Commander of the Army impressed by reservists’ know-how in exercise Karelian Sword 26

The Commander of the Finnish Army, Lieutenant General Pasi Välimäki inspected exercise Karelian Sword 26 hosted by the Commander of Karelia Brigade, Colonel Tomi Pekurinen.

The inspection started with command post inspections followed by troop operations inspections.  At this point already, an engineer platoon from the Virginia National Guard, US and a helicopter detachment from the United Kingdom were already taking part in the exercise. Most of the training troops were in the area arriving for the exercise. 

While conducting his inspection, Lieutenant General Välimäki discussed with reservist and conscript leaders, among other things, the combat task of the troops, including ways of carrying it out, as well as cooperation with different units.  

— What was especially impressive was seeing the firing by the reservist K9 firing section and the discussions with the reservists. The level of the conscript training provided by the Armoured Brigade and the know-how obtained were now clearly demonstrated at Pahkajärvi in the refresher training conducted by Karelia Brigade.  After mobilisation, firings were conducted professionally, the fire hit its target and the unit performed its task with a strong attitude as can be expected of professionals, the Commander of the Army concludes.  

In this exercise, conscript leaders get practice for their tasks. A good example of cooperation was demonstrated by the engineers conducting counter-mobility in line with the jaegers’ intent by building an obstacle guiding the attacker’s movement. This is done to force the adversary to deviate in a direction favourable from our perspective while causing it losses. 

— It is great to see that our young military leaders have self-confidence, tactical skills and an ability to conduct combat tasks - the instructors and trainees have been focusing on the right things.   Using drones has been practised while anticipating operating in their sphere of impact. We are certainly taking solid steps ahead, says Lieutenant Välimäki.