General Nguyen Tan Cuong - Deputy Minister of National Defense has just signed and issued Circular 68/2025 of the Ministry of National Defense amending and supplementing Circular 148/2018 on the selection and calling of citizens for military service.
The Circular takes effect from July 1, 2025.
According to the new circular, the subjects of military recruitment are citizens who are in good health of type 1, type 2 and type 3 as prescribed in Articles 5 and 6 of Circular No. 105/2023 regulating health standards and health examinations for subjects under the management of the Ministry of National Defense.
Notably, the military will not call up citizens with refractive errors greater than 1.5 diopters, hyperopia of all levels, and BMI index lower than 18 or greater than 29.9.
The BMI, also known as the body mass index, is a tool used to assess a person's weight based on their height and weight. It helps determine whether a person is underweight, overweight or at an ideal weight.
BMI is calculated by dividing weight (weighing in kilograms) by height (weighing in meters).
Regarding the temporary postponement of military service and exemption from military service, Circular 68 amends and supplements Point b, Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 148 in the direction of temporarily postponing military service for the following citizens:
As the only worker who must directly raise relatives who are no longer able to work or have not reached working age; in a family with heavy losses in human life and property due to accidents, natural disasters, or dangerous epidemics, confirmed by the People's Committee of a commune, ward, or special zone (hereinafter referred to as the commune level).
According to the new circular, when removing the district and commune levels, it is the responsibility of the villages to organize and propose that male citizens of military service age be pre-scrutinized to perform military service in accordance with regulations, ensuring democracy, fairness, publicity, quality and efficiency.
The commune level also organizes a preliminary selection; makes a list of military service health examination calls for handover to the Health Examination Council and the Provincial Defense Command; calls for military service health examination (the number of medical examination calls is not more than 4 times compared to the military service call quota); approves citizens for military service.
The commune level reports to the Provincial Military Service Council through the provincial Military Command a list of citizens eligible for military service, temporarily deferring military service and exempting military service; prepare and complete all military service documents and related procedures for citizens eligible for military service to hand over to the Regional Defense Command.
The commune level coordinated with the regional defense command and the military receiving unit to hand over troops, agree on the number of troops, and decide to call citizens to join the army.
