The Defence Forces muster out almost 8 000 conscripts into the reserve - a record number of women trained this year

On Thursday 16 December, 7 887 conscripts muster out from the Defence Forces’ brigade-level units. Of these conscripts, 272 are women. In 2021, a record number of women - 885 in total - have been trained for the reserve.

The number of women applying to voluntary military service has been on the increase in the past few years, and in 2021, a record number of women, a total of 1675, applied to service. The Defence Forces welcomes the fact that also the number of women having completed service has increased at a steady pace over the past few years (2021: 885, 2020: 844, 2019: 840).

- Five years ago, the Defence Forces mustered out less than five hundred women a year; today, the number is almost nine hundred.  The Government Defence Report 2021 and the recent report of the Parliamentary Committee on National Defence Obligation and Conscription bring up the objective of increasing the number of women significantly during the years to come, says Major Janne Kananen from the Defence Command Training Division. 

Increasing the number of women is in the interest of the Defence Forces.  It deepens the societal impact of national defence and the will to defend the country, and increases equality and non-discrimination. Having both male and female conscripts and conscripts with different backgrounds has a positive impact on the operating and training culture and improves the Defence Forces’ capabilities of carrying out various tasks.  

The conscripts mustering out have served in rank and file and leadership tasks.

The conscripts now mustering out started their military service in January or July 2021 and have served 165 or 347 days. The service period for an officer, non-commissioned officer and conscripts being trained for especially demanding rank and file duties is 347 days. The service period for conscripts trained for rank and file duties is 165 days and for those completing unarmed service 255 or 347 days.  The majority of conscripts serve 347 days.

Covid-19 impacts training and mustering out

The special arrangements carried out due to the Covid-19 pandemic have affected the service of the conscripts being mustered out.  This has resulted in service and leave periods longer than normal and strict compliance with hygiene regulations.  Despite the challenging situation, brigade-level units have obtained good results in conscript training even if adjustments have had to be made in training due to Covid-19.

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, conscripts will be discharged from service section by section, due to which events involving mustering out will be able to be arranged safely.

A total of 7887 conscripts from the Defence Forces and 209 conscripts from the Border Guard are mustered out