Finland tells 900,000 reservists their roles

[Still Waters]

Finland has sent letters to nearly a million military reservists, setting out their roles 'in the event of war' amid rising tension with neighbouring Russia.

The letters have been dispatched to 900,000 former conscripts in the armed forces, including to Finns living abroad.

http://www.telegraph...ent-of-war.html

[Thanato]

Well better they tell them now then so they know what to do in case of war.

[Border Collie]

Total population of Finland: 5.5 million.

[Zalmoxis]

A million soldiers is like more than any military force I ever heard of. 1 in 5 Fins can be ready for war? That would be a really stompin' war, then account for the fact of how athletic most Fins are, you got yourself a formidable force.

[+Hammerclaw]

They are quite formidable winter warriors, as the Russians found out, much to their chagrin, pre WW2.

[stevewinn]

what is the Finnish Air force like? 52 F/A 18's. and of that number 35 in service, 14 ready for action. by Janes Defence.com.

NATO exercising in the Black Sea.

http://forces.tv/32625491

Russia. Russian military forces have begun a large exercise involving around 250 aircraft and 12,000 service personnel, according to its defence ministry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...europe-32877936

Things still heating up. all we need now is for China to keep prodding away in the South China Sea and The USA will be stretched and Europe will be at the mercy of Russian geopolitics. Those Western Sanctions are hitting Russia hard aren't they.

Edited May 26, 2015 by stevewinn

[EllJay]

Finland had some pretty good soldiers back in the 40's during the Winter War.

I'm pretty sure the Finnish soldiers can stand their ground today as well.

"Simo Häyhä nicknamed "White Death" by the Red Army, was a Finnish marksman. Using a Finnish version of the Mosin–Nagant rifle in the Winter War, he killed at least 505 men, the highest recorded number of confirmed sniper kills in any major war

All of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in fewer than 100 days – an average of just over five kills per day – at a time of year with very few daylight hours. He preferred iron sights over telescopic sights as to present a smaller target for the enemy (a sniper must raise his head higher when using a telescopic sight), to increase accuracy (a telescopic sight's glass can fog up easily in cold weather), and to aid in concealment (sunlight glare in telescopic sight lenses can reveal a sniper's position). As well as these tactics, he frequently packed dense mounds of snow in front of his position to conceal himself, provide padding for his rifle and reduce the characteristic puff of snow stirred up by the muzzle blast. He was also known to keep snow in his mouth whilst sniping, to prevent steamy breaths giving away his position in the cold air

http://youtu.be/jaLfxfpsmtY

..and Lauri Törni AKA Larry Thorne - (The man who could not stop fighting)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e47_1205106424

"Most of Törni's reputation was based on his successful feats in the Continuation War (1941–44) between the Soviet Union and Finland. In 1943 a famous unit informally named Detachment Törni was created under his command. This was an infantry unit that penetrated deep behind enemy lines and soon enjoyed a reputation on both sides of the front for its combat effectiveness. Törni's unit inflicted such heavy casualties on Russian units that the Soviet Army placed a bounty on his head of 3,000,000 Finnish marks. After the war Törni traveled to New York City where he was helped by the Finnish-American community living in Brooklyn's Sunset Park "Finntown". .Törni joined the U.S. Army in 1954 under the provisions of the Lodge-Philbin Act and adopted the name Larry Thorne. In the US Army, he was befriended by a group of Finnish-American officers who came to be known as "Marttinen's Men."[nb 2] With their support, Thorne was soon on his way into the Special Forces. While in the Special Forces, he taught skiing, survival, mountaineering, and guerrilla tactics. In turn he attended airborne school, and advanced in rank; attending Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned as a 1st lieutenant in the Signal Corps in 1957.[20] He later received a regular commission and a promotion to captain in 1960. From 1958-62 he served in the 10th Special Forces Group in West Germany at Bad Tölz, where he was second in command of a search and recovery mission high in the Zagros mountains of Iran, which gained him a notable reputation.[21] In 1962 Thorne is shown as a lieutenant with the 10th Special Forces Group in a United States Army The Big Picture episode. Deploying to South Vietnam in November 1963 to support South Vietnamese forces in the Vietnam War, Thorne and Special Forces Detachment A-734 were stationed in the Tịnh Biên District and assigned to operate Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) encampments at Châu Lăng and later Tịnh Biên On 18 October 1965, he was supervising a clandestine mission during which his Vietnam Air Force CH-34 helicopter crashed in a mountainous area of Phước Sơn District, Quảng Nam Province Rescue teams were unable to locate the crash site. Shortly after his disappearance,