US combat engineers have the same missions. We just use different equipment. Do the Finns use European or Russian based combat engineer equipment, or a combination ?

Finnish combat engineers use wide variety of equipment produced in different countries. I could point out origin of some equipment used in Finland: DOMESTIC PRODUCTS: - mines (except claymore-like apers mines) - equipment for manual mine detection and clearing (except some mine-detectors) - demining vehicle (Sisu RA-140 DS) RUSSIAN (or SOVIET UNION) PRODUCTS: - vehicle-attached mine rollers and ploughs (KMT-5M, KMT-6M) - river crossing equipment (rafts and floating "bridges") OTHER FOREIGN PRODUCTS : - Bailey -bridges (and bridging equipment like Bailey) - M82 Barrett -rifle (for clearing scatterable mines by shooting) This list isn't very comprehensive, but it's the best I can do at the moment. I can give you more detailed information by e-mail, if you like. LINKS: Finnish Defence Forces ( http://http://www.mil.fi/index_en.html ) has a small page about engineer corps, which can be found here: http://www.mil.fi/kalustoesittely/00070_en.html Sisu RA-140 DS demining vehicle (widely used in UN-missions): http://www.mil.fi/kalustoesittely/00078_en.html

there's conscription in Finland? sorry, but that kinda sucks ;-). anyway. most engineers do all that in US, Canada and most European countries. there r also bridge engineers (quickly deploy bridges to move troops across rivers or ravines), there r engineers on naval vessels (usually in engine room and other large mechanical areas) as well, then ofcourse u usually have them invovled in research and field testing (i kno it's not really combat), engineers for SAM batterires, anti-aircraft guns, radars etc. (this general overview found in most countries).

Finn's kinda sucks?????? Stalin thought so too.

In US experience, add an awful lot of humanitarian missions. The 535th "Pacemakers" built a road in Ecuador where no-one ever thought a road could be built. Wells and schools in Honduras, etc. Duties for US engineers have also included combatting fires, in wilderness areas of the US.

US combat engineers are also responsible for certain types of recon and intelligence gathering. Route Reconnaisance. When the commander wants to know the "carrying capacity" of the region he intends to attack into, deploy into, or cross, a few really brave engineers are sent to check it out. It helps if friendly forces have already secured the area, or at least made it acceptably safe, before the engineers do their analysis, but this isn't always the case. Engineers also provide "life support" to units in the field, like building showers, etc. An Engineer story: One day, a particularly bad engineer dies, and is sent to languish in Hell for eternity. A month later, Heaven realizes a mistake has been made: engineers never go to Hell, (not in the afterlife, that is!) and so God asks Satan to send the Engineer back. Satan refuses, explaining that before, Hell was a really nasty, horrible place, but now, it's got air conditioning, fresh water, working elevators and escalators, its almost pleasant. We get lawyers every day, Satan explains, but this is our first engineer, and we're keeping him.

One more thing NBC - Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare. US Army Combat Engineers are also tasked with identifying as needed and Neutralizing or more commonly Decomtaminating both personnal and equipment. Ispose Former US Army Combat Engineer