Unlike global trends, voluntary military enlistment has steadily climbed in Thailand over the past five years. This trend has reached a point where some districts are fulfilling their annual conscription quotas with willing volunteers alone.

Across much of the world, young people are turning away from military service. In Thailand, they are queuing up. Voluntary enlistment in the Southeast Asian nation has climbed steadily over the past five years – so much so that in some districts, annual conscription quotas, which happen in April, are being filled from ranks of willing men alone. It is somewhat paradoxical, considering the recent, lethal border clashes with Cambodia have made clear that military service is no longer a distant...