Talk:People's Defence Force (Myanmar)

Strength/Size

According to this interview from DVB ( DVB is a reliable media). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VeYO0FAEjU The man said PDF has more than 400 battalions. 1 battalion is consist of 300 men to 1000 men. So, I think we should do like this,the strength 120,000 (400*300) - 400,000 (1000*400).

Editor in Myanmar (talk) 02:31, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

@Editor in Myanmar: Better to have an estimate explicitly given. Does anyone in the interview actually say something along the lines of, "The PDF has more than 400 battalions and each battalion consists of 300 to 1,000 men."? CentreLeftRight ✉ 04:57, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

Well

The man said PDF has more than 400 battalion but he didn't say each battalion consist of 300 to 1,000 men. I found that each battalion is consist of 300 to 1000 men when I typed " how many soldiers are there in a battalion" in goggle.

Editor in Myanmar (talk) 06:30, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

@Editor in Myanmar: If the man did not explicitly give an estimate about the number of fighters, then this would be solely your own estimation. The article battalion says that battalions typically have 300 to 1,000 men, but the parts of the article body where a similar range is given with a citation specifically talk about Canada and the U.S. It's your guess that the PDF spokesperson means "300 to 1,000 men" when he says "battalion", the same way the Canadian and U.S. armed forces do. CentreLeftRight ✉ 07:26, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

@CentreLeftRight:

Ok

Then let's just put the number of battalions and put the strength as an estimate.

Editor in Myanmar (talk) 07:58, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

@CentreLeftRight:

Hey

I remember that the men number of the battalion in PDF is about the same with Junta Military, which is more than 200 men per battalion. It was said by one of the cheif of PDF. I'll find that video,put the ciation and put the Size as "Around 80,000 (400*200).

Editor in Myanmar (talk) 08:03, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

@Editor in Myanmar:The problem is that the estimate is your own, but it is not based on the PDF's own self-evaluation, and it is way higher than any estimates recently given. The most recent estimate given by an analyst was 50,000 in February 2022; if we disregard all of Wikipedia's policies and give our own estimate, how can we claim a range as high as 120,000 to 400,000 when the PDF has not even claimed numbers these high? The Tatmadaw itself officially only had 350,000 soldiers in 2021; it's a ludicrous extrapolation from one man's statement about battalions. CentreLeftRight ✉ 08:05, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

Nevermind the issue at hand which is that we cannot extrapolate our own estimates from one-off statements given by others; editors like you and I have a responsibility to be careful with what we add or change to Wikipedia because people often go this site as a credible reference point. We do not want any actual PDF members or prospective joinees to think they are much larger than they actually are in comparison the to the Tatmadaw. CentreLeftRight ✉ 08:11, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

@CentreLeftRight:

Yeah, I agree with you about that.

👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

That why I wrote only 400 battalions, which is the latest information thag we could have, now.

Editor in Myanmar (talk) 08:15, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

@Editor in Myanmar: This is the last thing I'll say so other editors in the Myanmar WikiProject can give their thoughts, but if you find that source where the PDF says their battalions consist of a certain number, I suggest adding a range of 50,000 (which is cited and explicitly stated in the source) to 80,000, and for the latter number I can add a note that explains how the number was arrived at (e.g. "The PDF stated in February 2022 that it had 400 battalions and that each battalion contained roughly 200 soldiers."). CentreLeftRight ✉ 08:20, 8 February 2022 (UTC)