If
this is true, then it's not true.
"We are very proud of our Finnish men. Eight-two percent of all Finnish men manage their whole military service," Kivela said.
82 percent finish their whole military service. Finland has the draft. That means that 18 percent of Finnish men are unable to complete the whole length of their military service.
Finland called up 26,500 men in 2003, nine percent of whom were relieved of duty for medical reasons.
Ok, half of the ones who can't complete their military service have a medical reason. The story implies that the other half can't cope with the differences between civilian and military life. They get in, but can't hang in there long enough to complete it.
compulsory six months in the forces
They can't put up with military life for six months. It took me six months to get through Basic and AIT. And how the hell do they have the free time to miss a hobby?
national pride in "sisu," a Finnish quality of being tough and resilient
National pride in being sissies, maybe. It's not like Finland is contributing a lot of troops to peacekeeping in the balkans.
Goe, needs lunch.