The Armed Forces, Conscription | More young people have to serve conscription

DEFENSE: After a slight increase in recent years, there are now around 9,000 from each youth cohort who serve the first service each year. This corresponds to around 15 percent of the coal. But now the target is increased to around 25 per cent of the cohort.

– We need to take better care of the people we already have, and we need new ones, said Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp).

He met the press together with his party colleagues and government colleagues, Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum and Justice and Emergency Services Minister Emilie Mehl, at Terningmoen camp near Elverum. Storting representative Lise Selnes (Ap) from Hedmark was also present.

– When the Armed Forces are now to grow, the government will in the coming years step up the intake by 50 per cent. The number will increase by 4,500, Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram told a press conference at Terningsmoen near Elverum.

Several billion kroner will be invested in the Norwegian Armed Forces’ facility at Terningmoen to be able to receive 1,800 recruits four times a year. The increase in intake also increases the need for permanent employees in various positions.

400 new positions

– Up to 400 new positions will be created, said Finance Minister Vedum.

The government will strengthen educational capacity through the development of Terningmoen and Madla as bases for the Norwegian Armed Forces’ recruit schools.

The basic training of soldiers in the Army is to be moved out of the operational departments and gathered at Terningmoen in Elverum.

Recruit training at Terningmoen will be expanded through modernization and the establishment of new capacities in the camp area and will be sized to be able to train about 1,800 recruits four times a year, from about 300 today, writes the Ministry of Defense in a press release.

– The people are the Armed Forces’ most important resource. We must have enough people with the right skills at the right time. The further development of the Armed Forces requires that we increase the educational capacity. We are already well underway with measures, but we will need more people with professional military expertise going forward, says Defense Minister Gram (Sp).

Building up the structure of the Armed Forces will require a gradual increase in the number of conscripts for initial service each year from around 9,000 today to around 13,600 in 2036, around 4,600 more.

Rents civil infrastructure

In order to facilitate a rapid increase in educational capacity, the Norwegian Armed Forces will lease civil infrastructure at Terningen Arena and the previously closed Haslemoen camp will be assessed until Terningmoen is fully developed, according to the plan in 2036.

This will also free up capacity at Rena camp, where some recruit training is currently carried out, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Recruit education at KNM Harald Haarfagre, Madlamoen, in Stavanger is being further developed and modernized to cover increased needs for conscripts also in the Navy and Air Force. Recruit training at Høybuktmoen for the border mission, and Sessvollmoen for the military police will continue.