But a new draft of the Military Service Act, to be voted on by Parliament Feb. 23, would ensure that is no longer the case.
Reform Party faction Chairman Jurgen Ligi predicted that it will undoubtedly pass, but he acknowledged that students are not letting it go through without making some noise.
"I haven't visited my mailbox yet, but I am sure there is something there [from protesting students,]" he said.
The new version of the law would obligate Estonian men who have reached age 18 to defer their university enrollment and serve in the army first for one year. The universities must hold their places and allow them to enter as soon as they have completed their military time.
Madis Mikko, head of the media and information department for the Ministry of Defense, was forthright in explaining the primary reason for the change.
"The biggest problem with Estonia's military is the absence of brains," he said.
Only 38 percent of current officers have a university education, a number defense force leaders hope to double within five years.
Mikko attributed the low quality of conscripts to the infancy of Estonia's army, which had to be built from scratch in 1991 and is continually being revamped.
He dismissed students' protests against the act as mainly childish and said that serving in the armed forces is "just a normal question of obligations and freedoms."
He said he has viewed Web sites high school students have used as a forum to voice their opinions about the new draft.
"They say things like, 'Don't go, or the generals will kill you.'. . . But overall I am very satisfied with the open discussion and that the response from society has been so intensive," he said.
"Some young people are against it, but it's nothing new under the sun," he added matter-of-factly.
Others disputed the purposes and usefulness of the military itself.
Tonis Maldre, a 26-year-old graduate of Tartu University, evaded the service requirement and rejected that students should be drafted to the army at all.
"I don't support violence. Militaries are created to protect countries with arms. I think we have our own experience in Estonia, that a win over unfriendly military forces can be achieved without using violence," he said, indicating the country's peaceful breakaway from the Soviet Union.
Most Estonian males are not very eager to enter the service to begin with, according to the Confederation of Estonian Students' Union chairman, Leif Kalev.
Kalev, who is in the army, expressed concern about the efficiency of the military's training. He was skeptical whether the army could handle the number of men that would be required to enter the service based on a literal interpretation of the law.
The initial questions of logistics can be answered, according to Mikko. First of all, officers must perform the substantial task of gathering information about the country's eligible males. If the law is passed, another five to six months would have to pass before the men are affected, he said.
Mikko conceded that during the first year it will be technically impossible to require all 18-year-old males to join the army. Rather, they will henceforth be registered as potential recruits, he said.
Student leader Kalev suggested that infrastructure problems he has seen are further compounded by conflicts in mentality between everyday Estonian citizens and those long inside the quasi-bubble culture of the army – all of which diminish some students' willingness to serve.
Because a sizeable portion of the military's current officers have kept a Soviet-era mentality, Kalev said, the military is simply out of touch with the mainstream Estonian population.
"[The officers] are not accustomed to life now. Estonian civilians are quite Western, but the military mostly resembles an Eastern European way of thinking. The great problem for everybody is that they are somewhat irrational," he said.
Kalev maintained that people can probably gain the same skills the military teaches in ways other than "just sitting in the barracks."
Gyorgy Szondi, Concordia University professor of public relations, proposed an alternative. The native Hungarian served in the military in his country for one year during college, but said he is wary of Estonia's new draft law for fear that the gap before college might cause students to lose their enthusiasm and fresh ideas.
Szondi said students should be able to opt to assist their country in a different way.
"I think you can exchange military service for something useful to contribute to society, such as work for charity," he said.
Nevertheless, whenever anything new is introduced, the unhappiness of some is inevitable, according to Marek Herm, chairman of Tartu University's student council.
Herm admitted that the system could stand to be improved, but said "everyone should go and do their service."
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