Soldiers and civilians safeguard Finland’s independence together
The Defence Forces employs people with both military and civilian education and training. There are about a thousand different tasks, and the work is carried out in different parts of Finland. The Defence Forces has more than 13,000 employees in total.
Soldiers mostly work in operational management, planning, intelligence, training, maintenance and security tasks. Approximately two thirds of the personnel are soldiers.
Civilians work in versatile expert and managerial positions, manual tasks and tasks based on vocational training. They are professionals in, for example, engineering, information technology, health care, administration, communications and logistics.
Leading people
Lieutenant Colonel Jussi Puustinen is of the opinion that military tasks require especially leadership skills, social skills, and the ability to take the initiative and implement things.
– If the situation so requires, soldiers must be able to manage extensive, multidimensional entities of tasks. But they also need good social skills as the work is about operating with other people and leading them.
Special culture and raison d’être
The Finnish Defence Forces employs approximately 4,500 civilians. Civilians are not required to have completed military service or voluntary military service for women.
According to Master of Science (Technology) Tiina Turunen, who works as development manager, what specifically distinguishes the Finnish Defence Forces from other employers is its own culture and a common goal, safeguarding the functioning of society. The work duties as such do not differ much from the same tasks done in civilian companies.
– I’ve worked in the civilian world before. In the same way as there, we also act in expert and managerial roles and carry out many other tasks.
Developing, modern, communal
In the Defence Forces, everyone has a common goal: safeguarding Finland’s independence. According to Tiina Turunen, what is so meaningful about the work is that all the work done – whether involving support for an individual project or long-term planning – contributes to national defence capability and fulfilling the defence tasks.
– It’s great to see that I made my contribution to that particular thing, although the final outcome is, of course, generated in cooperation between a large group of professionals. But the fact that I could do my small share in the project feels really great.
Puustinen also feels that her own work input has a meaning and makes a small contribution for the benefit of national defence and the comprehensive security of Finland. Both praise the communal spirit, work culture and workplace atmosphere that prevail in the Defence Forces as well as the wonderful work community. Working methods and ways of working are also becoming more modern, the technical level of the branches is increasing, and the Defence Forces is developing and becoming increasingly international.
– Not only soldiers, but also civilians have the opportunity to go on international missions, Turunen points out.