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 departing Finnish conscript has called for the restoration of the kotiuttamisraha, a payment for personnel completing military service, arguing that independent young adults can face an immediate financial gap upon discharge. Although the military provides food, accommodation support and a daily allowance, that assistance ends before many reservists receive their first salary. A financially […]

The share of Finnish men completing military service has fallen sharply over the past two decades. Among men born in 1994, 62.4 percent had completed military service by the end of their conscription eligibility in 2024, compared with 83 percent of men born in 1974. Around 15–16 percent of conscripts currently interrupt their service each […]