No more swedish lag armor?

[Shank2]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/sweden-wants-reintroduce-military-conscription-112553992.html

 

Sweden institutes military draft for both men and women

Jan m. Olsen, Associated Press,Associated Press 20 minutes ago

 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- Sweden's left-leaning government instituted a military draft for both men and women Thursday because of what its defense minister called a deteriorating security environment in Europe and around Sweden.

Sweden abolished compulsory military service for men in 2010 because there were enough volunteers to meet its military needs. It has never had a military draft for women.

The government said "the all-volunteer recruitment hasn't provided the Armed Forces with enough trained personnel. The re-activating of conscription is needed for military readiness."

In September, non-NATO-member Sweden stationed permanent troops on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland. Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist described the move as sending a signal after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its "increasing pressure" on the neighboring Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

There have also been reports of airspace violations by Russia's military aircraft in the Baltics and a military buildup in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which sits across the Baltic Sea from Sweden.

About 20,000 people now work for the Swedish armed forces, 84 percent of them men and 16 percent women, according to the forces' website. But the armed forces lack 1,000 active troops as well as 7,000 reservists, according to Sweden's coalition government of Social Democrats and Greens.

Under the plan approved Thursday, at least 4,000 18-year-olds could be called up each year. Swedes will still be able to volunteer for military service.

The Swedish government, which often has described itself as "feminist," said "modern conscription is gender neutral and will include both women and men."

Hultqvist said he had been inspired by neighboring Norway, which in 2013 introduced a law applying military conscription to both sexes. That made Norway the first NATO member to draft both men and women, joining a tiny group of countries around the world, including Israel.

Conscription was introduced in Sweden in 1901, but had gradually wound down and was formally canceled 109 years later. During the Cold War era, nearly 85 percent of Swedish men were drafted into the army due to the nearby threat of the Soviet Union. The average term of service was around 11 months.

In 2015, Sweden's military expenditure dropped to 1.1 percent of its gross domestic product, down from 2.5 percent in 1991 as the Cold War came to an end, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

On Tuesday, Micael Byden, head of Sweden's armed forces, said an additional 6.5 billion kronor ($718 million), or a 15 percent budget boost, was needed to increase the country's military's capabilities in the coming years. This was to be added to the 45 billion kronor ($5 billion) the government had earmarked for 2017.

[Gilmore 1st MRB]

This is very scary to learn of. I am sure it will affect our domestic policies as well.

[I. Turner 1st MRB]

It would take an extreme for us to start a draft again they would call out reservists first then irr (inactive ready reserves) which I currently have 1 more year of then a draft but we have so many volunteers for the military I doubt it would ever happen. The reason you do 4 years of irr after you get discharged is to prevent a draft if needed.

[I. Turner 1st MRB]

And this should be in politics not mess hall :).

[Marsden 1st MRB]

This is not sounding good. I don't like to hear of countries re-instituting drafts out of fear. never a good sign .Also thread is now in the Politics? sub forum

[LaGesse 1st MRB]

The smell of WW3 approaching is getting stronger, and it scares the shit out of me.

Edited March 2, 2017 by LaGesse 1st MRB

[Marsden 1st MRB]

One can hope against that. Let's just hope that the reported reasoning's for massing forces within and around their boarders is accurate to what they have told us. That this is merely and exercise in preparedness so as to better defend their citizens and boarders in the face of aggression. The only concern I have is them taking and posting a permanent Garrison on that Island (Admittedly my knowledge of the geography, and oceanography of the Baltic sea is very limited) as that feels almost expansionist and upon cursory research could work as one hell of a forward operations point for movement of troops east or west across the Baltic Sea. Upon review of the mapped topography of the sea floor surrounding the location a submarine base most likely probably already exists in the area (if not  a  modern base than at least a remnant of WWII). Defensively establishing a garrison does make sense but I'm not sure if there is a direct need for a permanent garrison in the point of the Baltic, the land mass itself puts forces almost equidistant from Sweden and the eastern Baltic states. At this stage I'm hoping it's just a bit of Pea-cocking in the hopes of preventing further expansionist actions by Russia; but as we saw in the past structuring of rigid defensive positions and combat lines only aids in further escalating both sides of the conflict...

 

Maybe the institutions we created after the second World War in the hopes of preventing the formation of political powder kegs, like we are seeing in recent years, would do their job and get these leaders talking about commonalities and things that would benefit both of their peoples we could see a continuation of the de-escalation of arms through the world we had begun to observe in the late nineties. But hey, I'll admit I'm an idealist and we can't try and pretend that the last decade, almost two, hasn't set the world back politically due to a degradation of trust and integrity observed in world leaders.

[Göthe 1st MRB]

3 hours ago, Gilmore 1st MRB said:

This is very scary to learn of. I am sure it will affect our domestic policies as well.

Doubt it because of how voluntary this draft is because there will be like 12-15 000 youths that will be "tested" and the 4000 that score the best get drafted but if you dont want to they will take the next in line....

 

2 hours ago, I. Turner 1st MRB said:

It would take an extreme for us to start a draft again they would call out reservists first then irr (inactive ready reserves) which I currently have 1 more year of then a draft but we have so many volunteers for the military I doubt it would ever happen. The reason you do 4 years of irr after you get discharged is to prevent a draft if needed.

They are getting the draft again because of the low interest in the current recruitment system, they need to fill out the current regiments to be ready if shit breaks out. 

 

2 hours ago, Marsden 1st MRB said:

This is not sounding good. I don't like to hear of countries re-instituting drafts out of fear. never a good sign .Also thread is now in the Politics? sub forum

The fear part is just an excuse to get the "old" system back that we stopped using 7 years ago and that work perfectly until that.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Göthe 1st MRB