18-45 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service obligation is 10-12 months; 17-45 years of age for voluntary service; an increasing percentage of the ranks are "long-service" volunteer professionals; women were allowed to serve in the armed forces beginning in early 1980s when the Brazilian Army became the first army in South America to accept women into career ranks; women serve in Navy and Air Force only in Women's Reserve Corps.
18 years of age for male and female voluntary service; conscription ended 2006; all military inductees (including women) contract for an initial 5-year term of service, with subsequent successive 3-year terms until age 36.
