History
2003
In 2003 (3rd of June) four guys from Finland, founded a clan for Operation Flashpoint after having a thoughtful chat about it in GameSpy Arcade. One of them, Gordon.F, was a former member of the 75th Rangers- and Expert Rifle Corps-OFP clan. The others were Mikko, Red and his brother Figo. The clan (today we prefer the term "Unit" was later to be called Finnish Jaeger Troops.
Couple of weeks after the initial establishment of the newly found Unit, FDF mod 1.0 was released and by fall FJT had gathered ca. 25 members, though mostly unactive ones. The highest ranked members by the time were the founders, but several remarkable editors join the ranks soon after such as Hekezu (the creator of the early Nogville, forefather of the present Chernaruslife)
Apart from Gordon.F, the oldest members still remaining in FJT ranks today are Teme and Temme.
In 2003 Teme started to host FJT's private voice chat server which became a gathering place replacing GameSpy Arcade. A simple website was also published later that year.
A special member of the squad, Greenfingers from United Kingdom, released websites for FJT Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and OFP. Hekezu releases his websites for FJT after connections to Greenfingers are lost.
2004
In 2004 many inactive members began to quit from the FJT and four of them started their own clan (JC) Jaeger Company, which fell shortly afterwards. Another squad is diverged as JR12 is founded by a group of some elder FJT members.
Gordon and Hekezu, both of which had airsoft as a hobby, started to recruit new members more carefully and soon most FJT members were airsoft players or otherwise military enthusiastic. New recruits included Atslav, Vincent, Peter and Lagus. FJT is divided into armored division H, infantry division K and air division R.
In summer FJT celebrates its 1st anniversary, its number of active members is higher than ever and Mylis starts to develop a more graphically designed website for FJT.
The squad becomes more and more militarized in its acts and its "divisions" more isolated from each other. Team spirit starts to collapse as the isolation grows further, when FJT splits between Call of Duty and America's Army players. In some periods CoD and AAO are played more than the primary game OFP.
Hekezu and Banzer of K division quit, and start their AAO clan Finnish Battle Lions FBL. The old K division transforms to M division as Mylis is chosen to lead it.
Founder member Figo retires as his interest towards the Unit shatters.
2005
Mikko returns from his military service and FJT adapts many ideas from his military experiences. One idea leads to orienteering practise, first only used in M division but which in future would be used in the basic training for all new recruits.
FJT tightens its discipline and acts even too much like a real world military organisation. Some members don't like this and start to protest in a way or another, other members rather play WoW.
Editor member Atslav releases and grants the usage of his new logo for FJT (which is still in use nowadays).
By the end of the year, many members have quit, but the playing started to focus only on OFP again. This forces FJT to reorganize. Instead of 3 divisions, FJT is divided to 1st Platoon led by Mylis and 2nd Platoon led by Peter.
Gordon and Red from Espoo, Lagus, Peter and Rogue from Riihimäki and Hoffman and Olio from Ivalo all meet in airsoft scenario Full Plastic Jacket 5.
In time the experiences of Mikko's military service have improved the Unit in many ways, but Mikko himself cuts ties to the Unit soon after and is removed from the roster.
2006
When it comes to operations in OFP, year 2006 is rather quiet for FJT. The Unit is waiting for the release of Armed Assault and impatience of the staff and crew grows due the lack of trainings and activity.
Inactivity in the squad is increasing epidemically. We remember the names of many who left the lines and columns. The Unit holds as only the few whose belief to the brighter future stands.
Finnish Jaeger Troops' present most decorated and honored drill instructor Hnd_mn a.k.a. Handy is recruited, Temme starts to develop new websites, Lagus launches TeamSpeak server #2.
Found member Red is demoted due to the lack of activity and faith.
2007
Armed Assault is finally released in Finland. FJT starts to call the platoons as squads and rank restructuring takes place. During this phase many members after another join the fights in the Area of Operations: Sahrani.
FJT's dedicated ArmA server is established and Handy recruits many new members from new generation of combat simulation players.
Gordon.F moves from OFP to ArmA and declares the end of FJT's Flashpoint era in the last OFP game session May 5th. Reservist CO of 2nd squad, Peter retires and leaves the lines in honor and peace.
