2,000 to start conscription service this week
Nearly 2,000 young people will start their conscript service in the Estonian defense forces early next week, including 49 young women as volunteers in addition to the young men conscripted into the defense forces.
The new conscripts will start service at all the training centers for conscripts, meaning the 1st and 2nd infantry brigades, the military police, the Cyber Command, the Navy and the Support Command, spokespeople for the Defense Resources Agency said.
For the first time ever, the Special Operations Command will also provide training to conscripts. Young people entering the service generally have a secondary education. This time, 61 percent of those called up are starting service on their own initiative.
The future military position of the July conscripts in their unit requires 11 months of training, which means that they will be commanders, specialist personnel and drivers.
For the first time, young people will be able to go through their conscript service as part of the forces of the Special Operations Command.
"This is a long-awaited opportunity for real gourmets in military training - there was intense competition for the 11 places," Marlen Piskunov, director general of the Defense Resources Agency, said.
Besides, a couple of military units have moved, and as a result, the conscripts of the Support Command will start their service in Paldiski instead of Amari and those of the Cyber Command in Amari.
"It's a pleasure to note that starting conscript service with one's high school class is becoming increasingly popular. Last year, 17 classes started service together, now their number is as high as 27, and we got the 1st Infantry Brigade and the Cyber Command largely filled with classes," said Piskunov.
Conscript call-ups in Estonia take place three times a year. The next call-up, the last in 2021, will take place on Oct. 18-19.
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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste