For those of you who wanted a less edited version, here's the "extended cut": kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oruHnbt9zbG2gqM.html&ab_channel=DaveCadGaming

I was born and raised in Kosovo but moved to Finland for university studies, and became a Finnish citizen after a few years. Having experienced the war in Kosovo as a child, witnessing the Serbian crimes, and knowing how brutal it can be (sota on helvettiä), I free-willingly decided to serve in the Finnish army to make sure I would be prepared in case needed (hopefully not). I served in Niinisalo as a field medic for 6 months. In the beginning it was a bit stressful, being at about B1 level in Finnish, but my English speaking mates stayed close to me, making sure I would understand everything. I had an amazing experience, full of great memories, and learned what great people, and often misunderstood Finns are 🇽🇰🇫🇮 kiitos kaikesta Suomi!!

Most of the Finnish citizens who live outside of Finland serve in Santahamina. I served in a very multi-cultural platoon. We were jokingly called "Muukalaislegioona" or the Foreign Legion. I remember some somalis, a brit, a canadian, a greek and an estonian. Other platoons in our company had guys from the US, a frenchman and a few germans. The guys got their training in Finnish and we made sure they understand the commands. The got pretty fluent by the end of basic training.

Me an hour ago: I wonder when Dave is going to make a new vid about Finnish Army Simulator. Dave 5 minutes later:

Finnish Army = Running as fast as you can to wait/queue, only to run some more. Hajotkaa aamuihinne.

Yes. I used to work in the military and one year we had a conscript coming from Australia who did not speak almost any Finnish. That squad communicated mostly in English.

Definitely would love for this to be a series! I couldn't go to the army because of my medical issues so this is really interesting to me :)

26 years from my Day 1 but this video brought back memories. Not much have changed since. Camo was M62 and M91

Generally most people go to the barracks on their first day with a bus and are guided all the way. During my first day I went to Kouvola, from where I then got checked and then was on a bus ride until reaching the barracks The military service is at a minimum 6 month and can last up to 12 months depending on which thing you get chosen into. Generally the platoon/company you are chosen into determines which branch you serve in. I for example ended up in the maintenance/logistics company There are definitely English or Swedish speaking people, though they are accommodated for generally, as with exam stuff for example you get an option to have the paper in Finnish, Swedish or English usually The person most people serving in the army interact with is the "alikersantti", who is in charge of the group of people in the room in most cases. A direct translation for sergeant would be kersantti and for corporal would be korpraali, though the actual translation can depend. For most things, especially within the barracks, you generally walk in formation which usually the staff sergeants (my used translation for alikersantti) command. Motorvehicles need the truck drivers to drive them and in addition need a fair bit of paperwork, so they are for the sake of monetary and resource limitations only really used for getting to further away places and getting back from them. For example I had to march quite the distance to the place of the last shooting thing of the recruit time, and from there we got then back on truck as I remember it. Oh and the trucks are also needed for delivering supplies like food and ammunition to exercises and such, due to which they aren't exactly always available for shorter trips. However running is very limited to the cooper and whatever movement and action focused exercises, while for the most part your biggest worry is trying to keep in pace with the marching. I want to say that usually shouting attention is in my experience to the person who is of the rank Sergeant(kersantti) or higher due to the fact that the staff sergeants whom with you literally sleep would get quite bored from it All the equipment you get is returned during your last days, and I still remember how fun it was to carry all the stuff on my last day knowing I wouldn't need to ever worry about it ever again unless I get called to a recap training(kertausharjoitus). The cabinet thing is definitely a little excagerated for the sake of the game, as in reality with the cabinets you have more time and only after the initial weeks your cabinet is only really checked during Fridays before you get home. Also you get help from the staff sergeants. -Me, Tukimies 2/22

The point of the army is to be as stressful for the conscripts so that they get used to it. It's not gonna be anywhere near as stressful as it would in the real situation but it does get though after you've been a week or few on a camp, worked your ass off every single day, had to keep guard for at least an hour every night and if you weren't lucky, had to change the tent position during the night... So, you learn how to deal or handle stressful situation, learn some discipline, how to handle guns and how to take orders. What you aren't taught but you kind of learn as you go is to sleep anywhere at any time.

