Most conscripts heading into Santahamina, Helsinki's seaside military installation, blend in with the crowd as they are inducted. It's a process that's meant to make everyone seem equal, forced to shed their civilian clothes, exchanging them for the drab fatigues of the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF).
But even with a newly-shorn buzz cut, it's difficult for the 2.13-metre tall (about seven feet) NBA star Lauri Markkanen to not stand out. A scrum of journalists documenting the event didn't do any favours to help the Utah Jazz player blend in, either.
"I'm excited, it's something that I've never done and I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot," Markkanen told Yle News as he was preparing to pack his military-issued bags.
At 25, Markkanen is a bit on the older side for a conscript, as most of his peers are typically around 19 when they complete their mandatory armed service training.
"Obviously it's a new challenge that I'm going to go after here, just like on the basketball court. I'll try to give it everything I got and I know everything's going to be fine," Markkanen told Yle News.
It's not every day that an NBA All Star reports for military service, but it's nothing out of the ordinary for people in Finland. Once they turn 18, every male in the Nordic country has to complete military training before they turn 30 years old.
Men do have the option to serve in a civilian service capacity, but if they refuse they could face jail time. This is one reason international human rights organisations have criticised Finland's conscription system.
But Finland's conscription arrangement has helped it build a military reserve of around 280,000 troops, which could be increased to 900,000 in the event of a crisis. Finland's entire population is roughly 5.5 million people. The Finnish Defence Forces train around 27,000 new conscripts every year.
Markkanen not first star in camo
Helsingin Sanomat referred to Markkanen's call-up for service as an "image win," detailing the history of many other Finnish stars fulfilling their duties.
Even the most high profile athletes and stars are not exempt from their national conscription requirements. While he started to make a name for himself on F1 circuits, Kimi Räikkönen was completing his military service as a corporal. NHL netminder Antti Raanta wrote about his time in the Finnish Defence Forces in The Players' Tribune while he was playing for domestic top-flight team Rauman Lukko.
Most of Finland's elite athletes have been able to continue practising their sport while they're in the military, by joining the army's Sports School. The army's main facility for these athletes is a unit based in Santahamina, Helsinki.
The unit trains athletic conscripts for reconnaissance squads, and prepares them for emergency and wartime conditions.
NHL goalie Raanta recalled some details about his training.
"It was a completely different life. And the crazy thing was my teammates and I were allowed to go back home for practice a few days a week. So we would show up to practise in our military camo, go out onto the ice for practice, then change back into our camo and go back to this other life where we were sleeping in the forest and shooting guns," Raanta reminisced.
There have been instances where sports stars have delayed their service or even tried to forego it, sometimes through medical exemptions. In 2010, NHL New Jersey Devils forward Erik Haula's agent-father made headlines in newspaper Ilta-Sanomat when he said that athletes should be able to pay their way out of service with a fee of 50,000 euros to be used for the FDF's assault rifles.
Focused on the mission
Besides basketball, Markkanen is also an avid disc golfer, making an appearance at last year's Disc Golf European Open in Nokia, Finland and dedicating a highlight section of his Instagram page to the sport.
Like many other places in Finland, the island base of Santahamina actually has its own disc golf course, but that appeared to be a secondary thought to the Utah Jazz Star.
"I didn't really look into it. I'm trying to do what we do here and move on from there," Markkanen explained.
Markkanen's service is expected to last 165 days, though Finnish President Sauli Niinistö already offered him a fitness holiday on 6 December, an allusion that Markkanen just might be invited to Finland's Independence Day gala.
The basketball star told reporters that he was happy to hear the news from the president.
While Markkanen's time playing in the NBA will not count towards his service, the time he spends representing Finland in the FIBA World Cup will. There is also a possibility that Markkanen splits his total service time between this- and next summer, the NBA's offseason.
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