We had a great site visit on Thursday - we went to Pori Brigade. One of the Brigade Directors is a Rotarian and he met us Thursday morning to tour us around and show us Finnish army life. We arrived at 9:20am for our tour, and our host was scheduled to be on a 17:00 flight from Tampere (over 1 hour away) headed to Afghanistan. He spent the entire day with us until he had to change into his traveling fatigues and leave around 15:30. Amazingly, he was as cool-minded as I've seen any leisure traveler a few hours prior to an overseas flight - much less someone headed to a hostile warzone! He was a fabulous host who helped us understand military life in Finland. The five us learned about Finland's required military service for all men. We had heard of the requirement since our arrival, but didn't understand many details prior to our trip. I had lots of questions - starting with "as a country who hasn't participated in a war in 100 years, why do you still require military service?" Our host's answer was refreshingly honest - "because we share a 1300 km border with Russia." One of his colleagues quickly jumped in with the response that they also are active in humanitarian aid through International Peacekeepers abroad. He agreed and we all got a laugh as he acknowledged that his answer wasn't the official/politically correct response. In our American eyes, it was the best response we could have heard rather than a canned one! Our Brigade hosts taught us a new word - "conscripts" - referring to the young men "drafted" to serve their 6-12 months rather than the men and women who voluntarily enlist for a career.
We were joined by our cohost, Paula, a young social worker who oversees the 200+ International Peacekeepers deployed from Pori Brigade on international missions - primarily to Afghanistan, Somalia, and Chad. Finland seems to be a strong presence in overseas peacekeeping support.
Next, we went to the canteen for "Thursday lunch". Pori Brigade has served the same lunch for decades and is "historical". We had really scrumptuous pea soup (with mustard and onions). We were thrilled to have a "normal" sized meal since 99% of the meals we've eaten are served "smorgasbord" style so we eat A LOT here!!! Lynn and Aimee had coincidentally discussed pea soup with their hosts the night before.
We were joined by our cohost, Paula, a young social worker who oversees the 200+ International Peacekeepers deployed from Pori Brigade on international missions - primarily to Afghanistan, Somalia, and Chad. Finland seems to be a strong presence in overseas peacekeeping support.
Next, we went to the canteen for "Thursday lunch". Pori Brigade has served the same lunch for decades and is "historical". We had really scrumptuous pea soup (with mustard and onions). We were thrilled to have a "normal" sized meal since 99% of the meals we've eaten are served "smorgasbord" style so we eat A LOT here!!! Lynn and Aimee had coincidentally discussed pea soup with their hosts the night before.
We visited the barracks of the conscripts in the 1st Jaeger (Finnish Rapid Deployment Force) - the top group in the brigade who are most likely to serve overseas. Their barracks don't vary much from those of our forts in the states.
Finally, we visited the brigade's health center where Lynn saw a military ambulance similar to that which her father has restored.
This was a great site visit!!
Finally, we visited the brigade's health center where Lynn saw a military ambulance similar to that which her father has restored.
This was a great site visit!!
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