Conscription in Sweden

Sweden has had mandatory military service (Swedish: värnplikt) for men since 1901 although peacetime conscription was deactivated between 2010 and 2017. When peacetime conscription was mothballed in 2010, the law on conscription was simultaneously made gender-neutral.[1]

Swedish conscripts in 2008.

In 2017, the Swedish government decided to reactivate military conscription, referencing increased threats to national security. Beginning in 2018, 4000+ women and men were called up for service.[1] The conscripts were chosen from a pool of about 13,000 young people born in 1999, and will serve for 12 months.[2]

The Swedish Armed Forces is reportedly planning for 4,000 recruits annually in basic military training in 2018 and 2019.[3] As the relevant age cohort is about 100,000 this means that roughly 4% will be enlisted.[4] During the height of the Cold War, about 85% of Swedish men were enlisted.[5]

After completed training the conscripts are placed in the reserve and assigned positions in the TOE of a reserve unit.

Non-military service

Conscientious objectors in Sweden have the right to choose alternative service (called vapenfri tjänst). After completing the alternative service the conscript is in the civilian reserve.[6]

Conscript officers

From 1983 to 2010 some conscripts had their service period extended to 450 days to allow for company command training. During the extended training they held the rank of sergeants. After training they were placed in the reserve as second lieutenants and assigned as platoon leaders or quartermasters in the TOE. Such "conscript officers" could not be further promoted unless they completed a regular officer training at a military academy.

References
  1. Persson, Alma; Sundevall, Fia (2019-03-22). "Conscripting women: gender, soldiering, and military service in Sweden 1965–2018". Women's History Review. 0: 1–18. doi:10.1080/09612025.2019.1596542. ISSN 0961-2025.
  2. "Sweden brings back military conscription amid Baltic tensions". BBC. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  3. "Sweden re-activates conscription". Government Offices of Sweden. Government of Sweden. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  4. "Population statistics". Statistics Sweden.
  5. "Sweden reintroduces military draft, this time including women". Defense News. March 2, 2017.
  6. http://www.rekryteringsmyndigheten.se/plikten-idag/vapenfri/ (in Swedish)
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