Lukas Ruane On National Service In Finland

Lukas Ruane is working outdoors in temperatures of minus 20C – after enrolling for national service in Finland.

Our 2nd XI opening batsman who is from North Duffield, has just begun 165 days of mandatory service at Utti Air Base, in the south-east of Finland.

Born in 2006 to a Finnish mother who settled down in the village six years earlier with her English husband, Lukas is carrying out the compulsory service Finland requires of every male citizen aged 18 to 60.

After initial service, conscripts join the reserves, usually remaining liable for call-up in an emergency for at least 30 years.

It’s a duty carried out by all of the men on his mother Sanna’s side of the family, who Lukas said had all served on the same base where he landed on January 5 and with the same regiment he is attached to.

He said: “I feel that if I want to keep my claim to the Finnish passport, I had to do it.

“I didn’t want to be exempted and want to be able to defend my family too if needs be.

“It’s also been a great life experience living in a different country, and it’s also mentally and physically demanding”.

Lukas said from a very young age he has always wanted to go into the military and was a cadet at 110 (City of York) Squadron ATC in Burton Stone Lane for nearly four years.

Meeting “a lot of people on the base from opposite ends of the spectrum to my own, who are motivated in different ways to undertake the national service has been a great experience”, he said.

“I’m pretty sure I’m the only person here who hasn’t lived in Finland”.

“Everyone knows because I have quite an accent”.

“I don’t get treated any differently, apart from the odd extra bit of explaining from a corporal”.

Lukas said he’s been drawing strength from an “untranslatable Finnish word – sisu – the closest parallel over here being never give up” and is seen as part of its national identity.

His attachment training so far has matched all of his expectation, he said, with the end of one march of 20 kilometres wearing 35kg of kit helping him “get used to being outside, cold and miserable”.

He said: “I’d completed the final part of our war games – a patrol lasting two hours at minus 20C and had begun the process of winding down.

“As soon as I got into my sleeping bag in the tent an almighty explosion went off.

“I had to then put all my gear back on and into a foxhole and we began again.”

The dual-citizen explained to Finnish news organisation Kouvolan Sanomat that his roots on his mother’s side are in Ummeljoki, a village around 15 miles from the base.

Lukas has spent some of his downtime there enjoying meat stews cooked by his grandmother.

He said he wouldn’t join the Finnish military after this part of his service but is keeping his options open, saying he would be returning to the UK after his tour overseas ends in the summer, but very much wants to be a part of public service wherever he is.

He said: “It’s been a great experience and all my friends here in the UK – many of whom are militarily minded – think it’s pretty cool to be doing what I’m doing”.

His father Shaun said: “Lukas is proud to be both half-English and half-Finnish.

“We know how long he’s been wanting to do it and we knew it would be an unforgettable experience for him, not only to be in Finland for so long, but also for him to meet all sorts of Finnish people, from every walk of life.

“To say we are proud doesn’t do Lukas justice, we are especially proud of the type of values he demonstrates for someone his age”.

Lukas is expected to return to the UK sometime in June, just in time for him to push for a place in the squad of the Finnish national men’s cricket team, who he has toured with.

In August, the team is taking part in regional cricket world cup qualifiers.