2008
A new training system is implemented and brought in effect. Drill Instructor Handy creates the system, which is based to the three stages of basic training: 1. Basic infantry movement and tactics, 2. Weapons Familiarization and 3. Navigation and orienteering. This new training proved to be very valuable for future recruits and members.
Several new recruits who are still standing in our lines are enlisted by Handy. New recruits include: Gareut and Zhaska. Clan match PvP games are played and most of them are won, thanks to Handy and the strength of the men of the Finnish Jaeger Troops.
End of another happy time is about to end.
2009
In 3rd of January 2009 the Commanding Officer of the Finnish Jaeger Troops assembles the men for a speech. The speech is held in the Teme's TS server. In this speech the Commanding Officer Colonel Gordon.F stands down from his duties as the Commander of the Finnish Jaeger Troops. Gordon.F leaves with some of his most loyal supporters: Teme, Mylis and Vincent. Sergeant Lagus takes the command of the Jaegers still remaining in the squad.
ArmA 2 is released in Europe during the summer. Weekly trainings have ceased almost entirely and the Finnish Jaeger Troops are in the edge of destruction. Without a capable leader and willing men to fight, the three remaining sergeants of the FJT announce an offline time for the whole squad. The squad is laid down to rest to wait for activity, games and fresh members.
The first clan meeting is held even though the squad has been laid to rest. Ex members: Mutteri, Teme and Gordon.F with co-operation of a future member ElBubba meet up in the city of Hyvinkää for fine three days of booze and R&R.
2010
Gordon.F attempts ways of injecting life to the now resting Finnish Jaeger Troops. Website is still kept online, as a reminder for the past and present members that we are still alive. An attempt to bring back old days is done to get Teme's TS3 server set up and running again for the new Task Force Korpi -clan. This tryout brings fresh new members to the Task Force Korpi but the system fails quickly and another offline time emerges.
Second meeting is held in July of 2010. Meeting is held in Helsinki and another three days of booze and late nights in the bars and clubs of Helsinki. Same members attend to this meeting than the last one: ElBubba, Gordon.F, Mutteri and Teme.
In the end of year 2010, Gordon.F joins the Scandinavian Task Force ArmA 2 Tactical Teamplay clan. Gordon.F assumes the position of the Godfather Actual / Commanding Officer pretty quickly due to his past in the Finnish Defence Forces as a leader. Gordon.F leads the STF to the autumn of 2011.
2011
Gordon.F retires from the Scandinavian Task Force, due to schedule problems and leaves as a decorated veteran. With the lessons learned and ideas achieved in the Scandinavian Task Force, Gordon.F tries one last time to defibrillate the old Finnish Jaeger Troops.
This last try out is a massive one and a long term plan. Teme's TS3 is brought back to the original use, to the use that it was always meant to be. Teme joins Gordon.F once again and gives his TS3 to his use. Message to the old FJT members is sent and a majority of the former FJT members answer to the call. In three months the FJT is a well doing ArmA 2 squad. During the summer more members join. Some of these members like: ElBubba, Astalo and Nasse are some of our most active members still serving.
Webmaster Temme gets chosen to the National Defence University.
Finnish Jaeger Troops expand to Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. A total of 20 members have already joined the battles in RO2:HOS.
In the autumn of 2011 even more members join the Finnish Jaeger Troops. Corporal Vii_Cii brings his re-enactment community group "Etulinja" to the FJT. Members: Pies, Varangia and Groke are recruited.
Finnish Jaeger Troops also expand to the Battlefield 3 scene and start to recruit members to that area.
Webmaster Temme returns to the Finnish Jaeger Troops to serve once gain as the Webmaster. New website is under construction as of the beginning of November 2011.
Finnish Jaeger Troops is back alive - From the ashes of the old, a new Phoenix of fire. With experience of eight years, growing and expanding.
2012
Year 2012 was as stated in the movie 2012, the year of total destruction.
For the Finnish Jaeger Troops it was the year of renovation, recruitment and development.
During the year, FJT initiated a complex training system, which utilized knowledge and material from the Finnish Defence Forces. These trainings included: NCO School, Flight School, School of Armor, Scout Sniper Program and School of Infantry.
