Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp) and Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) visited Setnesmoen camp on Monday, which is the headquarters of the Møre og Fjordane Home Guard District. There they had this budget leak with them: 277 million more for the Home Guard in the state budget for next year. The distribution of the extra money will be as follows – if Sp and Ap get what they want in the budget negotiations: NOK 124 million to train all home security areas every year. NOK 95 million for several HV soldiers. NOK 31 million for more clothing and equipment. NOK 16 million for paid positions to strengthen work in the HV area. NOK 11 million for several HV youth offers. The government’s proposal for the state budget will be presented on 7 October. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news To train more often and for more days The proposal from the government means that all home protection areas should have one training session a year, and that the meetings should last five or seven days. – It is not wise to have too short training sessions. Five for soldiers and seven for commanders is considered a good level, which means that you get good benefit from this year’s training, says Gram. Richard Moen is district manager for HV11, here together with finance minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news District manager for HV11, Richard Moen, believes the proposal from the government means that they can plan and carry out the exercises better. – What is being presented by the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Finance here means that we can plan and facilitate a completely different exercise than we have done in the past. This also gives us more days to train, which in turn increases quality and better returns for both soldiers and commanders. – Above all, Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp) says this investment in the Home Guard is incredibly important for basic security in Norway. – The Home Guard is always over everything. And it has been an important goal for the Sp/Ap government to build up the Home Guard further. The government announces that they will invest in home security in the state budget for 2025. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news – But an investment of 277 million is not very much from a defense perspective, is it? – You get a lot for your money when you invest in Heimvernet. It makes up a small part of the defense budget, but the large volume of soldiers in Norway is the Home Guard. That is why it is also important that the Home Guard gets its share. Now there is a larger home guard that will train more and be better equipped, says Gram. – Strong strengthening Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum believes that what they are now putting forward is a strong strengthening of the Home Guard. – It is a strong strengthening of the Home Guard because their budget is just over NOK 2 billion. Then there will be more practice, better equipment and we will also have a greater strength. We want to strengthen the Home Guard throughout Norway, because it is our basic preparedness, but also a strong civilian resource, in civilian crises. Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum at Setnesmoen. Photo: Josef Benoni Ness Tveit / news He also states that they want to increase the HV strength even more in the coming years – from today’s figure of 40,500 spread over 11 districts. – Now there will be an extra 500, but we are going up to 45,000. It is also a cheap resource, because the teacher, the nurse, those who are in civil positions and meet in uniform, are well trained all over the country. So here you get a lot of defense for the money, he says. Published 23/09/2024, at 19.00
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Will give Home Guard NOK 277 million more in 2025 – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
