As a conscript instructor, Bertha learned working life skills and section leadership.
Sergeant Bertha Simojoki finds her one-year employment in the military a useful experience. She has had the opportunity to gain experience both as an instructor as well as a soldier.
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Simojoki serves in the Coastal Brigade in Upinniemi. Her main task is to instruct the conscripts on soldiers’ basic skills, such as use and maintenance of equipment, group formation, weapon handling, shooting, and tactical combat casualty care. The task has met her expectations, though there are parts that she could not anticipate from what she saw during her conscript service.
– It was a surprise, for example, how much time the planning of training and reserving equipment and training sites actually take. Then again, the support I have received from colleagues and more senior instructors has been a super experience, Simojoki says emphatically.
Training exercises show the results of work
The most unforgettable and instructive experiences include field training exercises which last several days. It is precisely such exercises that best show the results of instructors’ work.
– They provide a chance to see the performance of a complete unit, led by the conscripts themselves. When we move from the instruction phase to the actual training exercises, we get an idea of which elements of the instruction have come across and what needs to be revised.
Simojoki thinks that training exercises also benefit the working community. In these events learning is multi-directional.
– When you spend a week or so in the same location, bivouac and live together in rough conditions, you learn a lot from your colleagues.
The Defence Forces is an attractive employer
The Defence Forces personnel can use 2-3 working hours a week for physical exercise, which in Simojoki’s view is one of the best benefits of her job. She spends her weekly exercise hours on running and gym. She also appreciates the working-time arrangements. As a rule, she works from eight to four, but there are exceptions.
– Obviously, when we have field training exercises, we stay there several days, working day and night.
Simojoki finds her work meaningful, which makes her motivated to carry out her duties to the best of her ability. She can recommend applying for contractual military personnel’s posts for several reasons.
– In this job you get to know the Defence Forces as an employer and see what a military career can look like. Contractual military personnel’s duties are varied, and even if you decide to move on, you will do so with useful skills that you gained during the employment.
Simojoki’s one-year employment is coming to an end. She will begin studying for a civilian profession. She is not going to forget the Defence Forces completely, though. Although I am not planning a military career at the moment, civilian tasks in the Defence Forces are certainly an option in the future.