Several nations within the Baltic Region are still depending on conscription to fill their military ranks. The practise of conscription is an easy choice in order to keep armies up to strength and continue to have an able and fit population of reserve soldiers. In countries facing severe security issues and with a low population out if which only very few would seek an active military career conscription is indeed the only way to keep the armed forces large enough to deal with the security issue.
 |
| The Estonian Forest Brothers - an insurgent movement who harassed the soviet invaders of Estonia between 1945-1953 |
Conscription might seem a logic choice but its big disadvantage is that a country only lets soldiers stay for a certain amount of time before they are replace by a new wave of fresh conscripts. This makes it hard to teach a class of conscripts any kind of sophisticated skills, let alone pass the knowledge and experience from one group to another. A conscript army thus has to depend on a small cadre of professional soldiers, NCO’s and officers who acquire these skills and experiences and whom are able to teach them fast enough to a class of conscripts.
A conscript army thus seems to work well in a low technological environment unless the more sophisticated skills and jobs inside the army can be performed by the cadre of professionals. There are however several advantages that conscription offers a nation, advantages that seem to work well for the nations in the Baltic Region.
The first advantage is that the nation can call on a large group of reservists (ex conscripts) to bolster and expand the armed forces in times of crisis and war. Countries with a small economy can not afford to maintain large armies for a long period of time so having a large reserve of trained men to expand the armed forces when needed is a plus. This principle is clearly shown by Israel who has a small army but can call on a large part of its population as a reserve force in times of conflict and war.
Conscription also has another advantage asides providing large reserve for the armed forces. Conscription creates a large part of the population whom had at least basic military training and who can form a large group of insurgents with military experience. Perhaps this is the biggest advantage the nations of the Baltic Region seek to exploit.
Many of these Baltic Nations have large areas of forests that are impassable for mechanized forces. Any country seeking to invade these nations will have to clear out and control these forests in what will be a purely infantry operation. In these forested areas the battles will be almost evenly matched as any invader can not depend on its mechanized forces to provide overwhelming fire support. Any guerrilla movement with the necessary training and experience is thus capable of inflicting heavy damage to any invader in these areas.
The Baltic States have used this kind of warfare before. After World War 2 large parts of the populations of these states fled into the forests, took up arms and fought on for another ten years in an attempt to drive the Soviet occupation out. Most known to western nations is the fight of the Forest brothers in Estonia but similar groups also fought in Latvia and Lithuania.
Basic infantry tactics will be used in any kind of battle for these forests and it are these skills that are easy to learn to conscripts. Conscription is thus a perfect system for the nations of the Baltic Region. It allows the armies to maintain their full strength, provide a large reserve force in times of crisis and war and finally serves to create the foundation of large insurgency groups that can keep harassing any occupant long after the initial war has been fought.
For these reasons it will be very unlikely that conscription will disappear in the Baltic Region.
