Local Defence troops ( Finland ) Local Defence troops , or Local Defence units and Volunteer reserve units ( " Maakuntajoukot " in Finnish ) are local troops of Finnish Defence Forces composed of volunteer reservists who have signed a contract which obliges them to do certain tasks during a crisis . Finnish Defence Forces and , under control of FDF , National Defence Training Association of Finland are responsible for training of troops . Local Defence troops are composed of provincial companies , each of which is under command of Military province of their area ( " Sotilaslääni " , four in total , divided to 19 military districts " ( aluetoimisto ) " ) , in total there are 28 companies . Most important duties for Local Defence troops are protection , guarding , oversight and defence of certain objects and the area of their respective military district in general in addition to helping police and / or firedepartments and other officials in number of matters , in war time armed forces companies of Local Defence troops are under direct command of headquarters of their respective Military province just as they are in peace time . Members of troops have their personal equipment ( excluding most of battlegear such as flak vests , ballistic helmets and weaponry ) at home on loan from the FDF , allowing quick mobilisation of troops in case of crisis since they only need battlegear and additional equipment such as vehicles , signalling equipment and supplies to be completely ready , these will be provided by garrisons and / or other military installations within or at least near to the military district the company in question is located in . Companies are always composed of reservists from area of certain military district within military province in question , providing an advantage of knowing the area of operations . Troops are trained regularly and their physical abilities are tested annually with conditions of suitability for troops set higher than basic expectations for professional soldiers of FDF . Creation . In 1990 Finland declared the military restrictions of the Paris Peace Treaties , 1947 obsolete , which among other things had forbidden the military training outside of the Finnish Defence forces , in 1993 the National Defence Training Association of Finland was founded to guide and organize the voluntary defence training , the legal foundation was created in 1994 . In 2001 it was decided to develop the voluntary defence training , and in 2002 a ministry - level work group was created to study the matter , the group released its report in 2004 , calling for creation of what would become Local Defence troops . February 14 , 2007 the Finnish parliament passed the Act of Defence forces 551 / 2007 which allowed the creation of the Local Defence troops , president Tarja Halonen signed the law in May 11 . Critics . Some left - wing political parties and other political groups have criticized Local Defence troops for being too close to White Guard which was abolished after World War II , while some civilian organizations such as Finnish Red Cross say that Local Defence troops shouldn ' t take a part in operations that fall under their area of expertice such as peace time volunteer rescue service .