In the Finnish Defence Forces, special officers (Finnish: Erikoisupseeri : erikois + upseeri) are a group of military personnel which are officers assigned to tasks in areas that required special non-military training: medicine, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, music, economics and technical fields.[1][2] Their military ranks range from lieutenant to lieutenant general.
The majority of special officers are engineers, eligibility requirement being master's degree in engineering or an engineering degree or a university degree suitable for the position, in addition to non-commissioned officer or reserve officer training.[3]
As of 2023[update] there are about 800 special officers.[3]
Examples of duties of a special officer include: System Engineer, Conductor, Flight Test Engineer, Mechanical Officer, Quality Manager, Teaching Engineer, Chief Medical Officer, Sector Leader, Military Engineer, Military Doctor, Military Chaplain, Electrical Engineer, Research Engineer, Warehouse Manager.[1]
Notable special officers
Jukka Juusti, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense (2016-2021), engineer lieutenant general
Kari Renko [fi], director of the logistics department of the Defense Forces (2020-2022), engineer major general
Kimmo Koskenvuo [fi], Chief Medical Officer of Finnish Defense Forces (1978-1996), medical lieutenant general
Pekka Somer [fi], Chief Medical Officer of the Defense Forces (1953–1967), medical lieutenant-general