Nearly one in five of autumn’s conscript intake dropping out

Primary causes are poor fitness, mental problems, and excess kilos

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The number of those unable to complete their statutory military service is on the up. The young men who started their armed national service in July will add yet another peak to the already worrying statistics.
      In the Riihimäki Signal Regiment, the drop-out percentage has reached 21.4. The figure has doubled in one year. The matter was first reported by the local newspaper Aamuposti in its Thursday issue.
     
From the national perspective the number of those discontinuing their military service has increased steadily.
      At present it is 16.7 per cent. What is going on? Is this autumn’s batch exceptionally bad?
      Lieutenant Pekka Wallenstjerna from the Riihimäki Signal Regiment reckons there are three main reasons for failing to complete one’s armed service.
      “Locomotor system disorders, mental disturbances, and individual incidents.”
      The low fitness level of the latest batch Wallenstjerna considers a major problem.
      “What is the personal prognosis later on in life, say, when they are fifty, for men who cannot even complete their military service?” he asks.
     
Antti Uutela of the National Public Health Institute (KTL) is aware that there is a growing concern over adult men who are physically extremely unfit.
      “The military service is not necessarily the best time for people to get fit. After the basic training period is over, compulsory exercising becomes less frequent, and there will be more chances for eating to excess. Comfort eating is a sign of the times.”
     
In Riihimäki the problem with the overweight has been addressed. The conscripts compete in losing weight, and the winner will be rewarded with an additional holiday and a gift certificate. “One of the privates has already lost ten kilos”, Wallenstjerna says.
      The Defence Forces have tightened the screening process in the enrolment medical examination, the aim of which is to discard those who are physically or mentally unfit. A man’s bodyweight index cannot exceed 30.
      Also Helsinki’s Santahamina Guard Jaeger Regiment suffers from an exceptionally high percentage of drop-outs. A fifth of this autumn’s conscripts have already discontinued their military service.
     
But the trend cannot be described as a capital area problem alone.
      In the Karelia Brigade the majority of the conscripts are from Southern Finland, but the drop-out percentage there is below the national average.
     
Customarily people have dropped out during the eight-week basic training period. But now it seems that some men discontinue their national service even later than that, after the initial period of difficulties.
      Uutela reckons that the reasons may be cultural. “Today’s society emphasises individuality. This is considered so valuable that people may find it hard to adjust to situations that involve taking other people into consideration and even submission to authority.”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  One in five conscripts drops out at Santahamina Guard Jaeger Regiment (26.8.2008)
  Numbers of those exempted from military service heading upwards (10.6.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat