Thailand king's elite 'Red Rim' officers enter the spotlight

[yong]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Turbul ... 4&si=44594

Thailand king's elite 'Red Rim' officers enter the spotlight
Flag officers expected to move into key positions in September promotions


General Apirat Kongsompong, Thailand's outgoing army chief, and his successor, General Narongpan Jitkaewthae, at the handover ceremony in 2020. © Reuters
MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondentAugust 20, 2022 18:01 JST

BANGKOK -- As Thailand's military officers await their fate in annual promotions, the fortunes of the elite "Red Rim" corps within the armed forces, the country's most powerful political institution, appear secure.

Military insiders expect prominent officers among this new corps, a 2017 innovation by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, will have influential slots in the top-heavy military, which has an estimated 1,750 generals, admirals and air marshals commanding 335,000 active military personnel. The U.S. military, by contrast, has just over 880 flag officers.

The anticipated step up for the Red Rim flag officers in the annual September promotions that take effect in October, is poised to add to their glow as the who's who in the rising top brass.

Besides Gen. Narongphan Jitkaewthae, the current commander of the army due to finish his three-year term in September 2023, their numbers include Gen. Jaoroenchai Hintao, the assistant army commander, and Gen. Suksan Nongbualuang, commander of the First Army Region, which is headquartered in Bangkok. They feature in a list of 12 Red Rim flag officers in key command positions.

Not surprisingly, the significance of these elite troops, who get their name from the red collar on the white T-shirts they sport, has not been lost on political insiders and seasoned security analysts. After all, Thailand's armed forces have a record of deep factionalism and military-class loyalties -- networks that have often played a part in the country's 13 military coups -- and nine failures -- since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a retired general and former junta leader himself, still leads Southeast Asia's second largest economy. As army chief, Prayuth staged the most recent coup in 2014, toppling an elected caretaker government. He had commanded the Queen's Guard, a corps of elite troops who had dominated the key military promotions for over a decade. These troops are part of the 2nd Infantry Division, also dubbed the Eastern Tigers, and are based in the province of Prachinburi, east of Bangkok.

Their traditional rivals are the more storied King's Guard, drawn from the Bangkok-based 1st Infantry Division, who called the shots for decades. The prospects of the King's Guard regaining the dominant position improved after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016. Two King's Guards, the hawkish Gen. Apirat Kongsompong (2018-2020) and the quieter Gen. Narongphan (2020-2023), became army chief. Apirat, a palace favorite like Narongphan, was also a Red Rim officer.

Bangkok-based diplomats have taken note of the emerging axis within the influential military, the guarantor of political power in the country, under Vajiralongkorn, himself a military veteran of the King's Guard. The monarch set this tone by unveiling plans to redeploy troops in the capital to come under his personal royal security force 904, a well-trained Praetorian Guard of some 7,000 soldiers. Brought under this new security architecture for exclusive royal service are squads from the 1st Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Regiment and the 4th Cavalry Battalion -- previously the frontline troops to stage coups.

"The king currently has at least three layers of troops under his network," said Supalak Ganjanakhundee, a seasoned political observer and author of "A Soldier King," a recently published book about the position of the military in the present reign. That includes senior officers of the elite 904 corps, "his private royal army [that includes the] 1st and 11th Infantry Regiments, and troops being placed within the royal guard units under jurisdiction of the ... army, navy and air force," Supalak told Nikkei Asia.

Security analysts reckon that the selection of Red Rim troops, who have to undergo a special three-month military training course, suggested a nod by the palace on two fronts: Specially trained candidates enjoying an edge for promotions during the annual promotions and a push for military unity within the ranks.

"Officers from any unit or faction can enter the [Red Rim] program and after graduation [they] can claim a connection to the palace as Royal 904 soldiers," said Paul Chambers, an expert on Thai national security issues at Naresuan University in northern Thailand. "Passing the program makes them much more competitive candidates for the top-most army and armed forces postings."

The Red Rim corps provides the monarch an avenue to unify the deeply factionalized military, added Supalak. "The main objective of creating the Red Rims is to unite all factions within the armed forces and for them to [be] loyal to the monarch only."

That is mirrored in the profiles of the ranking Red Rim officers. They are a mix of flag officers from both the Queen's Guard and King's Guard factions. Gen. Jaroenchai, an emerging frontrunner to become the future army chief, hails from the Queen's Guard.

Yet this royal blueprint for military unity will come under scrutiny. As a Bangkok-based diplomat put it: "Factionalism in the Thai military is very deep and is rooted in many years of fraternal bonding in the barracks."

Chambers concurs: "It is necessary to examine sub-factions [of the King's Guard and Queen's Guard] under the umbrella of the Red Rims," he said, given that generals from the Queen's Guard, which dominated the army chief position for years, including Prayuth, are poised to make a comeback.

"The interesting phenomenon now is that the Queen's Guard is placed to take the position of the army commander into the foreseeable future," said Chambers.

[Anchor Moy]

From above ^

the top-heavy military, which has an estimated 1,750 generals, admirals and air marshals commanding 335,000 active military personnel.

Please note that Cambodia has even more generals than Thailand : newsworthy/generals-promoted-t5587.html