Year Chronicle by Laura Swaan Wrede: The Home Guard – A Combat Force in Constant Development

The Swedish Home Guard – A Combat Force in Constant Development 

We are soon leaving behind an eventful year where our world is still marked by wars and conflicts. At the same time, we see a stronger Sweden and a stronger armed forces with a stronger Home Guard – especially now that Sweden has been part of the NATO alliance for almost two years. As Sweden is part of NATO, our defence begins at the alliance's outer border. According to Article 5, we must be able to defend our allies, and they must be able to defend us in the event of an armed attack. At the same time, we remain responsible for maintaining and developing our own ability to withstand an armed attack, as described in Article 3. This means that the Home Guard plays an increasingly important role, with our high readiness being first on the scene to solve our tasks. In this way, we create good conditions for the rest of the Swedish Armed Forces and civil authorities to operate. 

Since our national border does not constitute NATO's outer border, Sweden as a geographical area assumes a new role. Previously, our area was a potential combat zone for a Swedish defence, whereas now we have transitioned to a rear, or forward rear, area suitable for the basing of military capabilities. With this, host nation support becomes an important task for Sweden. Here, our military regions with their constituent units, including Home Guard units, have an important role to fill. The ability to provide regional host nation support is and will continue to be a prioritised task within the Home Guard combat force.

Within the combat force, we have for many years established collaborations focusing on countries in our geographical vicinity. Examples of these collaborations include Skandia, where we cooperate with the Home Guards in Denmark and Norway, and Scanbal, where we collaborate with Home Guards and territorial units in Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. Our main purpose with these collaborations is to quickly increase the capability for armed combat. Through joint exercises, we develop our tactics, techniques, and methods for even better combat against our adversary.  

Within the framework of our international collaborations, we have conducted several rewarding meetings and exercises throughout the year. To mention a few of the exercises, Exercise Hedgehog in Estonia, Exercise Namejs in Latvia, and Exercise Arctic Light in Greenland have provided us with particularly valuable experiences and strengthened our capability. What is common for these exercises is that we have been part of very realistic exercises that have trained us in our main tasks of protecting, monitoring, and disrupting. I am very proud of the Home Guard soldiers who, through their high competence, willingness, and great commitment, have further strengthened our good international relations and important collaborations for the combat force. Our international cooperation makes a difference and will continue to be a natural part of our ongoing development and operations. 

Something that also stands out is the combat force's efforts during the British-led Operation Interflex. Since the Swedish Armed Forces received the assignment in 2022, we, together with the army, have contributed to training over 56,000 Ukrainian volunteers, both instructors and soldiers. The Home Guard has staffed the training in several rounds with a total of 500 instructors, both employees from military regions and volunteer Home Guard soldiers, where we once again staffed the assignment during the first half of this year. It is an effort that has demanded a lot from our personnel and our Home Guard soldiers. Therefore, I am especially proud that the evaluations of the soldier and instructor training conducted by the combat force have received excellent results. 

We need to dare to think anew to manage and train volunteers in the tense global situation that prevails today. Voluntary Military Training (FMU) is such an initiative that we see can fill the gap in recruitment after many years of dormant conscription, thus allowing us to fill our units with soldiers. Our new training concept has received international attention, and now several other countries' armed forces want to know more about the setup.

The training itself is not new as it consists of existing Home Guard courses. What is new is that the courses have been combined so that the individual can complete them in one go. Thereafter, the individual is placed in a Home Guard unit where the training continues towards the final goal of becoming a soldier in the Home Guard. During the summer, the first training round was conducted with very good results, and in 2026, FMU will be conducted in several places in the country. In the coming years, the Home Guard combat force will continue its development with a focus on having well-trained and equipped units while being a good ally.   

Laura Swaan Wrede 

Major General 

Chief of the National Home Guard