Sissi (Finnish Light Infantry) - Term and Use

Term and Use

In Finnish, "sissi" means guerrilla, but the term is somewhat misleading when referring to Finnish Defence Force Sissi troops. Sissi forces are not irregular guerrilla or militia forces; they are part of the regular FDF -troops trained for operations behind enemy lines. Like most of the Finnish Defence Forces, Sissi battalions are composed of reservists. Their closest foreign equivalents are the Swedish Armed Forces Jägare troops.

Sissi as a description is a person of extraordinary stamina (or Sisu) – e.g. "Sissi weather" (Sissin sää) refers to the worst possible weather conditions, for Sissi soldiers prefer these for their operations, since bad weather tends to distract enemy soldiers (any normal soldier tends to think about getting to shelter as soon as possible when bad weather strikes) and hide any noise caused by sissis.

In the Finnish Defence Forces, Sissi is used as an umbrella term for all unconventional military applications, such as MREs, which are called "Sissi rations", also any improvised and/or temporary repair to any equipment is often called "sissiviritys", literally "sissi fix" or "sissi patch", in addition any improvised booby-trap, such as a firearm rigged to fire at doorway of a building once someone opens the door, may be called "sissijäynä", literally "sissi prank".