In an interesting Altinget piece, Joel Rehn argues against a proposal to expand the annual conscript intake to 12,000 (up from the current 8,000), an idea put forward by the former Minister of Defence, who served in the Social Democrats’ government from 2014 to 2022.

Rehn argues this would result in poorer quality of education and increased risk of injury:

“Such a rapid expansion risks, according to the Conscription Council’s assessment, creating significant problems for the organization, deteriorating the quality of education and further squeezing the conditions of conscripts.”

He points out that there are already persistent problems conscripts face that would only worsen:

“The material allocation of the units is in many cases substandard. Conscripted women are given underwear that results in chafing, and the boots in many cases lead to overuse injuries and foot problems. A rapid increase in the proportion of conscripts would have resulted in more conscripted young people being injured by substandard equipment”

He also points out that there are significant worries about healthcare provision for the conscripts:

“Conscripts have the right to free health and medical care, but the Conscription Council sees that this is not always complied with today. The health of the armed forces is already heavily strained and is partly affected by both personnel and infrastructural shortcomings.”

The problem at hand also concerns the availability of skilled personnel, that is, officers who could actually train the conscripts:

“During its visits, the Conscription Council experiences a very pressured personnel situation within the Armed Forces. Officers and support functions often work at the limit of their capacity, which affects both the training environment and the work environment for everyone involved.”

He also points out that the more comprehensive conscription gets, the worse the results are.

“With increased training volumes, there is a significant risk of declining motivation among conscripts. Since the obligation was reintroduced in 2017, the training has largely included individuals who have been relatively motivated, but increasing cohorts will naturally lead to more people completing military service against their will.”

He also mentions the financial hardships Swedish soldiers face:

“Before the volume of education increases, economic conditions must also be improved. Despite the latest increase in daily allowance, conscripts are expected to continue to suffer significant financial losses as a result of their service.”

Overall, a superb piece I would highly recommend, though of course, he doesn’t quite take the important observations to their natural conclusions, that the only solution to all those problems is to provide teenagers with a choice. A choice that would force the government to adequately pay them for their service, a choice that would select those best equipped and best motivated for service, and a choice that would force the state to fix the infrastructure and equipment up to standard or see real consequences.

The entire piece can be found here.