Former Myanmar child soldier, 21-year-old Su Thet Htoo (R) cleans a car at a car wash and repair shop in Yangon. ─AFP
Darkness was falling across the pagoda outside Yangon when a military officer walked up to Su Thet Htoo and gave him two choices: go to jail or join the untold ranks of child soldiers in Myanmar's army.
Frightened and alone, the then 16-year-old chose military service, beginning a two-year ordeal that would see him cut off from his family, beaten, sent to the front line and turn into an alcoholic.
No one knows exactly how many children are still among the estimated 500,000 troops that serve in Myanmar's military or the rebel militias waging insurgencies against the state.