Five military branches

In its five battalion-level units, the Kainuu Brigade offers training for five different military branches: infantry, artillery, signal, engineer and maintenance duties.

The Kainuu jaeger battalion trains infantry combatants

The Kainuu jaeger battalion trains infantry unit leaders and combatants in its four units for the challenging conditions of Northern Finland. The battalion also has an aerial reconnaissance unit and a unit for top athletes of snow sports.

The Kainuu artillery regiment trains gunners and mortar crews

In its four units, the Kainuu artillery regiment trains gunners and mortar crews to support the infantry combatants.

The signal battalion of Northern Finland trains signal units and military policemen

The conscripts serving in the battalion are trained in signal systems, supporting duties of command posts and as military policemen. The battalion’s main training tool is the most recent command and control system of ground defence, the M18, and the Kainuu Brigade was the first Army unit to introduce the system. The military working-dog unit will become part of the signal battalion by the end of 2016.

The Pohja engineer battalion trains engineers

The Engineer Battalion provides special equipment training for a military branch and training for combatant engineers.

The Kuopio logistics battalion trains the maintenance experts

The Logistics Battalion trains special experts of maintenance and logistics and provides training for tractor-trailers. The training is given to all units of Northern Finland, including the Air Force and Finnish Border Guard. The objective is to train efficient combatants that also have competence from the various logistics sectors.

As an athlete in the Kainuu Brigade

With us, you can combine your military service and athletic training either as an Academy Athlete or as a top athlete of the Sport School’s winter sports. You can read more on the subject from the attachments and under the special troops section of the Conscript section.

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Recruit!

Before starting your military service, take the recruit survey, reserve recruit transport if one is organised in your municipality and increase your fitness level by logging in to the MarsMars.fi service.

How can I get to the garrison?

You should not use your own car needlessly; utilise the travel tickets mailed to you. Excellent public transport connections are available all over Finland and we will meet you already at the stations in Kajaani.

You can travel for free in long distance trains by presenting your order for starting your military service. If you miss your transport, please notify the Head Guard of it by calling +358 (0)299 451 901.

If you decide to use your own car, you can find the driving instructions in our contact information. Reserve enough time for your journey!

Conscript Committee

The duty of the Conscript Committee is to promote the comfort, community spirit and service motivation of conscripts and to advocate for them. The Committee office is in the Soldier´s home canteen, 3rd floor.
The Conscript Committee organises training events and courses:

• hot work course
• hunter’s degree
• basic course for security stewards
• entrepreneur course

You can make a proposal for arranging a course that interests you. The Conscript Committee offers financial support for conscripts participating in the course, so they are affordable.

Work, education or social official carrying out their military service with the Conscript Committee offers help with matters concerning application procedures, education and student apartments. You can use the phone at the Conscript Committee’s office to make study and work calls free of charge.

• Conscript Committee, +358 (0)299 451 957, [email protected]

Social Welfare Officers

Social welfare officers provide you with support and help in many kinds of personal matters. Most importantly, they provide psycho-social support, support involving financial challenges and matters related to your studies or working life.

During your military service, you may encounter different types challenges involving your service or civilian life. If you have concerns or questions on your mind, you can discuss them confidentially with a social welfare officer.

You can contact the social welfare officers by phone or by sending them a message not only during your service, but also before you start your service or when in the reserve. Every question is worth asking!

The social welfare officers have their offices at the garrison health centre.

• Merja Komppa, +358 299 451 133, [email protected]
• Piia Huttunen, +358 299 451 134, [email protected]

Spiritual support, clergy

The military chaplains offer you spiritual support. Also students of the ecclesiastical field are trained to ecclesiastical duties, such as conscript priests or deacons. You can see the priest

• during classes,
• in devotional meetings,
• in services of worship,
• in training,
• during camps,
• in the Soldiers’ Home canteen and
• everywhere where there are conscripts.

Their offices are located in the garrison health care centre.

You are welcome to come in to the priest’s office to talk about any issues on your mind. If you feel the need for a personal discussion or are worried about your spiritual well-being, you can always see the priest in full confidence.
For many, their military service has helped them to find out how liberating it is to talk about even difficult issues with a safe and trustworthy listener. The priest is committed to secrecy.

• Field reverend Penna Parviainen, tel. +358 (0)299 451 131, [email protected]
• Military chaplain Heikki Korva, tel. +358 (0)299 451 132, [email protected]

Leisure time

Leisure time is all time outside the military service, for example evening leave is mainly between 6pm and 10pm.
During leisure time, you can visit the town three kilometres away, do sports in the versatile premises of Sports Hall Heikinhalli or in the nearby exercise areas, of which Vimpeli sports centre, for example, is only a walking distance away.

The Soldier’s Home canteen also offers many recreational activities; there is a library, Internet room, a reading room and a quiet room. You can see visitors during evening leave at the Soldier’s Home canteen.

Holiday transports

The holiday transport system is available for weekend leaves. There are over 20 routes to choose from and they operate to Southern, Central and Northern Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and Northern Karelia. The system is managed by the Conscript committee.

Holiday transports offer many advantages to conscripts. After returning from a field exercise or some other training, you can hop onto a bus and travel home for the holiday safely and free of charge. Remember to reserve your place in holiday transport well in advance!

Kajaanin Varuskunnan Urheilijat ry (garrison athletic team’s association)

As a conscript, you are automatically and without a member charge a member of the garrison athletes and you can represent the team in the possible competitions by the Finnish Military Sport Federation. More information about the association is available in the attached document.