00:00This is rebel-held territory in eastern Myanmar.
00:08More than 100 young people, mostly in their 20s, are going through rigorous military drills.
00:16The new recruits to the Bama People's Liberation Army, or BPLA, are former chefs, ex-journalists,
00:24rappers and poets.
00:28But they all share a common goal, overthrowing the military regime that seized power in the
00:33Southeast Asian nation in 2021.
00:38The BPLA's basic training is renowned for its harshness.
00:42For recruits, days start at 4am and end at 9pm.
00:47They get one day off, Sunday.
00:49It lasts for three months, pushing recruits to their limits.
00:53They train all day under the scorching sun without any water.
00:57Discipline is enforced with harsh blows for any mistake.
01:04After morning drills and following dinner, political lessons take place.
01:09Every evening they hear from the BPLA's leader, Maung San Ka.
01:13He was once an anti-war poet.
01:15Now he delivers political education to the recruits, delving into the group's founding
01:20principles, structure, and even gender equality.
01:24The BPLA represents the country's Bama ethnic majority and is a prominent force in Myanmar's
01:30resistance movement.
01:32Myanmar won independence from Britain in 1948, but has long been dominated by its military.
01:38In 2021, a brief period of civilian rule ended with a coup that toppled the government of
01:44Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
01:46The BPLA formed shortly after that.
01:49And since October of last year, it's been a key player in Operation 1027, a joint offensive
01:55with other rebel militias that has significantly weakened the military.
02:00More than 20 BPLA soldiers have died in battles since 2021.
02:04I think there was this initial compulsion, you know, let's go, let's fight.
02:08David Scott Matheson is an independent analyst on Myanmar who spoke to Reuters from Thailand.
02:13I do think that there's a widespread recognition that we have to keep going because we've
02:19got to topple the military once and for all to establish a future stability and a future
02:25freedom different from the one that we had before, because the one we had before was
02:29always conditional because the military was always there.
02:34At the training ground, this 19-year-old soldier says things are tougher and more tiring than
02:42expected.
02:43She says she sometimes feels depressed, but the recruits are encouraging each other, adding
02:49I don't regret the hardship.
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