Ofc I want to see you to play the game through. Keep up the good work cave dad!

4:30 "Alikersantti" is literally "Undersergeant", they are the conscripts who choose to go through leadership training and stay in the military for 12 months and get to boss around the new recruits after their 6 months is up. Since there's no real equivalent to Alikersantti in English, I guess the translator here decided to go with "corporal", but there is also "Korpraali" which is derived from Corporal in Finnish, so it's all a little confusing. The ranks mentioned go in the order from lowest to highest: Alokas - Conscript Korpraali - Corporal Alikersantti -Undersergeant Kersantti - Sergeant

Can you show more of the minigames for "making the pile" and "making your bed"? It was a whole ass *ritual* all troughout the service time, and many methods and tips were pioneered for it. Interested in how the game handles the nuance. For explanation, it's a menial task that only serves to "make bedsheets pretty to look at when we sleep", which is obviously completely useless. The true purpose of that is training both routines, how to train with repetition (which you will use for everything else too), and striving for quality performance; even when your task in the big picture is not always clear for the individual soldier. Nevertheless, everyone is necessary, and it's important to always do your best even when it feels pointless to you.

I served with guys from Australia, Germany, US and few UK dudes. The Australian had ever been to Finland before arriving to service in January 2010 and havent even really seen snow before. Young men living outside Finland with the nationality just get a letter with the start date of their service. If they don´t show up to service but visit Finland before they turn 30 yrs they are immediately taken custody at the border or airport when arriving to Finland. At least at 2010 half of them left home after the first two weeks of service which was the time those who did pass the start of service medical and interview left. Like one of the US guys in my squat just said in the interviews that he dosnt really feel like a Finn and there for lacks motivation to serve was released from service. So if they want Finns abroad get out of it pretty easy but they must first come to Finland and start their service.

Definitely seems pretty realistic, you walk everywhere the first days, but for equipment there were some trucks, but I remember dragging the gear walking. Only unrealistic thing seems how fast you made the bed and the pile haha! Using the fork for eating was a nice touch.

Hi Dave, I was in the Finnish army for 6 months in 2015 and the service time at first is presumed to be 12 months for everybody but then you will be ordered to some specialization and after that your time will actually be 6, 9 or 12 months depending of your specialization. I was trained as armour jaeger ( panssarijääkäri) and when you said about the walking and running, there is very much marching and running in the military because of course it is a good exercise, but of course you also will get to be in many different vehicles, especially many different kinds of lorries or Infantry fighting vehicles, or sometimes even in tanks. My specialization job is to be transported to the battle in a tank or Infantry fighting vehicle and then fight in the front lines.

You NEED to do more!

Hopefully you do the more of the game, very fun to watch you learn about the Finnish army!

Watching this from the army

Please keep the conversations in the vid. Loved this so far

Omg Dave, Thank you really much. The video is great I wish you continue making vids of that game!🤩

At least back in the day, during the first days recruits didn't run around or excercise at all, until physical examinations and vaccinations are done. This is called "vauhtipiikki" or "speed injection", only after the examination the conscripts are cleared for harder excercise.

Great video, looking forward for next episode! 🤩💪

Do make more of these videos! Keep the series going. I was in the military for 7 days and then they kicked me out due to mental health issues. Then put on hiatus for 2 years and then 1 year again due to dislocated elbow.

This was nice. You can do more if you want to, i'd gladly watch it

We had 3km "morning" runs at 5 and then a 5km run to the shooting range after breakfast. That's how it was at least 2/2002.

Back in the day when I was with the navy. We had one kiwi in our squad. Nice chap. After 20 years we still are in contact. We served 9 months since we were specially trained

@3:00 even back in 1999, we had a dude from kurdistan, well, some where there abouts, he worked here as a translator, so he did understand the language very well, but even so, he did prank some of the younger officers with the normal: "me? wut... no! temperature?" routine... anyways, he showed us, that if you drop the orange peels on the hot stove, it gives a really nice aroma in the the tent (with 20 sweaty mens)... it is better than nothing. nice guy.

