The first 37 Taiwanese army conscripts in the country's Overseas Alternative Service program have started their training, and will be assigned to work in overseas ICDF missions in November.

The alternative service program was created with the Taiwan government's passage of the Alternative Service Law in January 2000. The law allowed men in Taiwan to fulfill their required military duties in Taiwanese social, community service, law enforcement, firefighting, and environmental agencies. In September 2000 the first 1,800 conscripts participating in the program began their domestic training. The current group of conscripts is the first to be assigned overseas responsibilities in the Overseas Alternative Service program. President Chen Shui-bian conceived the idea of overseas alternative service in August 2000. His idea was adopted, complementing the existing domestic alternative service program.

The current conscripts were chosen for their skills in agriculture, fisheries, water conservation, medicine, trade, and information technology. These are all areas the ICDF is deeply involved with in its overseas technical mission and human resources development work. The conscripts received their basic training in July and August, and will receive 12 more weeks of intensive language and specialized training from the ICDF until early November. The conscripts will then be dispatched to technical missions and other facilities in Africa, Central and South America and the Asia Pacific region.

• Update: 2018/03/05
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