Finnish conscription pt.4: Reserve objectors and problems with the system
My plan was to stay away from Finnish conscription for a bit longer, but turns out a few topics I was planning to write about are a bit more complex than I thought. So, just to get something done, let's take a look at one more problem regarding the Finnish military, namely reserve objectors.
I already briefly mentioned these people in a previous post on this topic, but let's go a bit deeper this time. Reserve objectors are people who after finishing their military service and becoming a part of the reserves, decide that they don't want to be in the reserves anymore. In order to leave the reserves, you have to complete a form of additional service, after which you are officially recognized as a conscientious objector and you're exempt from military service under all circumstances.Their motivations vary from person to person. Some develop anti-war views later in life, while some leave just because they got a call up to refreshment training at an inconvenient time and can't get an exemption for whatever reason, while some simply lose motivation. Whatever the reason is, the person wishing to leave the reserves has apply to additional service by sending an application form either to the Civil Service Center or your local regional office for the military. Just like with the application to civil service, the application to additional service is basically just a notice to the authorities about your decision and it will be automatically accepted. After your application you're exempt from service during peace time but you have to complete the additional service in order to get full exemption.
Legally this additional service can last anywhere from 0 to 40 days, but in practice it lasts just five days. It's somewhat similar to the training period in the beginning of civil service, meaning you have take part in various lessons. As far as I know, the additional service doesn't follow a single form and varies somewhat depending on when you take part in it, but usually includes stuff like first aid and fire safety courses. The idea behind this additional service is to replace refreshment training as after leaving the reserves you can't be called up for it. Now, considering the fact that large percentage of reservist will never be called up for refreshment training, the logic behind this is questionable to say the least. In previous posts I've mentioned about the absurdly large reserves that include roughly 1/6 of Finland's population of 5.5 million. This basically means that it's impossible to have every single one to go through refreshment training, so why is it that every single reserve objector has to go through this additional service?. Essentially this means that the additional service is ultimately just a way of punishing reservists who change their mind about the military. The massive reserves actually cause what in my opinion might be the most absurd fact about this system. Motivated people leaving.
I've already mentioned that some people leave the reserves because they changed their views, while some people leave because staying in causes some inconvenience or a lack of motivation. But as perverse it might sound, some people leave because they are motivated but are not called up for refreshment training despite letting the military know about their willingness. Good example of this is Aki Manninen, a reality TV-star and one of the gladiators on the new Finnish version of the franchise "Gladiators". According to him, he had informed the military about wanting to take part in refreshment training five years in a row, but didn't receive a call up. Disappointed with the military, he decided to leave the reserves in protest and completed his additional service earlier this year, also going public with his disappointment in an effort to cause change. Another example of this is actually the large reserves. As I've mentioned before, the armies reserves are massive and this has caused some people to leave as well. The record year in the number reserve objectors is 2015, when 985 people left the reserves. That year every single reservist received a letter detailing where they would be stationed if a war were to start. The problem with the reserves is that in practice, only about 1/3 of them would be called to fight, meaning 2/3 of this massive force would not see combat. Some of those who left the reserves that year were actually disappointed that they wouldn't be called up and left because they saw staying in as a waste of time. Others saw the letter as indication that Finland was getting ready for a war and left as a way of protesting this policy of escalation.
In a previous post I mentioned that the number of reserve objectors has increased pretty dramatically within the last few years and that this has caused some major problems. 2015 with 985 was the record breaking year, which was more than three times the number that left in 2014. In 2016 the number was 711 and the most recent numbers for this year show that at the end of October 530 applications have been sent. This increase has resulted to the Civil Service Center, which organizes this additional service to literally run out of space in their current facilities. They simply couldn't handle this increase, which while dramatic, ultimately only meant an increase of a few hundred more people. Because of this, they've had to outsource the additional service periods. Now, I've also talked about how some politicians have been campaigning to expand the draft to include women in some fashion, mostly in the form of some kind of national service. Again, considering the problems the increased numbers of reserve objectors have caused, how the hell do these people expect to basically double the number of conscripts. This really highlights one of the major problems about the Finnish system, apart from the obvious human rights violations I've talked about in previous posts: it simply involves too many people. It's pretty much a giant waste of money. You don't need this many people involved.