I was sooo expecting this video! I knew it was inevitable so I didn't nothing about it and it worked!

About non-finnish speaking ppl. Had three recruits (from sweden, france & australia) who didn't speak any or much finish. During the trainings I took them side and taught same stuff in english + taught them the Finnish commands. It was bit a PITA since it was the signal battalion.

I might get the game just to for once carry the mosasäkki around effortlesly.

Moi Dave. Kiitos for you're videos,rakastan Suomea. Ja myös the channel Keep on going! Greets from the Netherlands.

It would be fun to see as many dialogue options as possible, i feel like that's where this game shines.

Do a series👍👍😍

Did you know that there`s an army garrison also in Kouvola? ;) Hopefully you will continue this series, keep up the good work!

At least for where I went people were split in 5 different platoons based on their general aptitude/first impression, 1st being the enthusiasts who most likely will become NCO and officers, and platoon 5 being the goofers. I was in 3rd

Oh the memories. We want more!

When i was serving, we had a guy in our "Medical-NCO - school", who didn't speak finnish. He was a swedish-speaker from the Coastal Jägers, he had no problems with the training, i guess he only understood finnish , but didn't speak it.

The repetition of tasks also aims for doing all the task on instinct and not questioning or thinking anything. You are told to do something, you do it. Makes controlling of bigger groups way easier.

Fun video, would love more :)

I served in a regular regiment (meaning artillery brigade in the boonies) and we had one guy from Italy who spoke no Finnish and English with an accent when he came. For him, the service was necessary to keep his "extra" nationality as I understood it. Now I don't know about his language skills after service, but he went home as 2nd lieutenant. not too bad for a guy who spoke zero Finnish :D

i see 'counterpane' often... in victorian knitting & crochet patterns. so that was hilarious.

The length of time depends on the rigorousness of the service. Some of the sections are more taxing than others.

6:20 99% of the time when within the Garrison, you walk or run. You get into military vehicles when you are at training grounds, but otherwise it's walking, running or skiing. (Drivers are an obvious exception, they learn to drive their vehicles at the barracks)

Hi Dave, it is very much possible to have a non Finnish speaking conscript in your unit. Speaking from experience myself too! Entered the Army with little knowledge of the language, it does come with many extra difficulties but I managed my way through. Currently I am an 'Alikersantti' leading this years new Rookies. Right now I am able to speak Finnish half of the time although still in a very rusty manner.

I remember once we were away from barracks every week when we had laundry day, we literally used same underclothes for weeks. We just changed to dry ones, rotated three or four. T-shirt, underwear, socks... They were pretty crusty when we finally could change them for clean ones. Ah, I loved being there. Fun times.

That was hilarious. Brings so much memories. And only good memories.

8:31 Oh god, of course they called her "Jortikka" 😂 (Basically another word for a penis.)

That was surprisingly genuine. It's very typical that minutes are not even close to minutes. Sometimes much less and sometimes much more. There's always very hurry, but many times just for wait hours before moving on next place.

I'm currently serving in the army, and in our cabin we have one dude who doesn't speak Finnish

This was awesome 😍

@9:30 No you don't get to keep majority of the gear. Only things you get to keep is the canteen, your name tags (both the steel bracelet and the one printed on velcro to be used on your jacket) and the pencil case. These you get free of charge. You could also purchase your beret and the metal lion pin that's attached to the beret, if you wish. This was at least how it was back in 2013. Daily clothing (socks, underpants, shirts, camo jacket and trousers, sweat jacket and sweat pants), as well as bedsheets and towel are changed each week. You do also get multiple of each of them (except bedsheets and towel), so you have clean clothes throughout the week. Rest of the gear is only changed if they break during your service. I'm not sure if it has changed since I was in the army, or if it's based on which brigade you are serving at, but there was a lot more people in one room. Each room in our battalion held 14 beds (6 single and 4 bunk beds). Only 4 people would've been luxury. Corporal Kailas seems like one of those guys that just a little bit of authority goes straight into his head. Didn't really have those in our battalion luckily.

