A Swiss officer who received a scholarship explored Finland and acquainted himself with the Finnish Defence Forces – comprehensive security and will to defend the country were his key takeaways

Swiss Mannerheim scholarship recipient Major Fabio Peter familiarized himself with Finland and the Finnish Defence Forces between 30 September and 25 October. During his stay, Peter was extensively acquainted with Finland’s national defence at sea, in the air and on land and with border security.

Familiarization with another country and its national defence is part of a longstanding bilateral tradition of relationships. Since 1949, on an annual basis, Finnish officers who have received Mannerheim scholarships have visited Switzerland to get acquainted with the country and its armed forces for three months, while also improving their language skills in French and German. Since the year 1970, reciprocally, one to two Swiss officers have annually visited Finland for a month on a Mannerheim scholarship to learn about the country and the Finnish Defence Forces.

Similarities and differences

According to Major Fabio Peter, taking part in the scholarship programme has been a very exciting experience. He has been able to talk very openly with experienced officers and other members of the Finnish Defence Forces about Finland and Switzerland and the countries’ armed forces. He says that he found the comprehensive defence approach, the general attitude towards defence and defence readiness in Finland very interesting topics.

“I was able to see that many things are similar in the two countries’ armed forces, but many things differ with regard to organization, extent and details.”
 

According to Peter, similarities in Finland’s and Switzerland’s armed forces can be found, for example, in the basic understanding of tactics, level of military training and social interaction in general. Differences on the other hand can be found for example in how conscription and recruitment are organized and, in the way, and means counter-mobility measures and terrain reinforcement are designed differently. The most interesting difference for Peter exists, however, in reservist training, which often takes place during weekends and is organized differently from Swiss refresher courses. 

“I couldn't imagine something like that in Switzerland, although it is certainly a well-functioning and value-adding system. What I also found very interesting is that there are exercises on a regular basis, where civil authorities and municipalities are also involved, and that national defense courses are offered on the national as well as on the regional level for politicians, people from the private sector and so forth.”

Another difference that Peter discovered has to do with officer training. According to him, in Switzerland, professional officers are required to have pursued officer tasks as early as in conscript service in order to be able to obtain the rank of a professional officer. In Finland, “officer” usually denotes a profession and is  rarely a conscript function. There is also a difference in training and operational organization. In Switzerland, there are generally two commands, one for operations and one for training, whereas in Finland, there is usually the same command for training and operations.

Something to learn from the people’s defence will

According to Peter, Finland is a wonderful country and the people are very interesting. He also thinks that Switzerland and Finland share many similarities and, in Peter’s opinion, we are very similar. 

“However, as I noted before, the Finnish Defense Forces, as well as the population as a whole, have a higher level of preparedness and a stronger will to defend their country. This is certainly due to the geopolitical situation and the historical background, which often also have an emotional impact. In Switzerland, we could certainly learn from the Finnish people’s will to defend their country; we are  currently increasing our focus on defense again.”