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Along with TikTok videos, weekend plans and history classes, there is another topic of conversation that Signe Le Fevre, 17, from Hobro in northern Denmark, discusses with her friends: whether they will soon be forced to join the army.
“Because that’s apparently a normal thing to talk about now as a teenage girl in Denmark,” Le Fevre says. “I turn 18 in February and it is a worry. Not many of us have a good feeling about it and are actually pretty scared to be selected — including me.”
In July, Denmark expanded its military conscription programme. Previously only mandatory for men, now all young women turning 18 will also be entered into a conscription lottery with the potential to be called up for military service, which has been extended from four to 11 months. No one in Denmark has been called up unwillingly since 2012 — because there have been enough volunteers — but the changes mean many teenagers feel it could happen to them in the near future.
Privates Skovlund, 20, Lauritz, 20, Mathilde, 21, and Lukas, 20, on a training exercise MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES The conscription drive aims to build up Denmark’s reserve army, extending the number of recruits from about 4,000 a year to 7,500. It is one of a number of ways in which the country is making clear it is prepared for war. Last month, the government announced more than £6.5 billion of extra defence spending, buying more F-35 jets, drones and ships, with a long-term plan of committing £20 billion over ten years. Its defence spending as a share of GDP has been increased from 2 per cent in 2023 to 3 per cent this year. The Danish government — and many of its people — believe the threat from President Putin’s Russia is growing. In September, airports at Copenhagen and Oslo closed for several hours after a suspected Russian drone incursion. Days earlier 19 Russian drones had entered Polish airspace, prompting alarm in Nato. Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, called the drones over Copenhagen airport “the most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure to date”. Some countries in Europe already have a form of a conscription, such as Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania — notably, countries closest to Russian borders — but the war in Ukraine and so-called “grey zone” activities like these have reignited the debate across the continent. Last week, Germany announced it would call up all 18-year-old men for a military medical examination and create a mechanism for emergency conscription, while Italy has also debated reintroducing mandatory service. • What do airport drones reveal about Russia’s goading of Nato? There was a bite in the air outside an office block on the outskirts of Copenhagen on a Tuesday morning this month. Outside, a sign read “defence day”. This is one of Denmark’s four recruitment centres, operating 364 days a year. Inside, about 50 people, mostly young men, filled in a registration form before shuffling into a classroom to hear a presentation from a khaki-clad young private on joining the Danish military. There were fewer women, because they have only just started being called up. A recruitment sergeant presents to a group of young Danish men MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES Around their 18th birthdays, all young people now receive a letter from the Ministry of Defence inviting them to attend a defence day and register with the conscription service. Failure to attend is illegal and results in a 1,000 krone (£118) fine. Ignore the letter a second time and the fine rises to 3,000 krone. After a third failure to attend, police will arrive at your house to take you to the conscription office. “It happens quite a lot. I’d say the police bring at least one person a day,” a sergeant tells me. Young Danes pick a number from a tombola to determine whether or not they will be called on to serve, should volunteer numbers be low MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES After the presentation, potential recruits must complete a one-hour electronic test with questions including verbal reasoning and mathematical sequencing. Then they undergo medical testing — stripping down to their underwear — with doctors checking eyesight, heart rate, lungs, physical condition and so on. Finally, they draw a number from a tombola ranging from 1 to 36,000, and then they wait. They can be called up for military service until they are 32. Picking a lower number (1-8,000) means they are more likely to be chosen if there are not enough volunteers. Someone here against his wishes is 19-year-old Sigurd Lucca Weck, who I find sitting on sofas in the reception. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t be here,” he says. “I am kind of annoyed. I’m very much against war.” Sigurd Lucca Weck, 19, plans to volunteer rather than serve in the military MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES Those who do not want to serve in the army are able to apply for conscientious objector status and can volunteer in nurseries, retirement homes or hospitals instead, which is what Weck plans to do if it comes to it. The 11 months of military service is paid, with a monthly salary plus a tax-free daily allowance — a total of about £1,400 a month — and free accommodation. Service can be deferred until after young people have finished their studies. There are drawbacks to employing conscripts, Commander Sune Lund, who is overseeing the defence day, says. “We need to make sure that people are resilient enough. Shooting with a gun, experiencing explosions, conforming to a command organisation — that’s quite a change for people.” Head of conscription Sune Lund puts conscripts