In Tartu, representatives of seven countries shared the best practices of their reserve army

On 24 May, for the first time in Estonia, a Reserve Forces Forum was held at the Estonian Military Academy in Tartu, where the functioning of the reserve army and best practices in different countries were discussed.

At the forum, representatives from Norway, South Korea, Switzerland, Israel, Finland, Georgia, and Ukraine gave overviews of conscription and the reserve army in their respective countries.

"We are pleased to see that all important partner countries, where the Defence Forces are also built on the principle of a reserve army, were able to attend and participate in this event. I definitely consider the presence of Ukraine to be particularly important, since they can share first-hand experience of its reserve army strengths," said Lauri Abel, Undersecretary for Defence Readiness at the Ministry of Defence.

"Listening to the experiences of other countries is always good, because it allows you to collect more ideas on how to make your conscription and reserve army even better," added Abel. "The important topics discussed included the involvement of employers, increasing the quality of training provided to the reserve army through reservist training, and high-quality training for conscripts in the use of high-tech weapons."

Participants in the Reserve Forces Forum agreed that such an exchange of experience is definitely needed and it is planned to continue regular meetings.

Estonia's national defence is based on a reserve army model, which means that the main force of the national defence forces consists of military-trained units in reserve. The reserve army is the best-suited and most economical form of national defence for a country with limited resources. Estonia has trained more than 70,000 reservists, with nearly 25,000 of them assigned to the rapid response structure of the Defence Forces. The knowledge and learning of reservists are tested through regular reservist training sessions.

This year, one of the largest military exercises in the history of Estonia following the restoration of its independence - Siil 2022 (Hedgehog 2022) - will be taking place from 16 May through 3 June. Nearly 15,000 reservists, active servicemen, conscripts, members of the Defence League districts, and allied soldiers will be practicing defending Estonia during the large-scale exercise. The main objective of the exercise is to check the combat readiness of the Defence Forces and their capability to respond to a threat scenario within an international framework.

Photos: https://pildid.mil.ee/index.php?/category/61232

Additional information: [email protected]

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.