50 young men were dying every summer…
In Taiwan basic training is 5 weeks long. It’s far too short, and it’s rushed. It means you don’t even have enough time to have enough PT ability to be soldiers unless you were already an athlete before joining. While basic wasn’t bad it left us woefully unprepared for serving our units, who have more requirement for physical ability and other things.
I think basic should be at least 10 weeks, if not longer. First 5 weeks should be PT. It takes at least that long to get the body used to soldering. Those who fails PT should be recycled back to the beginning to another basic, they should not be “passed” like they do now.
Live fire training consists of a single session of 6 rounds, scored on hit percentage at a man sized target 175 meters away with iron sights. This is woefully inadequate because during basic you get MAYBE 5 sessions TOTAL. I don’t know if this is due to lack of funding. Live fire training should be 40 rounds to hit targets at various range, with scoring based on range of hits (like the US military). There should be a test for this too. Currently, there isn’t one. If there’s a war a soldier is likely to friendly fire than hit their target.
I also think Taiwan should seriously consider adopting the Swiss model, maybe not hang out guns to everyone but have range open in various locations where inactive reserves (meaning those who finished their conscription) are required to show up periodically to practice and qualify with their standard issue rifle. The guns stay at the range or is stored in a secure location (such as at the police station). I think normal civilians should also be allowed (for a nominal fee) practice at such a range too. Most American civilians have far more firearms training than Taiwanese soldiers.
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No rifleman’s creed?
No, basic in taiwan is a fucking joke. It’s basically a celebrity boot camp where we play soldier but not actually do anything militarily significant.
Those of you who went through USMC boot camp or even BUD/S can probably out compete the drill Sargeant here.
That many?
even bud/s you say? really? 
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No Taiwanese soldiers have seen combat, at least none of the current generation ones have. Can you expect them to really even know how to fight a war?
Some years ago now. That’s why the mothers formed a lobby group. Mainly from heat stroke.