About twenty men and three women get on their knees and point their rifles at cardboard targets that represent enemy troops. They are all volunteers with the Swedish National Guard, and most have had to wait more than 20 months since they applied to join the reserve force. “What a group I got today, fresh and good!” exclaims one of the instructors after the first burst of gunfire. The brand new reservists rehearsing in sub-zero temperatures at the Kungsängen firing range, 30 kilometers northwest of Stockholm, the capital, join the tens of thousands of Swedes who have shown interest in contributing their bit to total defense of the country, a concept that emerged during World War II and has been revived with force since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I didn’t hesitate for a moment. When the bombings began in Ukraine, it was clear to me that I had to enlist,” proudly agrees Max Grimborg, 23 years old, the youngest of the group receiving the training course this week at the Central Military Region base. On the first day, volunteers collect their military equipment and attend theoretical classes — “about what joining NATO entails.” [formalizada el pasado jueves] and the threats posed by Russia,” Grimborg summarizes. The next two days focus on handling weapons, and the last is dedicated almost exclusively to cleaning the facilities.
“It has been two years of waiting, but I am very happy that the time has finally come. My family has supported me in everything; my girlfriend, out of fear, not so much,” emphasizes Grimborg, who is professionally dedicated to the video game sector and from now on will have the obligation to spend at least nine days a year improving his preparation in the National Guard, a reservist military force. The young man, originally from Stockholm, feels comfortable in this environment. Like many other members who have been inducted into the National Guard in the last two years, he already had experience with mandatory military service.
Magnus Lüning, commander of the Central Military Region, maintains that the National Guard does not have the capacity to accept all citizens who intend to join. The captain, smiling, energetic and with more than 40 years of experience in the Navy, describes that there is a lack of facilities, instructors and material to be able to train the avalanche of volunteers who have signed up in the last 24 months. In 2022 they received 29,000 applications, 700% more than the previous year.
The commander emphasizes, in his office at the Kungsängen barracks, that, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Swedish Armed Forces were reduced to a minimum, the Army was reduced by 90% and its naval and air forces by almost 70%. Annual investment in defense fell from 3% of GDP to around 1%. “In recent years the trend has been completely reversed, but a turn of this magnitude takes time,” develops Lüning, who constantly shows his satisfaction with the recent entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
The civilian army that makes up the National Guard is one of the many legs of the total defense system. Kristina Syk, a member of the Swedish Defense Association, has been dedicated to the development of total – or comprehensive – defense for the last 15 years. “When I started, it was a dead concept. The legal basis was still in force, but no one was working on it and the majority of citizens had forgotten its existence,” she says by phone. The expert adds that in the second half of the last century, “the entire population was aware that they should get involved in the event of war.”
Full defense began to revive in 2014, the year Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and fighting began in the Donbas region. Three years later, compulsory military service was restored for men and women, although it currently affects a small proportion of young people who come of age, selected each year based on various criteria. It is expected, however, that the number of recruits will increase progressively until 2035.
Ministry of Civil Defense
The right-wing government that was formed in the fall of 2022 gave new impetus to comprehensive defense. Ulf Kristersson, the conservative prime minister, declared shortly after coming to power that “the civilian components of total defense have fallen into oblivion” and announced that his administration would foster “the resilience of the population in the face of hybrid threats, like cyber attacks.” A clear example of this was the creation of the Ministry of Civil Defense, a unique case in the European Union and a step that Kristina Syk describes as “crucial”.
The Minister of Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, 38, has insisted that his objective is to ensure that, if necessary, “the whole of society aligns with the effort of resistance against the aggressor” to “preserve the existence of the State.” At the end of January, Bohlin announced that young people with experience in the field of first aid or the production and transportation of electricity will have to take training courses to be able to assist local governments if a war breaks out.
Kristersson, Bohlin and other members of the Swedish government have reiterated in the last three months that there is a real risk of confronting Russia in the coming years. “If you are not willing to defend Sweden, do not be a Swedish citizen,” the prime minister declared in January, before adding that “Swedish nationality is not just a document that allows you to travel the world.” The leader of the opposition, former Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, has been very critical of the Government’s alarmist messages which, according to her, “generate a lot of anxiety”, especially among minors. “The situation is very serious, but it must be clear that we are not on the verge of entering into a war,” said Andersson.
If Sweden suffered foreign aggression, the Government could legally mobilize any citizen between 16 and 70 years old; The working day would be extended to 60 hours per week, vacations would be suspended, and only essential services would remain in operation.
The Swedish Government has also announced that investment in the Armed Forces will rise by 30% this year, reaching 2% of GDP, the minimum spending target set by NATO. An opinion study carried out this year by the Ministry of Defense indicates that 81% of Swedes support the increase in the military budget. Furthermore, various recent surveys place Finland and Sweden as the two EU members in which the largest part of the population would be willing to “fight for the country” (around 65%, more than triple that of Germany, Italy or Spain).
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