UNMLOY United Nations Military Liaison Officers in Yugoslavia Matti Heimovaara Croatia and Slovenia declared independence on 25 June 1991. A separate Croatian-Slovenian federation led to a war that lasted until a ceasefire on 3 January 1992. The UN quickly dispatched a force of three military groups of observers to the region. Twenty military observers from […]

WORKING IN A MULTINATIONAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT TEAM Matti Heimovaara Working with many different nationalities is always an enriching experience, whether good or bad, both are available. We Finns are extremely tolerant, polite and even overly kind when working with different nationalities. This behaviour has earned us a good reputation, but there is also another side

WORK EXPERIENCE THAT YOU CANNOT GET AT HOME A particular feature of the deployment was the relatively short rotational training period. Considering the nature of the mission, most of the tasks are clearly intended for professional soldiers. The Defence Forces’ recruitment slogan, ”Work experience you can’t get at home”, is absolutely true, at least in

A typical residential building in the outskirts of Kabul. The backyard is sheltered by high walls and a fruit tree that produces and shades the crops. (Caption) Ett typiskt bostadshus i utkanten av Kabul. Bakgården skyddas av höga murar och ett fruktträd som producerar och skuggar grödorna. (Bildtext)

UNKNOWN SOLDIER Jorma Reinimaa/Rauhanturvaajien juhlalehti 2016 THE UNITED NATIONS FINNISH COMPANY had completed its mission in Port Said and moved to Sinai to follow the retreating Israelis. Our company was now in a small coastal town called EI Tor. On the morning of the 8th of February 1957 part of our support team left for

Area of operation: first the Suez Canal area and the Sinai Peninsula, later Gaza and the Egyptian side of the Israeli-Egyptian border. Headquarters: Gaza Duration: November 1956 – June 1967 Number of Finns served: 437 Israel, with French and British support, invaded Egypt in the autumn of 1956 to block President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s project

SUEZ – 73 ”Language skills” could save a lot! Terho Ahonen/Rauhanturvaajien juhlalehti 2016 THE JOM KIPPUR WAR (October 1973) resulted in Egyptian and Israeli troops being nose to nose in the city of Suez, in some places within a few  metres from each other. The ceasefire violations of December ’73 and January ’74 were constant.

SUEZ UNEFI 1973-1974 Rainer Fabricius Rainer Fabricius, a 22-year-old ranger from the village of Hammaslahti in North Karelia, left for Suez as a peacekeeper in November 1973. He was stationed in the engineer platoon of a supply company. ”When the war started on Yom Kippur, the sixth of October, the turmoil between Egypt and Israel,

IN WAR AND PEACE A.E. Martola Commander of the UN Force in Cyprus ”13.5.1966 I begin again by copying my diary. In New York on the 38th floor of the UN Palace. A rather wonderful and why not to say, very pleasant thing has happened to me again. I am now sitting in the familiar

SKJA/ISAF/PRT MEY/MOT-L/L-6 Jaakko Estola While patrolling around Andkhoy in October 2006, we found a village, just an hour’s drive from the centre of Andkhoy, which had not been visited by foreigners since the Soviets left. We arrived with our team (MOT-L=Mobile Observation Team-Lima) at the village around noon. The temperature outside was a ”mild” 38