Swedish Home Guard

The Swedish Home Guard ( _sv. Hemvärnet) is a part of the Swedish Armed Forces. The Home Guard consists of local defence units under the leadership of the armed forces, as well as 23 national auxiliary defence organizations. The Home Guard could be regarded as the equivalent of a fully government controlled and sponsored version of the American State Defense Forces under the command of local Army regiments.

History

The establishment of the Home Guard was passed into law by the Riksdag on May 29, 1940, after the beginning of World War II, but units had already been formed by the military before this however. Home Guard units were groups of usually eight to 15 men that were to serve as defense units in case of war, located in towns and in both private and state-owned factories, throughout all of Sweden. Members of these small units usually consisted of former professional military men who were equipped with rifles, machine guns, ammunition, medicine, uniforms, and had the option of buying additional materials such as skis, sweaters and marching boots. An additional group, called the Lotta corps ("Women's Voluntary Defense Service"), helped with additional tasks that the Home Unit was unable to perform themselves. The Lotta corps helped provide the home unit with additional items such as socks, scarves and gloves as well as performing all administrative work that the unit could not afford to do themselves. In case of war, and in case the Home Guard was unable to utilize local hospitals, the Swedish Red Cross was prepared to set up first aid stations for its use.

Current organisation

The Home Guard is organised in battalions, covering parts of a county. These battalions are then organised into companies, usually one for every municipality. The main task of the battalions is to guard vital military and civilian installations throughout the country. Also attached to every battalion is at least one "Rapid Response Platoon" (Insatspluton). These platoons are usually motorized and is ready to be mobilized more often than other Home Guard units. Rapid Response Platoons have more combat tasks compared to the rest of the Home Guard, including escort duties.

As of 2006, the Home Guard consists of 37,000 soldiers (down from 42,000 in 2001) organized into 66 battalions (down from 69 in 2001) of 300-700 personnel. In 2001 there also existed 122 Rapid Response Platoons and 27 Rapid Response Company Commands ("Insatskompaniledning").

Method of operation

The Home Guard units are trained to be local combat units (primarily infantry but also signal troops). Although current doctrine states that Home Guard units can act anywhere within the country, local knowledge is one of the strengths of the organization. Training focuses on guard duties and weapons proficiency. Units are expected to use civilian assets (hospitals, supermarkets etc.) as part of their logistics.

In peacetime the Home Guards main task is to help with search and rescue operations, and to provide assistance to civil society in cases of severe emergencies such as natural disasters and the like.

Training and equipment

Contractually a member of the Home Guard must train 20 hours per year (although the time requirement varies according to role). A prerequisite for joining the Home Guard is to have received at least 85 days of basic military training. The level of training varies widely, from basic military training to Ranger school and to non-infantry service training. Also, no consideration is taken as to how long ago the training took place.

Home Guard training is centered around ground combat, from classroom instruction to a day on the firing range or more applied training exercises. Training is usually carried out on evenings or weekends and is not mandatory, and thus has varied a turnout. The equipment issued to Home Guard units is generally regular Swedish Army issue with some old equipment not being replaced and newer equipment not issued. Only the Rapid Response Platoons are organically motorized.

The standard armaments are Ak 4 battle rifles with red dot sights and sometimes with x4 optical sights for squad sharpshooters - or more rarely with a M203 grenade launcher - FN MAG (Ksp 58) machine guns, Carl Gustav recoilless rifles (Grg m/48) and AT4 (Pskott m/86) light anti-tank weapons. Psg 90 sniper rifles are also issued to designated snipers and some personnel are issued with Glock 17 (Pistol 88) pistols. Other equipment include anti-tank mines and manually detonated anti-personnel landmines, explosives and signals equipment. Some first and second generation night vision equipment of Russian manufacture have been issued, but illumination flares are otherwise used. Signals equipment at platoon level include AN/PRC-25 (Ra145) and AN/PRC-77 (Ra146) backpack radios.

Dogs are also used as sensor systems, usually two for every platoon. The animals are issued and trained by one of the national auxiliary defence organizations.

Home Guard Cadets

The Home Guard Cadets ("hemvärnsungdomar") is a youth section consisting of young girls and boys aged 15-20, typically recruited at age 15-16. The Cadets receive military training that includes base building, L-ABCDE first aid, CPR, communications, physical training, orienteering, defense studies, basic firearms training (with .22 long rifle up to age 16 and AK4 B with red dot sight from age 17) and from age 17 and up also patrolling and leadership training (group and platoon). At 18, a Cadet is allowed to undergo battle training. Despite this they are not officially called soldiers.

Although there is no rank system for Cadets, the training consists of 4 1-year-long blocks named Basic Course, Addition Course, Leadership Course Level 1 and Leadership Course Level 2 ("Grundkurs", GK; "Fortsättningskurs", FK; "Ledarskapskurs 1", LK1; and "Ledarskapskurs 2", LK2. LK1 and LK2 are sometimes called Practical Course, PK, and "Instruktörskurs", IK which means Practical Course and Instructor Course). After 4 years as a Cadet, the 19-20 year old has received military training equivalent to 85 days of basic military training, plus basic commander training.

Typically, the Cadets train one day or evening every or every other week, with 2-5 weekends per year spent in the field. During training they wear the same type of uniform and equipment as the regular forces, although it may vary between the sections depending on local budget and resources. From 2008, a Cadet at least 18 years of age who has completed at least the 3 first blocks of training is welcome to take a course to repeat and improve learned skills in order to serve in the regular Home Guard at age 20. This is very valuable to many of them, since many of them wont be needed in the Army, Navy or Air Force but still are eager to serve their country.

External links

* [http://www.hemvarnet.mil.se Official website] Sv icon
* [http://www.hemvarnet.mil.se/?lang=E Official website] En icon
* [http://www.mil.se/?lang=eng Swedish Armed Forces]
* [http://hemvarnet.se/?action=visaartikel;artikelid=71 Unofficial website]