23
QUICK TALK
Sunday in late March in the snow, learn-
ing to make impromptu stretchers that
could be used to haul wounded comrades
out of the woods. “I wear heels five days a
week. So this,” she says, gesturing to her
heavy flak jacket and boots, “is a big dif-
ference. But I want the knowledge, and I
want to be prepared.”
Preparation is at the heart of the
league. New recruits spend eight week-
ends in basic training, where they learn
to fire and clean weapons, to handle ex-
plosives, and a range of other survival
skills. After passing a final test, they
are allowed to keep their state-issued
weapons at home. “I don’t know many
countries in the world where the state
entrusts its citizens to have combat
weapons at their homes, just in case,”
said one veteran member. “If we are sud-
denly attacked, I don’t need to go to a
certain point to get my gear. I can just
step out of my front door, walk 20 ft. into
the bushes, and then I’m dangerous.”
Against a conventional army with its
large battalions and rigid formations, the
EDL’s small, local units are intended to
be much more agile. “One of our origi-
nal principles is that you fight in the
area you are from,” says Major Rene
Toomse, who oversees the EDL’s train-
ing programs. “The point is that dur-
ing peacetime you have time to learn
all the terrain: you know where you
can hide, where you can produce good
ambushes—it’s your turf. Imagine what
kind of leverage that gives you against
an invading enemy. They have no idea
where to go, and you know every inch.”
The EDL hasn’t yet had to test its abili-
ties in a real conflict, but it collaborates
with the Estonian military and with other
NATO forces in war games and joint exer-
cises, and is a major reason why research-
ers at the Rand organization consider Esto-
nia’s total defense capabilities to be among
“the most developed” of the Baltic states.
That serves as reassurance in a coun-
try where many believe that should
Ukraine fall, they will be next. After sit-
ting in on the Klooga unit’s practice am-
bush, Major Toomse drove to a target
range where a different unit was spend-
ing its Sunday learning to fire two-person
antitank weapons called Carl-Gustafs.
“If Russia thinks it can reoccupy Estonia
or any Baltic country,” Toomse said, “it’s
going to be a disaster for them.” □