3 ms·

Not necessarily related to this article, but doesn't Finland also require every citizen to enlist in their military for a few years? I remember reading about i

• yason 16y ago
  In Finland, all men are subject to a mandatory service. Women can join in voluntarily but the numbers have been really low number, to no surprise. The service can either be military training (at least 6 months) or civil service (pacifist option but it's twice as long, which is criticized internationally by Amnesty). About ten percent of young men are dismissed each year: some for a real reason (medical, psychological, other), some for "other" reasons. While officially never admitted, the system is heavily geared towards re-enacting Finland's WW2, that is, defence against Russia, Finland's eastern neighbour. It's a collective wartime trauma in constant replay. It's an archair system that will turn into something more modern in a couple of generations or the coming decades, if not for anything else then for the lack of funding.