Finnish conscription pt.3: recruitment, an obstacle for change

While I said in my previous post that I would leave this topic alone for a while, there has been a change of plans. Next week, November 20-26, War Resister's International organizes The International Week of Action Against Militarization of Youth. Since I consider myself as an anti-militarist, I decided to take a head start on the campaign and talk about one more problem about Finnish conscription: the draft process itself. This is because the whole process has basically been created to benefit the military from the very beginning.

First of all, the whole process is controlled by the military. This becomes perfectly clear from the very beginning. Some time during the spring of the year you turn 18, you will receive a letter from the military,  telling you it's time to step into service. The letter includes the actual date of your draft, a personal information form and a booklet detailing information about military service. It also tells you to take a medical checkup, on which you will receive a letter from your local health services pretty soon after this, telling you the actual date of the checkup. There they will place you in one of five categories based on your health, which determines whether or not you're eligible for service, categories: A, B, C, E and T. Both A and B mean you' re healthy enough to step into service, however, your category may limit you options while in service. C and T both mean exemption from service for times of peace, C for medical reasons and T because you're deemed too dangerous to be taken in. This is mostly for people with history in violent crime and is the only category not based on a medical diagnosis. E means your service is temporarily put on hold, mostly for temporary medical problems which make it difficult determine your actual situation. Category D meant exemption under all circumstances, including war, but is not in use anymore.

Now we get to the actual problems with this. Since the military is in charge of the process, they are supposed to inform you about the alternatives to military service, however in practice, this doesn't happen. This means that if you're thinking about going to civil service, or even becoming a total objector, you have to do your own homework. At the same time, they give all the necessary information about military service that you might need. Because of this, informing conscripts about the alternatives to military service is left to volunteers, as the military refuses to do their job. Basically, they're doing their best to downplay the alternatives while simultaneously trying to present themselves as the only true alternative for patriotic Finns. The media also seems to be guilty of this as well, as civil service normally get's next to no media coverage, except on special occasions and even than, a lot of negative comments are being thrown around. This despite the fact that in legal sense, it's an equally valid way of performing your service than the military. There's also one more absurd fact about this. Remember the personal information form I mentioned earlier? Well, on that you have a chance to tell about your hopes for military service. And I mean military service. You are legally not able to apply for civil service, until the actual draft date. Well, I guess you can mention it in the form but it won't help you, military service is still the default. As somebody who has already gone through this, I think I know why this is the case. 

Which brings us to the most grotesque example of pseudo-patriotism: the draft day itself. Now, the day itself varies from place to place, but generally it's organized some time during the fall of the year you turn 18. On it's most simplest the day begins with a roll call to make sure everybody is present, information, mostly, about military service and finally a visit in front of the draft board, which ultimately decides, where you are stationed. This is also the earliest moment you can present your application form to civil service. As far as I know, they are required to have application forms on the spot during the day, but you should have the form with you when you get there. One reason is that they might try and shame you from applying by having the forms on a table, which is located where everybody can see. Thankfully, you can apply any time after the draft date, even if you already started your service They might also question you about it, but legally they have to accept the application no matter what you say. Keep in mind, this is simply the most basic form for the day. Often times the day also includes other spectacles like patriotic speeches, a chance to try a flight simulator, a speech from a living veteran, performance from a military band and generally requiring you to follow military discipline. As an example, let's use my draft day.

The day started at 9 am, but we were advised to be there a lot earlier than that. Once you got in, you had to present your ID to a person outside the actual room where the event was held, to inform that you were in fact there. Missing the event without informing the military or if they can't get in contact with you, results in a warrant being placed on you. That day there were few people who were brought there by police. In the main room, there were two people in uniform, possibly either NCO's or cadets, who told you where to sit. The room itself was decorated with multiple Finnish flags and before the event itself started the two people in uniform asked random people questions and told us off if somebody didn't follow proper etiquette. The event itself started with speeches by the officer in charge of the event, a member of the city council, a priest from a local congregation and a veteran, all of them  basically telling us how great the military is. My friend who had his draft the previous day also had a marching band performing to them. As somebody who has always been interested in history, I was actually kinda exited what the veteran had to say. Unfortunately, I missed most of what he had to say, because as you know, people tend to lose their voice when they get older and apparently the military can't afford a microphone. What's even more comical, is that after he finished talking, the officer in charge gave the veteran a long hug, thanking him about his actions and the "amazing" speech I missed most of. It kinda resembled the scene from Forrest Gump, where Forrest gives a speech to a massive anti-war protest, only for an officer to pull the plug on the audio equipment.

