INTERVIEW RESULTS

- There were forty-two soldiers in the camp, not including officers and instructors. The age range was 12 to 38, with fourteen in their teens (three below 16), eighteen in their twenties, and ten in their thirties. A total of eighteen (43%), which includes the three, had first joined the KNLA before the age of 16.

- There were four new recruits; thirteen with one to three years experience and involvement in up to ten actions, but for most four actions or less; and twenty-five with over three years experience (fifteen over ten), all with at least ten actions and in most cases many more. (An action is anything from a firefight while out on patrol to participation in a major battle.)

- Almost all of the soldiers were from farms or mountain villages. Only one was from a town. Twenty-six (62%) had lived in a refugee camp at some point.

- Nineteen (45%) had no school; seventeen had some grade school, of which five had completed six standard; and six had some higher school, of which one had completed twelve standard.

- Sixteen were married, and they had had a total of thirty-eight children (but fourteen of the children were accounted for by two of the men).

- Thirty-one (74%) had had to flee for their lives from SLORC/SPDC, in many cases when they were children, and in most cases many times. Ten (24%) had been wounded in action. And fifteen (36%) had had their fathers, mothers, brothers and/or sisters killed by SLORC/SPDC (or its DKBA allies).

Note: SPDC is a more recent name for SLORC, but nothing, starting with the junta’s leaders, has changed. The DKBA is a breakaway faction of the Karen, which joined sides with the SPDC.