Finnish Jaeger Lucas Jordi Lassenius, a graphics artist for the Conscripts Committee, eats a piece of birthday cake during the U.S. Marine Corps 247th birthday celebration in Dragsvik, Finland, Nov. 10, 2022. U.S. Marines with Combat Logistics Battalion 6 (CLB-6), invited Finnish soldiers to participate in the U.S. Marine Corps 247th birthday celebration and cake cutting ceremony. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Maxwell Cook)

Five volunteers at Finland’s Panssariprikaati celebrated the end of their 255-day military service with the “Kulju Cooper”: a competition requiring participants to consume 12 jam-filled sugar doughnuts and one litre of energy drink within 12 minutes.

“It’s pretty crazy, but nobody has been permanently injured by it,” Colonel Skyttä said of the challenge.

This is a pretty common custom among Finnish conscripts. And one that ties pretty nicely to some of the research on the health effects of conscription. A 2011 study of Finnish conscripts for instance, reports a significant increase in sweet-food consumption during mandatory service, even though stated attitudes toward healthy eating did not change. One shouldn’t assume that conscription will boost the health of the younger generation. It most likely won’t.

Read the entire piece in Ruotuväki.