RICHMOND, Va. –
Virginia National Guard Soldiers assigned to the Virginia Beach-based 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 329th Regional Support Group conducted a maintenance exchange with members of the Finnish Defense Forces July 23- Aug. 12, 2025, in Finland. The exchange was conducted in support of the Department of Defense’s State Partnership Program, in which Virginia and Finland have been formal partners since 2024.
During the exchange, the 329th’s Soldiers showed the Finns one of their Humvees and their maintenance protocols, while the Finns demonstrated some of their vehicles and how they conduct maintenance operations.
In order to demonstrate their maintenance operations, the VNG team was able to load a Humvee onto a C-17 Super Fortress operated by the New York Air National Guard before departing from the Blackstone Army Airfield near Blackstone, Virginia.
Once on the ground in Finland, the team got to work with the Finns, a new experience for most of the VNG Soldiers.
“Our mission was to teach the Finnish soldiers about our Humvee and show them the basic maintenance procedures, while in turn learning how their mechanics operate and repair their vehicles,” said Staff Sgt. Jeffery Sabatino, a wheeled vehicle mechanic.
There are some differences in the way each country’s mechanics handle maintenance issues with their vehicles.
“The way they do maintenance is very similar to how we operate in the Guard but instead of them using field maintenance shops, combined support maintenance shops, and Maneuver Area Training and Equipment Site facilities, they use the manufacturer which actually built some of the trucks,” said Staff Sgt. Karl Frazier.
The 329th Soldiers were also able to drive some of the Finnish vehicles, and were able to earn the right to drive on Finnish roads.
“The interaction with the Finnish soldiers has been great, said Frazier. “They’ve welcomed us in showing us the Finnish way of life and soldiering. They’ve taught us how to operate their manual vehicles, and they allowed us to complete a road test to operate a civilian car on public roads, and even issued us Class B Finnish driver’s license.”
The Soldiers said the cultural and language differences proved challenging, but rewarding.
“This is the first time I've been out of the country,” said Spc. Jabari Hall. “The hardest part for me would have to be the language barrier. Most of the younger folk here are fluent in Finnish, but speak a broken English. Some of the older folk only seemed to know Finnish.”
That challenge didn’t stop Hall from enjoying his first visit to the country.
“This entire trip has been a life altering experience, and I hope to have another opportunity to experience something like this again,” Hall said. “Some highlights I could name would be getting to explore and ride in their tanks, learning to drive stick shift, going off-roading and trying their food. My favorite part would have to be getting weekends off and having the opportunity to explore other parts of Finland.”
“I have had great interactions with the Finnish,” said Sabatino. “They love asking us questions and same goes for us. They are very friendly people, very helpful and eager to learn from us. I have made a lot of great Finnish friends on this trip.”
Ultimately, the 529th Soldiers enjoyed the exchange and the opportunity to train with the VNG’s Finnish counterparts.
“Being in Finland has showed me although we are from different parts of the world, there are still so many similarities on how we train and fight,” said Frazier. “These types of missions and joint trainings don’t cont come around too often for us, and I’m honored to be able to come here and cross-train on behalf of the Virginia National Guard.”
The SPP agreement between the VNG and Finnish Defense Forces builds on several decades of friendship and partnership between the two organizations. Finnish troops served alongside the Fort Belvoir-based 29th Infantry Division during the Stabilization 10 rotation in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2001-2002, and VNG personnel have trained side-by-side with their Finnish counterparts on numerous occasions over the years. More recently, Virginia Soldiers and Airmen competed in a Finnish Sniper Championship and participated in the Arctic Forge exercises. In summer 2024 Finnish personnel came to Virginia to participate in the Cyber Fortress 3.0 exercise, hosted by the 91st Cyber Brigade.
Read more about the VNG’s partnership with Finland at https://vngpao.info/yckwa597.