You might ask, how situation like this could be solved. I think the answer is pretty simple: train less troops and downsize the reserves. Probably the easiest way of doing this would be to replace the current mandatory system with a voluntary one. This way, while the total number of trained troops may drop, you would always get the most motivated ones. Also, since you're training less troops, it's easier to keep their skills up to date as it would be easier to call them up for refreshment training and keep motivation levels up. As I said in a previous post, probably the best way to do this would be to use the model used in Norway and Sweden. Both countries officially have conscription for both men and women, but in practice service is voluntary. Using this kind of system would make it easier to get the word out there and is would be easier to attract enough recruits. Also, we should remove this unnecessary additional service, as it really doesn't serve any purpose. But while I think this is the obvious thing to do, Finnish politicians and reserve activists clearly don't see the problems.
Good example of this is what happened early this year. In January this year, Olli Nyberg, one of the leaders of the Finnish Reservists Association made a post on Facebook labeling reserve objectors to deserters and blamed them of putting Finland's national defense at risk. Now, I have to point out that using the term "deserter" caused a bit of a debate on terminology. You see, the original term Nyberg used was "rintamakarkuri", which directly refers to somebody leaving the battlefield. After using this word, another leader of the association told that it was bit too harsh and that a better term would have been "reservikarkuri", which would still translate the best as "deserter", but specifically referring to somebody leaving the reserves. Nyberg than began using the new term and it was later picked up by Finland's minister of defense Jussi Niinistö. He has used the term in multiple statements, claiming that these "deserters" are crippling Finland's national defense, as over 90% of the Finnish military would be formed by reservists if a war were to break out. Now again, Finland's population is around 5.5 million and from those around 1/6, or around 900 000 people are a part of the reserves, while the official war time plans call for about 1/3 of those to be called up. Keeping that in mind, if minister Niinistö actually thinks that 1000 people leaving the reserves in a year is crippling our national defense, the man must be delusional. There is no way somebody in their right mind can give such an idiotic statement. On the other hand, we probably shouldn't be surprised that this man is spewing this much bullshit. The man seems to think that the main problem with the current system is the fact that the rights conscientious objectors are being protected to the level they currently are, even though human rights groups demand more. For example he recently gave statements saying that he wants to limit the right to conscientious objection during times of war and when I called him out on that on Twitter, I noticed he had blocked me. Apparently, this guy can't take criticism. I might have to do a separate post on this man later, because he's probably my least favorite member of government and that's saying a lot considering the idiots we currently have in power.
Okay, back to the point. The fact that reserve objectors have been labeled as deserters tells a lot about the level of discussion about Finnish conscription. The fact is that this is a matter of freedom of thought and because of that I'm honestly a bit worried about these statements. People involved with the military and even some politicians see the exercise of freedoms guaranteed under the Finnish constitution as a threat. This is my fourth post on the topic of Finnish conscription and if you've read my previous ones, you already know that this system is responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in this country. But, instead of trying to fix them, our politicians are trying to keep the system going and even making it even worse on human rights. Seriously, we have a man in the government who blocked me, a 20-year old guy on Twitter for simply questioning his statements on this matter.
The fact is that the increased number of reserve objectors is a pretty clear indicator that the system is broken. The only way to actually solve this is to abandon the current mandatory system with a voluntary one, thus solving the human rights problems and end this additional service. But as I've mentioned before, our politicians don't understand this. Instead of abandoning the additional service for reserve objectors, there have been calls to increase its length. Some have called for it to be doubled while some have called for the maximum 40 days possible by law. This really wouldn't solve anything. Apparently the idea is to discourage people from leaving the reserves, but I'm pretty sure it would actually come bite us in the long run, because while this might limit the number of people leaving, you would still have to get provide them with places to stay, meals and also pay daily allowances, just like reservists in refreshment training are paid, but you would have to do it for a longer time. So even if the numbers drop, you will probably end up paying even more, since you'd be forced to provide for them longer. If you read my other posts on this topic, you can see that the same mentality goes for other aspects of this system. For whatever reason, there always seems to be more money to spend when it comes to something to do with the military.
