The Army Officers Training School, Bahtoo ( my, တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း) ဗိုလ်သင်တန်းကျောင်း (ဗထူး), abbreviated OTS) is an officer candidate school for the Myanmar Army located in

Bahtoo Station Ba Htoo Station ( my, , also called Bahtoo Station and Fort Ba Htoo, is a major military base located near Lawksawk (known as Yatsauk in Burmese) in southern Shan State, Myanmar (Burma). Named after Ba Htoo, a colonial military hero, the base ...

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. The Commandant of the OTS is Brigadier General Myo Zaw Win (BC - 27081). OTS trains army

warrant officers Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the most ...

and non-commissioned officers, and is one of the country's main institutions for training army officers, along with the

Defence Services Academy The Defence Services Academy ( my, စစ်‌တက္ကသိုလ်, ) located in Pyin Oo Lwin, is the premier military service academy of Myanmar, training future officers for all three branches of Myanmar military. The Ministry of Defence ...

(DSA). Coursework at OTS typically spans nine months, and graduating cadets receive army commissions. OTS cadets generally have more experience in civilian life than other counterparts.

History

The predecessor to the OTS was founded in

Mingaladon Township Mingaladon Township ( my, မင်္ဂလာဒုံ မြို့နယ် ) is located in the northernmost part of Yangon, Myanmar. The township comprises 31 wards, and shares borders with Hmawbi Township in the north, North Okkalapa Towns ...

, Rangoon (now

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

) by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

on 20 August 1942, becoming the first military training school in the country. After achieving independence in 1948, Myanmar's military established OTS in Maymyo (now Pyin Oo Lwin), near

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

. OTS was relocated to Bahtoo Station in

, to make way for the

, which would become the country's premier military academy. Since 1988, OTS has largely admitted cadets who have already earned

undergraduate degrees An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ...

. Political observers have noted long-standing power struggles between OTS and DSA. In 2016, 7% (4) of the military-appointed delegates to the

Amyotha Hluttaw The Amyotha Hluttaw ( my, အမျိုးသားလွှတ်တော်, ; House of Nationalities) is the ''de jure'' upper house of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the bicameral legislature of Myanmar (Burma). It consists of 224 members, of ...

, the upper house of Myanmar's national legislature were OTS graduates, while none of the military-appointed delegates to the Pyithu Hluttaw, the lower house of Myanmar's national legislature were OTS graduates.

Notable alumni

Kyi Maung Colonel Kyi Maung ( my, ကြည်မောင်, ; 20 December 192019 August 2004) was a Burmese Army officer and politician. Originally a member of the military-backed Union Revolutionary Council that seized power in 1962, Kyi Maung resigne ...

, 1st intake * Tin Oo, 3rd intake *

Than Shwe Than Shwe ( my, သန်းရွှေ, ; born 2 February 1933 or 3 May 1935) is a Burmese strongman politician who was the head of state of Myanmar from 1992 to 2011 as Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). During this ...

, 9th intake * Khin Nyunt, 25th intake * Sein Win, 54th intake * Teza Kyaw, 73rd intake *

Ye Win Oo Lieutenant-General Ye Win Oo ( my, ရဲဝင်းဦး; born 21 February 1966) is a Burmese military officer who is currently serving as the Joint Secretary of State Administration Council (SAC) and the Chief of Military Security Affairs. H ...

, 77th intake * Toe Yi, 77th intake

References

{{authority control Universities and colleges in Shan State Military academies of Myanmar Educational institutions established in 1942 1942 establishments in Burma Schools in Myanmar