I had one scottish guy in my komppania ITPTR1 (1st anti-aircraft defense brigade) or something along the lines. He had a translator with him during lectures, might have just been another conscript translating to him but either way I'm not sure where he went after basic training but he seemed to be doing alright even when not understanding finnish at all seemingly.

finally! been waiting for this. 🙂

For us Finland-Swedes living in Pohjanmaa there is a bus (possibly more than one, idk) that drives through all the towns and cities and drives down to Dragsvik right next to Ekenäs. Dragsvik being the place where Nylands brigad is located (Nylands brigad is the only Swedish speaking brigade in the Finnish military, and is part of the marine)

Amazing game 😂😂 I wanna see more haha

Private first class on korpraali, alikersantti on corporal. Kersantti on seargent.

Transportation on the first day depends. I got a free train ticket to the nearest train station, which was quite far from the garrison. Then from the station there were buses. If the garrison is in a city you just use public transportation. I remember one guy coming late in the evening when you were supposed to be there by noon, and he was really drunk. Turned out to be a really good guy especially in the fairly tough training in winter in the forest; knew how to get the tent up and heated fast; was also by far the best shooter with previous experience unlike the rest of us.

I seen another guy play this game, there are some hilarious characters. I really hope you continue I feel it would be great to see how a foreigner reacts (read: how much do you understand of the humour) to some of the dialouge in the game. Edit: Once I started watching I realised you have English subtitles available

You are my favorite finnish tuber! XD

I was 12 months (362 days) in the army and I mostly drove a truck, but the first 6 weeks are the same for everyone. It's called P-kausi. Edit: 16:35 it was! The realization that I will spend there the next 12 months 😁

During my service there were a few english speaking lads in my battery, from Canada and Australia. Both had finnish parents that just moved abroad. The canadian guy spoke a bit of finnish and he managed it just fine, but the australian guy didn’t speak a word so for him it was pretty confusing. I mostly spoke with the canadian guy and we used english most of the time. It was so fun to chat with him, saved many of the nights spent in the forest.

You won't be driving anywhere which is less than 5km away. You run or walk so you're getting fit.

My first morning was in autumn 1978 😅 My service time was 8 months back then. We learnt artillery skills. The game looks some what real, the army time was partly quite hilarious😂

nönnönnöö is a hypothetical somebody. it's like saying "mr. or ms. so-and-so"

my ptsd triggers just by watching this..and it has been 20 years since i was in the Finnish army....

Yeah, conscripts usually take puplic transportation to get to the garrison, since conscripts get free tickets.

Oioi. Those were the days. We want more, we want more!

Iv'e been in the army now for over 6 months, we had a australian guy serve 6 months, who didn't speak any finnish at all, i cant remember why he was serving, but he was a nice guy. Also we have atm a guy with greek parents, he speaks little finnish. Fun guys :D

For Dave's question regarding non-finnish speaking guys in the military. I had one guy from San Fran, one parent was finnish and it was his first time visiting Finland as well. Nice guy, didn't really learn finnish other than the commands tho

Of course there's people who aren't native Finnish speakers in the army. Remember that Swedish is an official language in Finland, so we do have Swedish speaking garrisons. (I'd assume most of them are around the west coast, for historical reasons.) 16:27 Aaaand that's not kaalilaatikko (cabbage casserole). :D

ali kersantti "lower-seargent" basically. A rank they give you automatically if you dont screw up too hard after 6 months :) (by german standards where i served)

Squirrel Skin Hill Regiment. I know the exact geographic location of the garrison now. It's about 15km east of Kuopio, a place called Rahamäki. The name is a multilevel pun. Squirrel skin is our archaic term for money, as we used them as currency way back when. So Oravannahkamäki is Rahamäki, or Money Hill. And gotta love it that Spurdo is the unit insignia. 12 months is the service period for intensive specialists, NCOs and reserve officer candidates. Grunts serve 6 months. Other specializations serve 9 months. When it comes to the gear, it's a very specific point in time when you wear m/05 for both field use and barracks/leave AND you have the belt as load-bearing equipment. Usually when 05 was in field use, you'd also wear the m/05 MOLLE vest. BTW, you do NOT want extra pairs of army-issue underpants. They're meat eaters. Menu looks... horrid. Cabbage casserole, Jansson Casserole, nugget soup (no proper translation), pea soup (it's a thursday, so it's a given), wiener soup and sausage soup.