My other posts on this topic:
Want to combat militarism around the world? If yes, this is a good place to start.
https://www.wri-irg.org/en
I already briefly mentioned these people in a previous post on this topic, but let's go a bit deeper this time. Reserve objectors are people who after finishing their military service and becoming a part of the reserves, decide that they don't want to be in the reserves anymore. In order to leave the reserves, you have to complete a form of additional service, after which you are officially recognized as a conscientious objector and you're exempt from military service under all circumstances.Their motivations vary from person to person. Some develop anti-war views later in life, while some leave just because they got a call up to refreshment training at an inconvenient time and can't get an exemption for whatever reason, while some simply lose motivation. Whatever the reason is, the person wishing to leave the reserves has apply to additional service by sending an application form either to the Civil Service Center or your local regional office for the military. Just like with the application to civil service, the application to additional service is basically just a notice to the authorities about your decision and it will be automatically accepted. After your application you're exempt from service during peace time but you have to complete the additional service in order to get full exemption.
Legally this additional service can last anywhere from 0 to 40 days, but in practice it lasts just five days. It's somewhat similar to the training period in the beginning of civil service, meaning you have take part in various lessons. As far as I know, the additional service doesn't follow a single form and varies somewhat depending on when you take part in it, but usually includes stuff like first aid and fire safety courses. The idea behind this additional service is to replace refreshment training as after leaving the reserves you can't be called up for it. Now, considering the fact that large percentage of reservist will never be called up for refreshment training, the logic behind this is questionable to say the least. In previous posts I've mentioned about the absurdly large reserves that include roughly 1/6 of Finland's population of 5.5 million. This basically means that it's impossible to have every single one to go through refreshment training, so why is it that every single reserve objector has to go through this additional service?. Essentially this means that the additional service is ultimately just a way of punishing reservists who change their mind about the military. The massive reserves actually cause what in my opinion might be the most absurd fact about this system. Motivated people leaving.
I've already mentioned that some people leave the reserves because they changed their views, while some people leave because staying in causes some inconvenience or a lack of motivation. But as perverse it might sound, some people leave because they are motivated but are not called up for refreshment training despite letting the military know about their willingness. Good example of this is Aki Manninen, a reality TV-star and one of the gladiators on the new Finnish version of the franchise "Gladiators". According to him, he had informed the military about wanting to take part in refreshment training five years in a row, but didn't receive a call up. Disappointed with the military, he decided to leave the reserves in protest and completed his additional service earlier this year, also going public with his disappointment in an effort to cause change. Another example of this is actually the large reserves. As I've mentioned before, the armies reserves are massive and this has caused some people to leave as well. The record year in the number reserve objectors is 2015, when 985 people left the reserves. That year every single reservist received a letter detailing where they would be stationed if a war were to start. The problem with the reserves is that in practice, only about 1/3 of them would be called to fight, meaning 2/3 of this massive force would not see combat. Some of those who left the reserves that year were actually disappointed that they wouldn't be called up and left because they saw staying in as a waste of time. Others saw the letter as indication that Finland was getting ready for a war and left as a way of protesting this policy of escalation.
In a previous post I mentioned that the number of reserve objectors has increased pretty dramatically within the last few years and that this has caused some major problems. 2015 with 985 was the record breaking year, which was more than three times the number that left in 2014. In 2016 the number was 711 and the most recent numbers for this year show that at the end of October 530 applications have been sent. This increase has resulted to the Civil Service Center, which organizes this additional service to literally run out of space in their current facilities. They simply couldn't handle this increase, which while dramatic, ultimately only meant an increase of a few hundred more people. Because of this, they've had to outsource the additional service periods. Now, I've also talked about how some politicians have been campaigning to expand the draft to include women in some fashion, mostly in the form of some kind of national service. Again, considering the problems the increased numbers of reserve objectors have caused, how the hell do these people expect to basically double the number of conscripts. This really highlights one of the major problems about the Finnish system, apart from the obvious human rights violations I've talked about in previous posts: it simply involves too many people. It's pretty much a giant waste of money. You don't need this many people involved.
