The training helps participants get used to aspects of military life, such as familiarising themselves with helmets, knives, tents, combat vests and sleeping bags.
Every year, thousands of young Finns begin their military service, and a growing number want to get a head start before enlistment. This is because skills that once were considered everyday ones — like handling a puukko knife — are now becoming increasingly rare.
Wilderness guide Patrik Berghäll told Yle he is launching a prep course in Turku for conscripts entering service in January.
The aim of the course is not to teach young people fighting skills, but to provide them with practical information to build confidence ahead of their military service.
“My son will eventually enter the military, and I started thinking about the skills he has and the ones he should also have,” Berghäll said, who has trained wilderness guides for decades.
While military prep courses are available online, Berghäll, who’s also a voluntary defence trainer, said he believes practical skills are easier to learn hands-on.
“We’ll be sleeping in a military tent out in the forest, and that way you learn, ‘I can do this, I know how this works, I have these skills.'”
Berghäll said the point is not to train any combat techniques, and there is no live-fire shooting. Instead, participants get used to other aspects of military life, familiarising themselves with helmets, knives, tents, combat vests and sleeping bags.
According to Berghäll, some practical skills, like using a knife, have been lost in recent decades.
“Take the knife, for example, in the 1980s, we carried it on our belts, ran around in the forest, and used it to build forts. Today, neither children nor adults use wilderness knives to make fires or campfires. There’s a lot of knowledge we once had that’s no longer there because we live in a different kind of world,” he explained.
The prep course also includes weapons handling, though not with the army’s traditional assault rifles. Instead, conscripts-to-be use airsoft guns, which match the weight and appearance of an assault rifle.
“We teach them how to carry their weapon and what to keep in mind — how to make sure it’s secured so that no accidents happen. These are really basic things,” he added.
Physical fitness is another aspect of the training, and Berghäll recommends taking 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day in addition to running a couple of times a week before donning army fatigues.
“We’ll go on treks carrying an extra five kilos in our backpacks,” he said.
Military or civilian service is mandatory in Finland for men between the ages of 18 and 30, unless they receive a medical exemption. Women may volunteer for service.
