Denmark has deployed conscript soldiers to Greenland for the first time in its modern history, the Danish Armed Forces have said in a press release published on August 18.
Around 100 conscripts from the Schleswig Foot Regiment landed in Nuuk in early August. They were divided between the capital and Kangerlussuaq, north of the Arctic Circle in western Greenland, with some due to rotate between the two sites.
The soldiers are carrying out operational tasks during Arctic Endurance, the Danish-led exercise and presence operation launched in January. It was the first time conscripts had been given such duties rather than training alone, the armed forces said.
The group is the first cohort to pass through the extended 11-month military service, which started in February under the 2024-2033 defence agreement. Recruits complete five months of basic training before six months of operational duty.
Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus told parliament in June that the longer service allowed conscripts to be used outside mainland Denmark, including in Greenland. Deployments beyond the Danish Realm are voluntary and conscripts serve within units that also include professional personnel.
Danish infantry normally rely on forest cover, and the open rock and treeless plain around Kangerlussuaq forced the soldiers to learn Arctic concealment, a company commander said in the release.
Residents of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are exempt from Danish conscription. Other Danish citizens undergo a physical assessment at 18 and can be called up through a lottery when there are not enough volunteers.
The reform extended service from four months and opened the draft to women on equal terms, following the model used in Norway and Sweden. The defence ministry has said the change should raise the annual intake to as many as 7,500 conscripts by 2033, citing the war in Ukraine and the wider deterioration in European security.
Some 1,600 recruits began the new programme at 14 locations across Denmark on August 3.
Arctic Endurance is being run in close co-ordination with Naalakkersuisut, the Greenlandic government, and involves several NATO allies. Copenhagen said it would continue and expand its military presence and exercise activity in the Arctic and the North Atlantic through 2026.
Greenland, an autonomous territory of EU member state Denmark, has been at the centre of a dispute with Washington since US President Donald Trump began pressing to acquire it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in June the island was part of Denmark “for now”, a remark that drew criticism in Copenhagen.
European governments have backed the Danish position, though their own contributions to the island have been modest. Italy declined to join the deployments in January, dismissing them as strategically meaningless.
