He starts his summation with the major claim that in Estonia, there is only one organization that teaches leaders, while the Defense National Defense College is the only academy where leadership and management are given significantly more attention than other subjects.

From the beginning of military service, Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) select the necessary first-level leaders and entrust them with the responsibility of what is, in Estonian terms, effectively a medium-sized company, namely a ten-man squad.

A large portion of this 19-20-year-old young person's military training involves playing, in a simplified form, the role of an employer, and ensuring that tasks get completed.

We teach this young person how to make a team function, we allow him to rehearse, provide feedback, and constantly assess his or her performance as a leader.

From this same cadre, future squad leaders are selected, who are entrusted with the management of 30-40 people.

In their case, we develop the ability to lead through other leaders while teaching, drilling, rehearsing, and providing continuous feedback and assessment.

Most of their 11-month training involves implementing leadership and management functions on a daily basis. We continue to teach leaders after military service, via training assemblies, offering them even greater responsibility as staff officers.

Our ambition, however, is much greater even than that. We want our reserve officers and our NCOs to be leaders and opinion leaders on civvy street and outside of the EDF, too.

We have provided them with confidence and experience, our education system has provided them with knowledge in various fields, and as a result of this combination, Estonian society gains about a thousand potential new societal leaders each year.

But that's not all.

Thus far, I have discussed only the role of leaders in the context of our reserve: But now it's time to talk about the regular soldiers themselves, those who form this force and who, with their skills, will, and motivation, give substance to this force.

Their role in our leaders' development is immeasurable, as their activity within their specialty, or as weapon specialists gives the leader a chance to see their plans in action.

Their role is to help a leader grow in real conditions, alongside real people, while they themselves can bask in the fruits of successful cooperation and the joy of success.

Our soldiers also carry forward with them that same spark of leadership and responsibility.

The EDF does not return broken and re-educated people into our society; rather, we want our colleagues always to be self-reliant, caring, and cooperative citizens, who find success in their endeavors and always try, and try again, since giving up is not an option for them.

Do we always succeed in this task? Well, only our reservists and their families can answer that question.

Our reservists, this means, bear a great responsibility in ensuring the functioning of our society.

Their pride in their regiment or unit, their ability to organize things rapidly, their determination to do things properly while remaining humane and helpful, provide our society with a strong backbone and, where necessary, a strong armored shield.

As an officer, I have constantly encouraged our soldiers to keep in contact with their small or large units.

That a reservist from Pärnu should visit a fellow fighter from Narva, and vice versa.

The sole purpose is for both of them to appreciate each other's Estonia, thereby strengthening the unit's bond and societal cohesion.

Society not only gains from our soldiers.

After military service, reservists acquire various types of education, professions, and skills necessary for society, making them very good citizens.

The EDF enjoys the wisdom of our soldiers during training assemblies, their ability to see problems from different perspectives, and their solutions outside the box. Our comrades bring the best aspects of their social lives and give professional soldiers a new perspective on serving society.

Without reservists, the EDF would quickly become a closed and self-centered organization, which would cause societal misunderstandings and confusion among soldiers about how society functions.

Thanks to our reservists' active participation in Estonia's only top down study, which examines the satisfaction and attitudes of conscripts and reservists, the EDF has been able to make leadership decisions which positively affect soldiers' training.

This feedback stands as a great example of how a reservist contributes manifold times more to our society, as they care about the opportunity to make something better and more effective, even inside the EDF alone.

It is gratifying to me to to see that our decisions we made 30 years ago about conscription and the reserves, and the commitment to those decisions in the meantime, have given Estonia a functioning reserve force and society the necessary sword and shield it needs for national defense.

Happy Reservists' Week, colleagues!

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