Successful working sessions and visit to the Finnish National Defence University
By: 1st Lieutenant (r) Susanna Takamaa, the Finnish Reserve Officers’ Federation/CIOR StratCom
The first IBM (1/4) lead by the Estonian Presidency was helIBMd in Helsinki, Finland, with fifty international reserve officers around the CIOR from the 27th to 29th of October 2022. The meeting was planned and executed as hyper meeting, so delegations were able to take part in the meetings also remotely.
Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France and Germany Vice-Presidents
The first full working day of the IBM took off with opening remarks from the President followed by council working session and a presentation from the NRFC secretary general at the Paasitorni Congress Center. After the morning session the reserve officers took a trip to military island Santahamina, where the Guard Jaeger Regiment operates. Santahamina also provides a home for the Finnish National Defence University.
The IBM attendees were given a presentation of the Finnish Defence System, they got an overview of the Finnish officer’s education and how the Finnish reserve is trained. Pistol shooting event was organized in Santahamina for the IBM participants.
FNDF Head Of Department (Military Technology) Col Mauri Etelämäki and CIOR President LtCol Toomas Luman
“It was great to introduce our system to foreign reserve officers, we had excellent conversations and also planned the CIOR Summer Congress scheduled to take place in Helsingi next summer” 1st Lieutenant (r) Aaro Mäkelä from the Finnish Reserve Officers’ Federation says. “We are well prepared for the upcoming Summer Congress and warmly welcome our fellow reserve officers to Helsinki”.
Saturday held within a council working sessions. The council had presentations from the CIOMR and CISOR and there were discussions over the strategic program and finance. The next meeting will be the Mid-Winter Meeting, which will take place in Brussels at the end of January 2023.
IBM participants