12,000 conscripted under new training

12,000 new conscripts started military service on Monday under the new training system, reports rhe national broadcaster Yle.

Most of the conscripts, about 10,000 are serving in the Army while the rest, 2,000 will be divided between the Air Force, the Navy and Border Guard.

The 2020 training programme is intended to cut waiting and transfer times, as well as the 15 per cent dropout rate, said the Yle report.

Most of them joined large ground-forces units such as the Kainuu, Karelia and Pori brigades.

About 24,000 Finns started military service in 2018 and only 1,000 of them were women, who have been allowed to apply to join as volunteers since 1995.

This year the Defence Forces will begin an experiment with shared male-female accommodation, the Yle report added.