Military service in Finland

The Finnish military has gained a lot of attention lately since Finland is in the process of joining NATO and this video sheds light on how Finland trains its soldiers.

Tigerblood Jewel - On the Trail
Slamhaus - May 5th {Play it Properly}
Slamhaus - December 11th {Higher Limit}
TJ - Mul on VMTL

[vilimylly]

As someone currently in the Finnish military, I can confirm these things are really true.

[sarders]

There are also benefits you can gain from the service. If you serve as truck driver you get truck driving licence and working permit for free to drive in civilian world. People like me who drove the big rigs with trailers got somewhere around 15k worth of permits and licences for free. Only "downside" is to serve full year. Best year in my life. 1/21 BECE

[lottaraatikainen]

Having served a year in the military and given birth to two kids I have the rare privilege of being able to tell both inttijuttu and synnytysjuttu

[ymyone]

I was born in Australia and went back to do my national service in the late eighties. Proudest moment of my life.

[MKnife]

Asento! Luutnantti Mandelin, you have been awarded 5 days of kuntoisuusloma due to the excellence of this presentation. Enjoy. Lepo!

[vaenii]

There is no need to speculate about the size of Finnish Army – it is around 280, 000 soldiers. That is the amount of people that would be initially mobilized in case of war and it would happen quickly. This is usually referred as the wartime strength.

However the total amount of people with military training between ages 18 - 50 is around 900, 000. Think of it as kind of reserve pool that can be used to replenish losses or form new units after some refreshing if need be. It is not possible to mobilize those 900, 000 at once because the society has to keep functioning somehow even during a war.

For example during the Continuation War the peak strength was around 700, 000 soldiers and the average around 450, 000.

[Idktq]

My dad has Finnish blood and now lives in the uk. He hasn’t made me a Finnish National so that I wouldn’t have to move to finalnd and do this. But it’s kinda cool to think that people like Kimi Räikkönen have been to the military.

[seriousspikesam]

My father told me a military story. Apparently he and his friend were overseeing a fitness test and decided to give an overweight guy a slightly higher score than usual. As a result, he was chosen to run communication cables between the radio stations in the battlefield. All he had to say was "thanks a lot, guys."

Needless to say, at the end of his service he was a lot skinnier and in a fit condition. Strangely enough, I think he actually thanked my dad and his friend in the end.

[bryno]

Currently doing my military service without knowing the Finnish language in Kajaani. I have Finnish blood but have lived in Australia my whole life. It’s going well 👍🏻

[k_rbiskuchen]

As a Swiss person (we have the same system) I appreciate to hear you guys up there have it the same

[venlahyvarinen]

My brother just finished reserve officer school in Hamina. Whole family is so proud of him

[albux]

Regarding the ending: VMTL = Medical Release From March and Combat Service/Training

[davethehusky]

as someone who was in the armored brigade as a mechanic, those backing up into a wall or other vehicles happen very easily when it's the new conscripts driving/helping move the armored vehicle inside a confined space.

[onecow]

These are the best videos in the whole of youtube, please dont stop.

[GamingCooki]

I finished my conscription in the Estonian military this year and form this video both military conscriptions seem similar

[TheEvilFoxy]

The military service culture is a pretty neat cultural thing in my mind. It doesn't matter if the Finnish man did his military service in the 1950s or 2020s, they'll always have at least one common thing to talk about.

[maonparas]

Military ranks are not like that in finland, in finland its like this (in finnish and swedish):

- recruit (alokas or rekryt)
- soldier(sotamies or soldat)
- corpral (korpraali or korpral)

- beneath sergeant (alikersantti or undersergeant)
- sergeant (kersantti or sergeant)
-officer candidate (upseerikokelas or officersaspirant)

In Finland corpral is like in the us or other countries. The rank its basically the same as private first class. and private is called soldier or jaeger or something else, depending on where you serve.

[dddd-ig]

Finland have a great mandatory military service. I am from Sweden and we have like 100 dudes who are 50 year old men in the homeguard. Not even the real army. Finland on the other hand has got 900 000 reserve 280k active force that can be called in quickly. You can serve as a private NCO or reserve officer. There are many exciting roles aswell from artillery, boarderjeager, journalist etc. Great work Finland as a Swede I am jealous of your great system. Never remove it!!

[Sirialy]

I want to point out, conscripts do get to touch a fighter jet, and quite a bit. You have to apply to be an "apumekaanikko" thru special forces application. This way after youve done your basic and nco training in tikkakoski, you will move to another location, most go to rovaniemi or karjalan lennosto. These conscripts will perform daily checks on the airplane and are a vital part of the ground crew of eatch fighter jet.

[fisuboi]

That picture at 2:35 of corporal's badge is from my chest :D some guy on a parade day just came and asked if he could take a picture of it for Wikimedia Commons and I agreed :D