Twelve thousand young Finnish men and women reported for military service today, at bases around the country.
The majority of them - around 10,000 - go to the army; while 1700 go to the Navy and the rest are divided among the Air Force and Border Guard.
Conscription starts with the same basic eight week training period for all the new conscripts, and the rest of their service continues until either December, March or June depending how long they opted for, and if they are undertaking any specialist training.
While conscription - either in the military or on civilian service - is compulsory for men, and around 85% take part, it is only voluntary for women. Around 800 women volunteer each year to do military service.
The conscripts will earn a very small amount of money while they’re in the military and the majority rely on funding from Kela to keep them financially afloat over the coming months.
In 2018 a total of 8743 conscripts received financial assistance from the state - that’s down about 2.2% from the year before.
