Posts by awmperry

Swedish military bras burst, melt during 'rigorous exercise'

Minor niggle...

The problem can't have "persisted for twenty years". They may have started issuing female underwear in the last few years, but at least in 2001 and earlier the military just provided a clothing allowance for them to buy their own.

Perhaps they do now, in which case they really should provide adequate underwear, but certainly last I heard no female underwear was issued. (Although female soldiers tended to run off with the issued boxer shorts, because they're rather comfortable.)

In any case, accomodation isn't generally sex-separated. Males and females share rooms, showers, tents... when I served, my female colleagues thought nothing of changing clothes in front of the rest of the squad on marches - because nobody else did either. Sure, some of us had attractive lumpy bits on the front, but we were all squaddies. Changing or adjusting clothing in front of the rest of the unit isn't a problem.

No, military service is *not* a requirement

Paul 4:

"It frightens me how childish some people are.

"These girls are forced in to the Army and then not given basic working kit. This makes the British Army look like they know what they are doing. How the hell bras catch on fire I don't know."

They're not at all forced - indeed, while men still get called to "mönstring" at the age of 18, women still have to specifically sign up for national service. But more on that later.

As for bras bursting into flame, that's not quite the problem. The problem is if burning material lands on clothing; then the material can melt, causing severe burns. The issued M/90 uniform, for instance, can withstand burning material for over a minute, and when it does catch it just smoulders, rather than melting. And of course a burn is much easier to treat than if there's melted nylon in the wound... ;-)

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Craig 28:

"Might be also that military regs require they use officially sanctioned gear only.

"Is Sweden one of those countries that has compulsory national service? If it is and women are included then this is indeed not all that funny. Still can't help but find the idea of bursting bras amusing, just feel sorry for the poor girls. This is coming from someone who doesn't even find the whole "blonde swedish woman" stereotype that appealing."

On the whole, gear has to be issued, but there is plenty of scope for personalisation. Underwear isn't regulated, though soldiers are reminded that for fire safety purposes natural or flame-retardant materials are better. It is worth noting, though, that under most day-to-day duties, that fire-protection isn't necessary.

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Paul 4 again:

"Yes it is."

No it's not.

As Olof P - a fellow Swede, I'm guessing - says, there have been moves to expand the requirement to both males and females, and I think that would be a good idea.

The way it works in Sweden is that all males reaching 18 are called for "mönstring", to register. Most people leave it entirely; the most recent figure I've heard is that 14% of males get called up, though I can't remember if that's för military service or national service in general. You also get the choice between military service ("värnplikt") or civilian service ("civilplikt"), which includes things like the rescue services.

What all this boils down to is that, essentially, all men 18-24 are required to serve in the military for 7-15 months... unless they don't want to. (Seriously. Say "You know, I don't fancy it" in the interview, and there's a good chance they'll just say "OK, have a nice trip home".)

Similarly, women are required to serve - but only if they sign up and say "I want to".

So no, in practice nobody's forced into the military; with very few exceptions (if any), there's no one there who didn't want to be.

For what it's worth, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in, and the Swedish M/90 uniform system is one of the best designed systems in existence.