 He has also protested Thaksin's unsuccessful attempt to promote a large number of his own former classmates from Class 10 of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School to army units responsible for Bangkok's security.The 2006 annual military reshuffle was delayed due to the political crisis, as caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied that he planned to remove Sonthi as Army Commander.Despite this, Sonthi consolidating his personal power base by transferring out 129 mid-ranking officers under generals that he thought were loyal to the Prime Minister.