At the time he was acting as head of a coalition of Shan rebel forces, the Mong Tai Army (MTA), a force he then claimed consisted of 18,000 troops, a reserve of 5,000, and a local militia numbering 8,000. At this time he named his price for opium eradication as US$ 210 million in UN assistance, US$ 265 million in foreign investment and US$ 89.5 million in private aid for

8184-429: Was raised largely by his Han grandfather, who was the headman of the village in which he was born, Loi Maw. The Han side of his family had been living in Shan State since the 18th century. He received no formal education but had military training as a soldier with Chinese Nationalist forces that had fled into Burma after the victory of Mao's Communists in 1949. Although his stepbrothers were sent to missionary schools,

8277-744: Was raised to 500,000 baht, "valid until 30 Sept. 1982". In October 1981 a 39-man unit of Thai Rangers and local rebel guerillas attempted to assassinate Khun Sa at the insistence of the US Drug Enforcement Administration . The attempt failed, and almost the entire unit was wiped out. In January 1982 a 1,000-man force of the Thai Army appeared at the borders of his base area. The Thai force consisted of Thai rangers from Pak Thong Chai , local paramilitary border police from Tak , and several airplanes and helicopter gunships. The battle lasted for four days, with heavy casualties on both sides. At

8370-405: Was sixteen, and when his organization grew to several hundred men he became independent of the Kuomintang. After establishing his independence he frequently switched sides between the government and various rebel armies, as the situation suited him. In 1963 he re-formed his army into a local " Ka Kwe Ye " ("Home guard") unit, under the control of the northeast command of the Burmese army, which

8463-413: Was taken against him. In reality, the Burmese and Thai governments were cooperating with him to build a highway into the region that he controlled. The Burmese army did conduct anti-narcotics operations at the time in many other areas of Burma, but the area controlled by Khun Sa was one of the few areas not targeted. In 1988, Khun Sa was interviewed by Australian journalist Stephen Rice , who had crossed

8556-458: Was the first phase of Myanmar Army. In 1942, BIA assisted Japanese Army in their conquest of Burma, which succeeded. After that, Japanese Army changed BIA to Burmese Defense Army (BDA), which was the second phase. In 1943, Japan officially declared Burma an independent nation, but the new Burmese government did not possess de facto rule over the country. While assisting the British Army in 1945,

8649-494: Was upgraded to major general on 23 April 1979. In 1990, it was further upgraded to lieutenant general. Between 1995 and 2002, Chief of Staff (Army) jointly held the position of Chief of BSO. However, in early 2002, two more BSO were added to the General Staff Office; therefore there were altogether four BSOs. The fifth BSO was established in 2005 and the sixth in 2007. Currently there are six Bureaus of Special Operations in

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