Where ‘the draft’ serves the nation, and the draftee too
Many countries require some form of national service. Our writer found signs of a new, balanced approach in Northern Europe, where war is at the doorstep but social responsibility seems still at the fore.
What do you think of when you hear “conscription” or “the draft”?
For many, those terms suggest something onerous: an individual’s forced service, a country’s last resort. The Monitor’s Lenora Chu found something different in reporting from Baltic and Nordic states for a story she filed from Riga, Latvia.
With war right on the doorstep, here were signs of public support – so far – for new versions of compulsory service, something that countries around the world have tried.
“This is not your grandfather’s draft,” Lenora tells Samantha Laine Perfas. A major focus by governments is the development of individuals’ skills. There’s no set formula. Countries are still considering how and whether women should be included, and what lengths of service make sense. It hasn’t gone without challenges; for example, Norway has dealt with reports of sexual harassment and difficulties changing military culture.
But broadly, there has been receptivity for a practice sometimes known colloquially as “going into the forest.”
“One day I did spend walking around a park and I met some young people. ... They basically said, ‘Look, this is an opportunity for personal growth,’” Lenora says. “They talked about the money, about getting fit, about being able to protect their family.”
Episode transcript
Lenora Chu: When I was reading news reports about Russian defections, when Putin had announced this increased draft, I realized how different they are approaching it than from how the Baltics and the Nordic states are approaching it.
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Samantha Laine Perfas: This is Lenora Chu, the Monitor’s Europe correspondent. She recently reported a story out of the Baltic region that looks at how countries are approaching military readiness. As she just mentioned, Russia has taken the approach of compulsory service with little training for those drafted.
But the Baltic and Nordic states are taking a different approach. One that might embrace individual growth in addition to the needs of the country.
Welcome to “Why We Wrote This.” I’m your host, Samantha Laine Perfas.
Today, we’ll be talking to Lenora about how countries are transforming their approach to required military service. Welcome, Lenora.
Chu: Hi there. Thanks for having me.
Laine Perfas: So you recently went to the Baltic region, and one of the stories you reported was about how countries are approaching military readiness, even bringing back or increasing the draft. Can you talk a little bit about what’s happening there?
Chu: We have to start with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Now, it came as a shock to much of the rest of the world, but this region in the Baltic and Nordic states, they experienced that invasion viscerally. I think that’s the only way to put it. You have Estonia, Latvia, Norway, and Finland. They share borders with Russia. Finland actually has an 800 mile border with Russia. And then there’s the history. You know, the Baltic states only gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. That’s Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. And they’ve been making moves over the years since to really protect themselves. So when I went over there to figure out what they were doing about military readiness, they are understanding the need to have, you know, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of citizens armed and ready to go, trained and ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Laine Perfas: Hmm. Like because of what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine, there’s this new focus on what if this happens to us? Are we ready?
Chu: Absolutely. And, you know, it’s funny, these are seven countries or eight if you include Iceland. It’s the only one in the Baltics and Nordic regions that actually [does] not have conscription. But, you know, it varies from Finland, who’s always had conscription to little Latvia, who is just bringing it back. So there are a lot of varied approaches, but I would say that the commonality is that they’re trying to either increase military readiness through ramping up the forces that they already have or just trying to, you know, bring back conscription in a very positive way for its people.
Laine Perfas: And you mentioned Latvia, which is one of the places you went on your trip. It’s an interesting country to look at because attitudes there around conscription have shifted. How are they approaching it now? And what did you find when you went there?
Chu: I think the most important thing to understand is that two thirds of the public support some kind of military draft. That said, this is not your grandfather’s draft. They’re actually thinking about things like whether or not they should include women, as Norway has done, whether it should be flexible, should there be options for service, you know, over six, nine or 12 months, how much are people going to be paid for their service and how long will people be serving after they go back into the workforce? So there’s all kinds of these little details that I think really make a difference in how people see their experience. One day I did spend walking around a park and I met some young people. They basically said, “Look, this is an opportunity for personal growth.” Some people, they talked about the money. For other people they talked about, “Hey, I’m going to come out of that year fitter than I’ve ever been. I’ll know how to operate a compass. I’ll know how to be dropped into the woods and feed myself off of the earth. I’ll know how to protect my family.” So these are some of the things that I think came out of my visit that I had never thought of before. And I think from the outside, we think of the draft as something that people do only reluctantly.
I also met with Latvia’s defense minister, his name is Artis Pabriks, and he has been criticized for having a little bit of an old school approach to conscription. He has said things like, “It’s an opportunity to socialize young people towards patriotism, towards the ability to defend our country together,” that sort of thing, that’s very old-school thinking. But at the same time, he and his fellow ministers have talked about the personal values and the personal benefits that come from serving. So I think he’s still working out the balance for himself.
Laine Perfas: What are some of the challenges that Latvia is facing? You know, introducing this and increasing conscription.
Chu: When these government officials try to reinvent the draft or institute new policies, I think their intentions are always good, but reality may be different. For example, public support for these policies may wane. As you know, the war in Ukraine goes on or as the threat becomes more real. Secondarily, you’ve had reports of sexual harassment in the Norwegian forces. Norway was the first to involve women in the draft, and they haven’t had great success because you can invite women in, but you also have to change the environment so that they feel welcome. Right? And there are some of these things that have to be worked out. So right now, especially with Latvia, they’re sort of the 10,000 foot view. They’re still thinking about how to craft these policies, but I think there will be challenges as they move forward.
Laine Perfas: What made this story, in particular, a good one for the Monitor to cover?
Chu: First of all, I think we are great at looking at points of progress and changes in values, changes in society. And I think this really characterizes Monitor research, which is that we’re thinking about topics in ways that aren’t readily apparent and that require a lot of thinking. You know, my editor, Arthur Bright, had me work on a spreadsheet where I found all the different categories by which to look at these seven countries, you know, length of service. Are women also included or is it only men? Is it starting at 18 or is it starting at 21? What are the options for service? And once I put everything into a spreadsheet, which, believe me, it took a couple of days, then did I start to see some of the patterns that emerged. And I think it’s that kind of thinking that brings out some of these deeper themes that we’re so good at [finding].
Laine Perfas: Yeah, even reading your story, I was like, I’ve never thought about the draft in this way before, and it’s such a cool moment as a reader to have that experience of looking at something that you’ve heard a lot about and seeing it through a different perspective.
Chu: That’s great. Thanks. And of course, it took, you know, not only the academic analysis, but also of course, going there just to talk to people on the ground. So I think it’s all of those things put together that allows us to do this kind of work.
Laine Perfas: What was interesting to you? What did you learn?
Chu: You know, I love going out in the field. I just really loved going to a new region of the world. I’ve never been to Latvia. Lithuania was also part of my story and the military exercises that I observed. They call it colloquially ‘going into the forest,’ and it really is going into the forest. These are countries that have [a] very active forest industry. So the place, Riga, for example, the capital city of Latvia, is just surrounded by forest and they literally do go into the forest for military drills. And I just spent a really nice afternoon out in the woods, and it was just a beautiful day.
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Laine Perfas: Thanks for listening. To find a transcript of this episode and our show notes, which include links to some of Lenora’s work visit CSmonitor.com/whywewrotethis. This episode was hosted and produced by me, Samantha Laine Perfas, and edited by Clay Collins. Our sound engineers were Tim Malone and Alyssa Britton, with original music by Noel Flatt. Produced by The Christian Science Monitor, copyright 2022.
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