through their paces MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES At the centre, bleary-eyed teenagers wearing hoodies and puffer jackets file into the conscription office, looking like they would rather be in bed. But Lund says these young people may end up defending Europe’s freedom — and women are needed in the war effort just as much as men. “The whole security environment in Europe since Russia’s reinvasion of Ukraine has made it obvious that we all need to be better suited to take care of our own security. In order to do that and get the full benefit of our whole population, an all-gender conscription is the best way to go,” he said. “Different people bring different qualities into the military. And as a modern organisation, we need to be able to benefit from all these different qualities from all genders.” Denmark prides itself on being one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, ranking third in the EU after Sweden and the Netherlands. The Danish parliament is 44 per cent female, and the country has led other nations on equal pay and paternal leave policies. Women make up only about 25 per cent of the Danish army, however. Le Fevre believes gender equality in conscription is a positive thing, although she says her country is far from perfect. “Although I think it is an amazing way to come closer to gender equality, I still think there are many other ways of doing so. One of my friends told me that there are more CEOs in Denmark with the name Lars than female CEOs.” It is the personal consequences she struggles with. She wants to take a gap year and then go to university, plans that she fears could be derailed. She thinks younger people are being forced to pay for a geopolitical mess made by older generations. On the streets of Copenhagen, there is substantial support for the new conscription programme. Celina Frost Zachowergezo, 21, a student, with her friends Ida-Marie 23, and Lykke, 26, are spending the morning in Norreport. “If you want to have true equality then I feel you need to have both genders,” Zachowergezo said. “Men don’t want to [sign up], but they do it anyway because they have to, so why shouldn’t we have to?” Celina Frost Zacho Werge, 20, Ida-Marie Strande Mogensen, 23, and Lykke Jasmin Moller, 26, said there should be equality in who has to serve MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES She believes bringing in more women could stop the military feeling like a boys’ club. While men could often glamorise shooting a gun, she said, women can be more switched on when it comes to the dangers. “A lot of the girls think, OK, we could actually die. Especially with this possible war with Russia and all the drone activity we’ve had in Denmark.” Although Denmark is 700 miles from the Russian border, the threat feels impossible to ignore. Newsreports advise on prepping in case of electricity blackouts and food shortages, while on daytime TV there are chat show segments on how to talk to your children about conscription. “All Danes are aware of the security situation, having a threat that we haven’t seen before,” says Colonel Kenneth Strom, head of the military conscription programme, when we meet at the Ministry of Defence in central Copenhagen. “That threat means we need to build up more combat power as fast as possible.” Colonel Kenneth Strom, head of the Danish military’s conscription programme MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES Is there a chance Denmark could increase its conscript programme further? Strom is guarded, but admits that circumstances are changing all the time: “I do not see it as a static situation.” Critics of the law have argued that increasing Denmark’s military capacity only escalates conflict in Europe. If Europe has access to a large army, they argue, it is more likely to be deployed. But Strom says: “The most essential path right now is to deter, and if necessary, to be part of the Nato collective defence.” An hour’s drive outside Copenhagen, where the leaves of the forest are turning copper, is Jaegerspris military base. The sound of gunfire crackles through the air. In khaki uniform, military recruits holding machine guns and rifles crawl up a hill and drop down into dugouts in battle positions, firing live rounds at targets. One recruit, Lauritz, 20, said some people on the course “got a reality check” when drones came to Denmark a few weeks ago. He said that, unlike his maths lessons, “it’s nice to know that this education might actually be needed. I’m never going to use that again but at least I know I can use this”. Private Mathilde, 21, and Private Skovlund, 20, volunteered for the infantry MATTHEW JAMES HARRISON FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES After the exercise, I find Skovlund, 20, and Mathilde, 21, the only two women, talking to the other recruits. They volunteered for the infantry and are eight months through the 11-month programme. “I wanted to work outside and try something to push my boundaries,” said Skovlund. They are both using names given to them by the military in order to protect their identity. Mathilde also said she wanted to challenge herself, though she admits that one of the hardest parts has been sharing dormitories with mostly men. “At the start, I had to get used to it — the yelling and the underwear, they’re just going around in their underwear — but now it’s ok.” How would they feel if they were called up to fight in a war? “I have thought about it a bit more now that the war is a lot closer than when I signed up,” said Mathilde. “My mindset is to be calm and do it for my country.” Does she feel like she has a duty to protect Denmark and defend Europe? Mathilde paused. “I don’t think I have the duty,” she said. “But I’m happy to help.”
