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Finland Training and Education
All men serving in the Finnish Defense Forces, even
those
aspiring to become career or reserve officers, underwent
basic
conscript training. Army training was conducted within the
unit
to which the conscript was assigned. The standard initial
training phase of twelve weeks was followed by twelve to
nineteen
weeks of individualized training in infantry, field
artillery,
coast artillery, antiaircraft, signals, or engineering
skills. An
ordinary army conscript's service concluded with a
refresher
period of several weeks, composed of advanced unit
training and a
field exercise that involved several units of the same
conscript
contingent. Training programs stressed the development of
combat
motivation, physical fitness, marksmanship, and the
ability to
maneuver and to survive in independent guerrilla
operations under
difficult conditions. Basic training was rigorous, and
conscripts
spent at least sixty nights outside, even during winter.
Evaluations by the conscripts of the effectiveness of the
training and of the NCO training staff were generally
favorable.
Those conscripts who excelled in the initial stages
could
apply for a special fifteen-week period of training as
reserve
NCOs, after which they completed their active military
service as
squad leaders. Reserve officer candidates selected during
the NCO
training phase pursued the first eight weeks of NCO
training,
followed by a further fourteen weeks of reserve officer
training.
This included six weeks of basic training as platoon
leaders and
three weeks of practice in the coordinated operation of
various
weapons units. After completion of training, the reserve
officer
candidates returned to their original units for thirteen
weeks of
service as trainers. At the conclusion of their eleven
months of
service, they were commissioned as second lieutenants. In
the
late 1980s, about 25 percent of each class of conscripts
became
NCOs and about 7 percent become officers.
The first two years of a three-year educational program
for
career officer candidates was conducted at the Military
Academy
at Santahamina near Helsinki for all three branches of the
armed
forces and for the RVL. Army cadets attended a school in
their
chosen arms specialty during the third year. Naval cadets
spent
the third year of training at the Naval Academy at
Helsinki. Air
cadets attended the Air Force Academy at Kauhava for the
third
year of training. The Defense Forces announced in 1988
that the
academy's curriculum would be revised to include
nonmilitary
subjects so that its graduates would have the equivalent
of a
university-level degree. The duration of the course would
probably be lengthened to three and one-half years. Entry
was by
examination among those who had completed the reserve
officer
program during their conscript service.
Army graduates of the Military Academy were
commissioned as
first lieutenants (with promotion to senior lieutenant
within a
year), served as instructors for three or four years, and
then
attended an eight-month to ten-month course that normally
led to
the rank of captain within two to three years. Six to
eight years
after taking the captains' course, officers could take
examinations leading to the two-year (three-year, for
technical
specialties) general staff officers' course at the War
College.
About thirty-five officers, from all three services, who
had been
successful in the examinations, were enrolled annually.
These
officers could expect to have general staff assignments,
and they
would become eligible for promotion to the ranks of
colonel and
general. Officers not attending the War College were
eligible for
a senior staff officers' course of eight to ten months,
completion of which qualified them for the ranks of major
and
lieutenant colonel. A very limited group of officers was
selected
to attend advanced courses abroad, in Sweden, France, the
United
States, and, occasionally, the Soviet Union.
Training of career NCOs was conducted at the one-year
NonCommissioned Officers School and at various branch or
service
schools. Applicants had to have completed the reserve NCO
course
during their conscript service, whereupon they were
permitted to
take a qualifying examination for the lowest regular NCO
rank of
staff sergeant and subsequent examinations to advance to
sergeant
first class and master sergeant. After three years of
service, an
NCO could apply for phase two of the Non-Commissioned
Officers
School as a qualification for promotion to sergeant major.
Since
1974 career NCOs who successfully advanced through the
various
training stages were eligible for commissions and,
ultimately,
for promotion as high as captain.
Each service also had its own training institutions.
The
infantry had its combat school and paratroop school. The
artillery had the artillery school--with its ranges near
Rovaniemi in northern Finland, the coast artillery school,
and
the antiaircraft school. In addition to pilot training,
the air
force had specialist schools for maintenance, radar, and
communications personnel. Refresher courses for reservists
were
conducted either in these permanent schools or in the
reserve
units themselves.
Data as of December 1988
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