(February 24, 2025) Associate Professor Tavida Kamolvej, Deputy Governor of Bangkok, participated in the ceremony to sign the Memorandum of Agreement for the collaborative project aimed at selecting soldiers from the Regular Army, Support Corps, and Volunteer units for appointment as ordinary Bangkok civil servants. Representing the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration was Ms. Wontanee Wattanapol, Permanent Secretary for the BMA, while General Sanitchanog Sangkachantra, Permanent Secretary for Defence, signed on behalf of his ministry. The ceremony took place in the Surasak Montree Room at the Military Court, Ministry of Defence, located in the Phra Nakhon district.
Deputy Governor Tavida later revealed that, in this selection process for appointing soldiers as Bangkok civil servants, the armed forces will initially conduct their own screening. Thereafter, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will undertake a direct selection to finalize the appointments. Currently, there are 241 vacancies for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Officers, and with a portion of the soldiers set to be discharged in April 2025, operations can commence as early as this April. The selected soldiers are expected to be exceptionally capable and physically robust, taking on frontline roles in incident response, managing public relations, overseeing community safety, identifying local risk factors, and providing assistance during emergencies—all spanning the gamut from preparedness to recovery.
Prospective soldier-applicants must first clear the armed forces’ physical and mental aptitude tests. Following this, Bangkok will conduct a written examination on May 31, 2025, with interviews scheduled between 6 and 8 June 2025 and results announced on June 20, 2025. Notably, Navamindradhiraj University already offers courses in disaster management. Once the candidates are selected, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will entrust Navamindradhiraj University with the task of developing an enhanced training program that will elevate their qualifications beyond the entry level. This initiative reflects Bangkok’s commitment to cultivating and retaining top-tier disaster management professionals for the long haul.
The Permanent Secretary for the BMA commented that this collaboration marks a historic first between the armed forces and Bangkok’s civil service. It provides a unique opportunity for discharged soldiers to transition into civil service, a critical move given the city’s challenges in recruiting adequate personnel in certain fields, such as disaster prevention and mitigation. Combined with the armed forces’ move towards a more voluntary selection process, this partnership is poised to yield significant benefits. The selection of discharged soldiers will become an annual process, with the number of appointments determined by current vacancies. Importantly, this will be conducted as a special appointment process rather than through conventional competitive examinations.
In terms of eligibility, applicants must possess academic qualifications corresponding to the position for which they are applying. Eligible candidates include regular soldiers discharged on 30 April 2025, reserve soldiers discharged in 2024, or volunteer soldiers whose contracts conclude between 2023 and 2025. The initial screening will be conducted by the military across all branches—the Army, Air Force, Navy, and the Royal Thai Armed Forces. Once the military compiles the list, it will forward the names to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration for the subsequent selection steps.
Today, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Ministry of Defence signed the MOA for the project aimed at selecting soldiers from the Regular Army, Support Corps, and Volunteer units to be appointed as ordinary Bangkok civil servants. This initiative is designed not only to promote the transition of soldiers into the Bangkok civil service but also to foster a robust network of inter-agency cooperation to enhance the skills and expertise of military personnel in alignment with the city’s needs. Both parties will jointly establish the guidelines and conduct the selection process according to defined criteria, while also providing support in terms of personnel, tools, mechanisms, budgets, and other necessary resources—all under the applicable laws, regulations, statutes, and directives.
Ultimately, the benefits for Bangkok are clear: the city will gain access to a workforce that is highly skilled, physically robust, and supremely disciplined, thereby addressing the chronic issue of unfilled vacancies.