After all the speeches, you had the presentation about military service. This included what was basically a propaganda film about the greatness of the military, narrated by Jone Nikula, a fairly well known Finnish radio- and TV personality and a long PowerPoint presentation, one slide of which was reserved for alternative forms of service. After this we had lunch and then it was time to wait your turn in front of the draft board. While we were waiting for our turn, they showed us the propaganda film again multiple times. Once my turn came, I presented the application form. They did try try question my choice and my motivations, but failed to change my mind. Now, this is why think they prevent you from applying to civil service before the draft day. The point of the whole day is to present the military in a favorable light. The whole day was designed to pander our patriotic sentiment in order motivate us about military service. Well, it didn't work on me. You failed in your mission.

This is not the only part that seems off about this. There are even difference in the process for total objectors depending on which form of service you actually refuse. In the military you actually have to show up at the garrison you're ordered to start your service in, before you can officially refuse, even if you informed them in advance about your decision. If you fail to do this, the police will actually start looking for you and if necessary use force to get at the garrison. This may cause problems because while total objection itself actually doesn't leave a mark on your criminal record, not showing up to start your service is a separate crime and actually does leave a mark, which might create problems in the future.  If you first apply for civil service, you simply have to inform the Civil Service Center about your decision, which leads to them contacting the police to start the investigation and the process to get you prosecuted. Why does the law treat these supposedly equal forms of service differently on this? I think this is more of a symbolical thing above anything else. If you're protesting conscription with your actions, wouldn't it sent a stronger message to refuse military service directly? On the other hand refusing civil service can be seen as a protest towards the punitive length, but at least to me it feels like the government is trying to weaken the message sent by total objectors in some way. What do you think? Does it make a difference in the tone of the message sent by these actions?

Ultimately, I think this process is one of the main reasons why the current system is so popular. Since the military is in control until the point you apply for civil service or get completely exempt, they can basically decide what information they give to you. I'm pretty sure if some other government institution was in charge of it, this would lead to a more balanced information about the alternatives. Basically this would limit the pseudo-patriotic bullshit the current system is full of and lead to more informed decision when it comes to deciding about your service. Alternatively, if you were to delay the draft for a few years, let's say until you were 25, would it be that popular? At that moment you have most likely already finished your schooling, possibly with a degree from university and maybe spent some time working full time. Would you be that exited about stepping into service? Probably not, because that would mean leaving your normal life behind. I seriously think that this is why It's so hard to change the current system for the better. Since the military basically has full control over it and they target teenagers, they can control to a large degree what people think about them. Even with all the problems I've talked about in previous posts,  I think this might be the most fucked up aspect about this system. 

What do you think? Do I have the right idea in your opinion, or am I just talking nonsense? You be the judge. Ultimately, I've decided to take back some of my promises about future topics. At least over the next week or so, I've decided to spend time talking about this as a way of taking part in this campaign as I truly believe in the cause. As always, I'll leave you with links, from where you can find more information or help with changing the things I talked about. Also, there are links to my previous posts about this topic. Also, feel free to share my writing if you feel it's worth it.

Part one: http://helvetinpastori.blogspot.fi/2017/11/absurdity-of-finnish-conscription.html

Part two: http://helvetinpastori.blogspot.fi/2017/11/absurdity-of-finnish-conscription_13.html

Part four: http://helvetinpastori.blogspot.fi/2017/12/finnish-conscription-pt4-how-reserve.html

Link to the campaign page for the International Week of Action Against Militarization of Youth 

https://antimili-youth.net/articles/2017/09/call-action-4th-international-week-action-against-militarisation-youth-november-20

Link to the petition about ending conscription:   https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Alexander_Stubb_Prime_Minister_of_Finland_End_Finnish_Conscription_and_Imprisonment_of_Conscientious_Objectors/

Information website run by the Union of Conscientious Objection about the alternatives to military service (in Finnish) http://kutsunnat.net/

War Resister's International website:
https://www.wri-irg.org/en

And my Twitter:
https://twitter.com/HelvetinPastori