So as I'm sure many of you know, Sweden has mandatory military service at age 18 or 19. (Don't remember right now) Now you may think that it's obvious I have to serve, but the problem is I'm not just Swedish. I have dual citizenship with Canadian and Swedish passports, and I was born in Canada and have been living here ever since. Because I'm a Swedish citizen, will I have to serve the standard 1 year? (I'm 15 by the way)

Not sure about that... welcome to the forum nonetheless.

Thank you, thank you.

Well either way it won't be bad. My dad served his year and lived so I'm sure I can too. (Now to get a Lee-Enfield..)

Originally Posted by Mammoth

Thank you, thank you.

Well either way it won't be bad. My dad served his year and lived so I'm sure I can too. (Now to get a Lee-Enfield..)

Why get a Lee-Enfield when you could get a Mosin Nagant.


Welcome to the site.

Why are you here if you haven't/don't want to serve?

AZ: I think the main idea behind the question wasn't a lack of willingness to serve.

The best idea might be to go to a Canadian Forces Recruiting Center and ask them about it. If they don't know, they should at least be able to point you in the right direction to get the info you need regarding dual citizenships and service in either nation's military.

Welcome to the Forums, by the way.

Personally, i am going to serve in 2009 in the Swedish army, so i can probably answer your question. Even tough i think if your of Swedish heritage you should be proud to serve, anyway, in 2009, Sweden is only going to recruit like 15 tousand men and women, and they mostly whant to serve (like me). Just say that you don't whant to serve or have university studies or make up a dissease, nevertheless, before you can be excluded from the military you need to go and ''mönstra'' if you healthy of course, but that only takes like a day but is manditory, but if you don't what to serve you don't have to worry about it very much.

Hi and welcome to the forums Mammoth

I just found this on the official Swedish National Service Administration site (Pliktverket.se)

Swedish citizens living and registered
for population purposes abroad
You are not obliged to enrol for national service if you live abroad. This means
you will not be called up for enrolment if you are resident and registered for
population purposes in another country. However, you are free to contact the
Swedish National Service Administration and apply to enrol for national service.
To qualify for enrolment, you must speak Swedish, be in good health, and
intend to move to Sweden. Send you application for enrolment to Pliktverket,
Karolinen, 651 80 Karlstad, Sweden.

http://www.pliktverket.se/upload/5/engelska.pdf

So I guess you should have to worry about serving both in Canada and Sweden.

You can also contact them here if you should have any more questions about this:
http://www.pliktverket.se/sv/Kontakta-oss/

Who knows, a short stint in the Swedish military might be a good way to prepare for a career in the Canadian military if he so wishes.

I guess I'll answer a bunch of questions here:

Why get a Lee-Enfield rather than a Mosin Nagant?

Well why not get both? But the Lee-Enfield has 10 rounds which is double the legal limit for rifles in Canada, but is still legal because it's historical or whatever. So that'll be my first rifle.

Why am I here if I don't want to serve?

Well I don't really know if I want to. Sweden hasn't been in a war in a bazillion years so I'm not so worried about being blown to shreds. What would stop me is if it interrupts my education, like going to university or even graduating high school if the age is 18. I would however like to improve my Swedish (It's good but not fluent), and I'd like to get all tough and whatnot and learn some skills. It could also be a sort of pride because my dad served and I'm sure my grandfather did too.

As for a career in the Canadian Military, I don't think I'd want to. I'd rather be a pro photographer (Yeah kind of a dream, but I'm not too bad with my mom's SLR) so maybe some day I'll be an embedded journalist or something.

Now a few short questions:

Is it possible to choose or influence what you're assigned to? My dad was a rifleman and said he didn't have any say in what he was put into. Would it be totally random or do they pick something that best suits you? (I'm about 5' 4" and 96lbs so maybe in a tank for me)

Will they call me and ask if I want to enlist or do I have to go and tell them?

Where would I serve? We have a house near Skövde (My uncle lives in Gothenburg too) and I think people serve there, but who knows..