Success on college entrance exams means marching

TALLINN – The Estonian Parliament passed a law on March 14 on defense service, including its widely disputed stipulation on conscription.

After months of talks, the act was adopted in its third reading 60-7 with three abstentions, overruling the Reform Party's motion to suspend the final vote.

Under the law, men who have passed college entrance examinations must serve in the military within three years for eight to 12 months.

In previous years, men had avoided entering the army altogether by going straight to college after high school. It is no secret in Estonia that military service is not often a alluring option.

Tonu Asku, who has been in the military since 1994, adamantly disagrees.

On a bitterly cold Saturday morning in the capital, 160 men in green with gleaming black rifles marched into line expressionless, rigid. The young army recruits had passed their exams. During this ceremony they gave an oath to serve Estonia, and were promoted to the rank of private.

Asku, the battalion's artillery officer, stood in a corridor of the barracks, high above the proceedings. He pointed out the window to the low brick wall surrounding the grounds and asked rhetorically, "You see that border? Do you think if these men wanted to escape, they couldn't?"

He said that now, in the tough days of training, the young men might not delight in their service, "but when all is over, they will have a story to tell."

"Train, train, train, that is the main goal," said Asku. A young recruit, before resuming sweeping the steps, saluted him when the two made eye contact.

"As a state, we will be totally demolished, our country will be weak [without the military]. . .In Estonia, history has taught us lessons," Asku declared. "Pacifists go with a level of insanity."

Adviser to the Reform Party faction, Kristen Michal, is vocal in his opposition to required military service and to the new law, arguing that Parliament carelessly rushed to pass it. He has not yet served in the army. "My time has not come, but I have to do it."

"There is a lot of talk that this service is a miracle, that [a boy] will become a man. . . but I don't think the army has the right idea in teaching men to protect their country and families," said Michal.

Views still clash, no doubt, but the act easily passed. Center Party MP Peeter Kreitzberg said he cast an affirmative vote along with the majority, citing only minor problems with the act that could be amended.