You might ask, how situation like this could be solved. I think the answer is pretty simple: train less troops and downsize the reserves. Probably the easiest way of doing this would be to replace the current mandatory system with a voluntary one. This way, while the total number of trained troops may drop, you would always get the most motivated ones. Also, since you're training less troops, it's easier to keep their skills up to date as it would be easier to call them up for refreshment training and keep motivation levels up. As I said in a previous post, probably the best way to do this would be to use the model used in Norway and Sweden. Both countries officially have conscription for both men and women, but in practice service is voluntary. Using this kind of system would make it easier to get the word out there and is would be easier to attract enough recruits. Also, we should remove this unnecessary additional service, as it really doesn't serve any purpose. But while I think this is the obvious thing to do, Finnish politicians and reserve activists clearly don't see the problems.
Good example of this is what happened early this year. In January this year, Olli Nyberg, one of the leaders of the Finnish Reservists Association made a post on Facebook labeling reserve objectors to deserters and blamed them of putting Finland's national defense at risk. Now, I have to point out that using the term "deserter" caused a bit of a debate on terminology. You see, the original term Nyberg used was "rintamakarkuri", which directly refers to somebody leaving the battlefield. After using this word, another leader of the association told that it was bit too harsh and that a better term would have been "reservikarkuri", which would still translate the best as "deserter", but specifically referring to somebody leaving the reserves. Nyberg than began using the new term and it was later picked up by Finland's minister of defense Jussi Niinistö. He has used the term in multiple statements, claiming that these "deserters" are crippling Finland's national defense, as over 90% of the Finnish military would be formed by reservists if a war were to break out. Now again, Finland's population is around 5.5 million and from those around 1/6, or around 900 000 people are a part of the reserves, while the official war time plans call for about 1/3 of those to be called up. Keeping that in mind, if minister Niinistö actually thinks that 1000 people leaving the reserves in a year is crippling our national defense, the man must be delusional. There is no way somebody in their right mind can give such an idiotic statement. On the other hand, we probably shouldn't be surprised that this man is spewing this much bullshit. The man seems to think that the main problem with the current system is the fact that the rights conscientious objectors are being protected to the level they currently are, even though human rights groups demand more. For example he recently gave statements saying that he wants to limit the right to conscientious objection during times of war and when I called him out on that on Twitter, I noticed he had blocked me. Apparently, this guy can't take criticism. I might have to do a separate post on this man later, because he's probably my least favorite member of government and that's saying a lot considering the idiots we currently have in power.
Okay, back to the point. The fact that reserve objectors have been labeled as deserters tells a lot about the level of discussion about Finnish conscription. The fact is that this is a matter of freedom of thought and because of that I'm honestly a bit worried about these statements. People involved with the military and even some politicians see the exercise of freedoms guaranteed under the Finnish constitution as a threat. This is my fourth post on the topic of Finnish conscription and if you've read my previous ones, you already know that this system is responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in this country. But, instead of trying to fix them, our politicians are trying to keep the system going and even making it even worse on human rights. Seriously, we have a man in the government who blocked me, a 20-year old guy on Twitter for simply questioning his statements on this matter.
The fact is that the increased number of reserve objectors is a pretty clear indicator that the system is broken. The only way to actually solve this is to abandon the current mandatory system with a voluntary one, thus solving the human rights problems and end this additional service. But as I've mentioned before, our politicians don't understand this. Instead of abandoning the additional service for reserve objectors, there have been calls to increase its length. Some have called for it to be doubled while some have called for the maximum 40 days possible by law. This really wouldn't solve anything. Apparently the idea is to discourage people from leaving the reserves, but I'm pretty sure it would actually come bite us in the long run, because while this might limit the number of people leaving, you would still have to get provide them with places to stay, meals and also pay daily allowances, just like reservists in refreshment training are paid, but you would have to do it for a longer time. So even if the numbers drop, you will probably end up paying even more, since you'd be forced to provide for them longer. If you read my other posts on this topic, you can see that the same mentality goes for other aspects of this system. For whatever reason, there always seems to be more money to spend when it comes to something to do with the military.
My other posts on this topic:
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 three: http://helvetinpastori.blogspot.fi/2017/11/finnish-conscription-pt3-militarization.html
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 reserve objection (in Finnish) http://eroa-armeijasta.fi/
Want to combat militarism around the world? If yes, this is a good place to start.
https://www.wri-irg.org/en
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