In Finland, every male is expected to take part in the homeland defense. For most, this means armed service in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Border Patrol (six months basic training; nine months for drivers, specialists etc.; twelve months for NCOs), unarmed service (usually clerical duties in garrisons, twelve months) or civilian service (working for a nominal fee in a hospital, kindergarten etc. for thirteen months). Me, I was your basic six-month "turf fucker", stationed at the Huovinrinne Garrison.
I was seeing somebody at the time, but since we weren't married (good thing, too, she proved to be a real b****), there were no benefits for her. My tuition at the university was put on hold for the time, meaning I had a place to go back when my service would end. The garrison was pretty standard: there was an officers' club where the career officers would meet, and then there was the mess hall for us grunts and NCOs. We had it pretty good: stable internet connection with 30 minutes of user time; a wide-screen TV downstairs for football and hockey games; a really, really wonderful mess and kiosk for those daily things you will need (eg. rubber bands for tying your trouser sleeves neatly, canned tuna, tobacco etc.). There used to be a movie theater at the garrison as well, but that was defunct by my time. But we did have a kick-ass grill with awesome burgers served three nights a week. I tell you, people were lining up like hell just to get that piping hot burger in their hands.
Otherwise we had a swimming hall and a gym, and sometimes we would get visitors "performing for the troops", such as the girl band PMMP that did a quick, one-hour gig one hot July evening, and a performance by the Tappara (ice hockey team) cheerleaders later that year.
