Finnish Army Conscript Question

[Bax]

Moi guys, I tried searching the forums but didn't really find anything, no idea if this question is appropriate for this forum nevermind the actual thread (apologies if this is the case).

To the point, I live in Britain with a duel citizenship (british/finnish) and am going to turn 20 in late febuary. My mother is finnish and most of my direct family live in Finland who i visit once a year.

Last year I came close to getting arrested whilst trying to leave Finland because I hadn't done anything about the compulsory army service. Luckily I was allowed to leave but had to sort stuff out when I came back home to England. I sent a letter to the defence command with the help of my mother explaining that i would like to be let off of doing the army service due to the fact I have never lived in Finland and I have a limited knowledge of the finnish language.

I got a letter back saying that I was excused during peacetime and some other stuff which I couldn't actually read because it was in Finnish and i could just pick out the simple words.

(Damn this is turning long sorry) To the point, i have a few questions which would I would be eternally greatful if anyone could answer.

1) I read somewhere that eventually I will have to serve in the military of either Britain or Finland. Is this true?

2) Am i able to change my mind about not wanting to do it and join the conscript at the age of 20 (i'm pretty sure I can fromwhat i have read trying to search all this online for the past 2 hours but eh, I am a little dumb)

3) Lastly and the question I most would love to have answered because I can't find the answer anywhere:

If I have limited Finnish vocabulary and cannot read or write Finnish very well is there even a place for me if i decided to do the conscript? Is there anywhere where i could be trained in the English language? (I don't even know how to say soldier, rifle, grenade, military or any of those kinds of words in Finnish)

Apologies again if this is in the wrong forum or thread or if i am just genually being an idiot but I'm really confused and two years ago I really didn't want to join the army in any way shape or form. Now though I am thinking it would be a good experiance and can help me in my future career goals of working as a body guard and one year of service in Finland is alot more apealing than joining the army in Britain and getting my ass blown up for a war i don't even agree with (iraq).

Thank you to all who took time out of their lives to read this post, sorry It is so long and anything, absolutley anything you know about foreign conscription to the Finnish army i would be very interested in.

Kittos.

[Rosamunda]

I am also British and have three sons with British/Finnish dual nationality. We live in Finland. So, for us (them) military service will be compulsory and in fact my eldest who is nearly 16 is looking forward to doing it. He does not speak very good Finnish or Swedish. At the moment it is my understanding that a poor knowledge of the Finnish language will not prevent him from doing his national service. We have a friend who is currently doing his service in Ekenas at the Swedish speaking barracks. He told us that there are soldiers there who do not speak Finnish/Swedish (eg a medic from Germany). Another friend (Swedish speaker) told us that his Finnish was so bad he specifically asked to go into a Finnish speaking battalion, to improve his Finnish language skills. And from posts I have read on here it would seem that many soldiers who don't speak Finnish are stationed in Helsinki.

OTOH, I remember reading a post several months ago where someone was saying that soldiers who do not speak Finnish are prevented from doing certain activities (eg involving firearms) for reasons of security. I guess it is dealt with on a case by case basis by the local commanding officer.

[Hank W.]

I got a letter back saying that I was excused during peacetime and some other stuff which I couldn't actually read because it was in Finnish and i could just pick out the simple words. .

Oh, it just says people can stare at you on public transport. Fairly regular red tape bs . Just don't ever, I mean neverever loose that piece of paper, as it'll be asked when you apply for a passport or then applying anything as a citizen in Finland such as a job or a credit, you need to prove either you are a man or then a mickeymouse - they don't care what it is, but you need to have something to show you won't be liable to be arrested like you were.

So, have you read through http://www.mil.fi ? It explains the process and procedures quite thoroughly. As for language - you learn or you cry and learn. But then again you have already gotten the milk train pass... just mind if you go in you don't have an option to bail out necessarily.

[Tiwaz]

I am also British and have three sons with British/Finnish dual nationality. We live in Finland. So, for us (them) military service will be compulsory and in fact my eldest who is nearly 16 is looking forward to doing it. He does not speak very good Finnish or Swedish. At the moment it is my understanding that a poor knowledge of the Finnish language will not prevent him from doing his national service. We have a friend who is currently doing his service in Ekenas at the Swedish speaking barracks. He told us that there are soldiers there who do not speak Finnish/Swedish (eg a medic from Germany). Another friend (Swedish speaker) told us that his Finnish was so bad he specifically asked to go into a Finnish speaking battalion, to improve his Finnish language skills. And from posts I have read on here it would seem that many soldiers who don't speak Finnish are stationed in Helsinki.

OTOH, I remember reading a post several months ago where someone was saying that soldiers who do not speak Finnish are prevented from doing certain activities (eg involving firearms) for reasons of security. I guess it is dealt with on a case by case basis by the local commanding officer.

Sorry for slight offtopic... Just curious to know how your son can have so poor finnish and swedish skills? I was under impression you have not moved here recently...

[Rosamunda]

You tell me....

They have been getting 5h/week tuition in Finnish Foreign Language at school since we arrived in 2001. They have football in Finnish, guitar lessons in Finnish, Finnish friends, Finnish TV, Finnish father, Finnish grandma, Finnish food, Finnish dog.

Hopefully the "Finnish girlfriend" will eventually solve the problem.... any nice Finnish girls out there looking for a challenge????

[Tiwaz]

You tell me....

They have been getting 5h/week tuition in Finnish Foreign Language at school since we arrived in 2001. They have football in Finnish, guitar lessons in Finnish, Finnish friends, Finnish TV, Finnish father, Finnish grandma, Finnish food, Finnish dog.

Hopefully the "Finnish girlfriend" will eventually solve the problem.... any nice Finnish girls out there looking for a challenge????

You better tell their daddy to start only communicating to them in finnish.

By the way, it sounds like you could use our future subforum "Love and Passion" which is under planning in Tea & Sympathy.

[Rosamunda]

You better tell their daddy to start only communicating to them in finnish.

Well, he does now. But we never see much of him during the week as he travels so much and when he isn't travelling he is working silly hours at the office.

[Tiwaz]

You better tell their daddy to start only communicating to them in finnish.

Well, he does now. But we never see much of him during the week as he travels so much and when he isn't travelling he is working silly hours at the office.

Sounds like you have to learn finnish ASAP to teach your kids. Nah... Gets too difficult.

But don't trust girlfriend to solve the problem. As Hank has said (and I concur) finnish woman teaches two things to her man.

"Yes dear".
"Sorry dear."

Then again, once you can say those with right tone, you are pretty much set for finnish family life.

[neil]

Then there was that Scottish guy (Finn Mum) who came here a few years back and he was sent home after the 1st day....