In answer to your query about people who possess Finnish passports and yet, have a very poor command of the language, and still have gone through Finnish Army conscription; back in 1987-1988 we had a guy from Spain, who seemingly understood next to nothing, but he learned the most important vocabulary and phrases on the way and managed to pull through it all.

Yea more of this! I was hoping you to play this game 😂👌just dont cut video tuu much :)

Keep doing these videos we want to see you graduate :D

When I was in the army everyone kept making me do my locker over and over for an entire month until they just gave up and let it be for the rest of my time there lol. I could never get it to the standard they demanded. 😭😁

Don't worry about the pronunciation of "Alikersantti" Dave, I heard some "Alikeisari"s and "Alikroisantti"s from native Finns when I was in the military.

@6:15 You asked us if there was that much walking/running.... You have no idea haahaha

Dave, please if you can understand enough, watch some Itsevaltiaat (Autocrats)! I am begging; it's that much of a riot!

Yep - happened to me about 20 years ago but they put in Tammisaari (Dragsvik) - now shut down, because my surname is Sandström. i wish i'd gone to Santahamina tho. I grew up in Essex so it was not a wise move in retrospect. Could have done with this game i guess........

Tennarit, MV, ei muuten tennareita näkyny :). Popot nyörille ja menoks.

Now how do we get you on board for real?

Other armies have flight and combat simulations but Finland... we have whole army simulated! We beat anybody easily by making neat bunks! Jakkara, lepo, jakkara, lepo, jakkara eteen ota

1:00 when I went to the army I used a train to get there, while I was sitting inside I saw a couple dudes who I was guessing might be going there as well, but when I stepped out and headed to the bus that the army had organized that was gonna take us the rest of the way there, a massive fucking group of bald heads appeared out of nowhere, I almost laughed how massive this group of people was, all heading to the same place despite no one actually knowing eachother and it's not like there's a strict time when you have to show up either, I think it was like a 4 hour period where you could show up whenever you wanted

We had an canadian in the militsary. His parents were finns so he had to go to the finnish military

The distances in between buildings are a bit extreme. Otherwise, quite realistic.

If you live anywhere near a base, you get used to seeing young men in camo suits everywhere. Depending on where you are of course, but many gather at the train/bus station on their way to and from the base.

My service in Santahamina just started in the start of this January. The barracks don't actually look quite like that and you absolutely can not come in late without handcuffs. Some parts of this game were accurate though. edit: this game might actually be based on someone's experience of the military from a time when it was different come to think of it..

Your corporal and officer candidate did you dirty there not explaining that before medical examination conscripts march with sneakers on.

My first day in the defence forces -99: Bus ride to the garrison gates. Everyone ordered in a truck at the gate, about 15 guys per truck bed. Closed, so none of us could see anything. Arrival to our barracks, ordered to pick up our gear. Running 500m to the supply storage. Getting a 30kg laundry sack of stuff and running back to barracks with that god damn sack. Putting everything in the locker, spot on perfect, which was impossible. All this in an hour. I hated it. I hated it so much. But I got used to it eventually and it got more interesting too. Eventually it was a great place to be and I chose to spend 12 months of my life there. -Finnish navy, 1999-2000.

There is 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. My husband had to be 9 months in the army, because he was army police. So there's no choice, the different bosses in army decide the time you are serving. The most common is 6 months.

The voices are so funnyyyy

Nönnönnöö on muotoutunut englannin ilmaisusta no-name.

Yes, a family friends granddaughter lives in Scotland with her family and her son is now here for military duty by free will.

6 to 12 months

I don't know why there is so much running around without knowing where to go. In real life you'd march/walk there in order with your group and group leader. You're definitely not expected to wander around by yourself.

We want more Alokas Dave 😁

They should have an irl 1st day of the army simulator.

I've always been superb at anything IF I get clear instructions, but also I'm the worst at any situation where I'm not getting instructions and I have to make fast decisions. So basically, I'd be great for army but I'd be a terrible leader😂