Whereas most years around 4,000 young people present for military service, on Monday the figure was around 700, roughly a third of this year's applicants, "Aktuaalne kaamera" reported.

The Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) says this sabbatical year will permit more active-duty personnel to attend further training while training programs are updated, and facilitate adopting the various new weapon systems Estonia is taking on.

"The organization of conscription is also changing. From next year, combat duty will be introduced, which means that all our permanent units will be on constant readiness, to respond rapidly as well," said Anu Rannaveski, head of the Defense Resources Agency (KRA).

Priority was given to those who see their future in the EDF beyond the conscription period, usually eight or 11 months depending on the specialty, while a test was also introduced to help with the selection process.

"We developed a test for this together with researchers from the Estonian Military Academy, and all the young people took that test. It produced a ranking, and they entered conscription on that basis," Rannaveski added.

Those who did not make it to barracks this year will still be required to complete their conscription period over the next couple of years instead. The choices facing the remainder, as many as 1,500 rejected applicants, are likely to get a job or attend higher education.

Whereas two-thirds of young men who applied were not taken on, all 32 young women who opted to be conscripted were accepted.

"Aktuaalne kaamera" spoke to one of these, Sirli, who invited two friends to join her in military service too.

"At first I actually wanted to go into reconnaissance with my friends, but because I was too late, I decided that air defense seemed cooler and different," Sirli explained.

This means her friends will have to serve in reconnaissance without her, but despite this Sirli said she is looking forward to her service with great excitement.

Another change is that the Air Force (Õhuvägi) is once again taking on conscripts, more than 20 years after it last did so. The recruits will be trained to operate the newest weapons systems, including the IRIS-T air defense missile systems, which only recently arrived in Estonia.

"The Air Force is distinctive in that we are quite a small team, but the enthusiasm of our team is certainly very high. Another distinctive feature of the Air Force is that they are coming to us in Ämari, which is the most modern air base in the Baltics, and they will also get to work with the newest weapons system we currently have in the EDF," said Kaarel Piirsalu, commander of the Air Defense Division.

The Air Force is taking on 66 conscripts this year. One of them, Indrek, was one of the few from his school to be accepted for conscription.

"A guy from the Air Force came to speak at our school, and he said it was nice there and close to home," Indrek recalled.

Another Air Force draftee, Rasmus, said the conscription period allowed him to straighten out what he will be doing next in terms of higher education.

"I'll see whether something better becomes clear over the course of this year," Rasmus added.

Conscription is mandatory for males after leaving school, with exemptions including for those going on to higher education and those with medical issues. Former conscripts remain on EDF reserve lists and are liable for annual service at exercises such as Okas.

The estimated number of conscripts for 2026 had initially been set at 1,200. From 2027, the plan is to restore the regular figure of around 4,000 conscripts to be drafted.

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