The unit organization was also re-created once again to support the growing number of trained NCO's. The unit also started to practise Advanced Combat Radio Environment (ACRE) callsigns and procedures in a more efficient manner.
From this day onwards the unit included four fire teams: Command Team, Reconnaissance Team, Light Infantry and Mechanized Team.
2013
Finnish Jaeger Troops rented an ArmA 2 Server from the jestservers.com
New Website is launched and the .com domain is purchased.
Combined Arms -warfare is practised more regularly due to the great amount of trained armor crew members in the unit.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Finnish Jaeger Troops.
2014
Year 2014 is the year of combined training co-operation. Groups such as Osasto Kuikka practise mechanised warfare tactics with the Jaegers.
Several TvT-type matches are also played as a result of the co-operative training.
In the year 2014 Finnish Jaeger Troops began examining ArmA 3 capabilities, but decided not to transfer operations into the new environment.
2015
Year 2015 was the era of expansion. Many more members joined the ranks, but several left as social- and private life intervened.
In the year 2015 the Jaegers made their final decision that this would be the last year in the ArmA 2 environment.
The vote of transition to ArmA 3 was concluded with all in favor of transitioning to ArmA 3, the vote was unanimous.
2016
In 2016 the unit decided to switch from the previous server provider, jestservers.com to SimRAI. So far the server has fullfilled our requirements and been a suitable substituent.
ArmA 3 Zeus & Ares add-ins have been commissioned to full training and gameplay use.
Recruit Training has also began in the ArmA 3 environment and will continue while utilizing all the aspects of ArmA 3 and Zeus add-ins.
2017
In 2017 the Summer and Autumn Cup -competitions were implemented. This was a new way for the unit to let off some steam in a friendly competition combined with playing Arma in a bit different way than usual.
A remark worth noting from 2017 was also the last joint operation with our partner unit, Osasto Kuikka. The joint op event, called OP Poden 2, was played in January 22nd 2017. Their unit was disbanded shortly after.
2018
The unit kept playing internal games throughout the year. Joint ops with other communities and units were just a dream for now. Several of our players joined Arma events hosted by the prominent swedish community, Anrop. These events were nice, but since there were only a few players from FJT playing, it wasn't quite the same.
The unit's roster organization was re-created from scratch. In the new organization model, the unit was divided to Command element and mechanized infantry squads 1, 2 and 3. Each of the squads also included their own permanent armor crews within.
By May 2018 a polish community of Arma players, called the Veterani, approached us. An event was organized and played and it offered some variety to the ordinary schedule.
Twitch streaming began slowly during this year but has grown ever since.
The actual wake up call for joint ops was made during the last couple of months of the year 2018. A fellow milsim unit called the Charlie Foxtrot Company (CFC) wanted to invite us to their game, and it proved to be a popular event. Perhaps now FJT had a joint ops partner to play together with?
2019
The Spring of 2019 from January to June was a successful period. Although we didn't have enough time in our schedule to organize another event with CFC during that time. Luckily, the CFC wanted to plan ahead, so that we could make some room from our calendars for another event. This event was finally played on December 7th 2019 and it was once again very popular and liked in the unit.
Year 2019 also marked the major change in our server hosting policy: The unit's Swifty FTP was established and hosted in a rental server during the summer of 2019. In addition, the unit's very own privately hosted dedicated Arma 3 server was launched and the period of rental Arma 3 servers was halted for good.
2020
In 2020 the unit received a surge of visitors. Some of them joined the unit as full members and some of them remained visiting our games here and then. A couple of old-school FJT's Operation Flashpoint players appeared as well.
The player amounts in our events were approximately 15-25 players and the different events gained a lot of positive feedback and popularity.
The good old Operation Flashpoint games gained more players than usual and have been a traditional event during Christmas and the New Year.
2021
In 2021 the unit created the Finnish Jaeger Troops Discord server. This change made it easier for both the members and visitors to communicate.
The active player list expanded and the magical limit of 30 players was finally broken. Although Summer Cup competitions weren't a thing anymore, the unit's games evolved to include both realistic military simulation and a bit relaxed game modes as well.
The more realistic games included the use of Creator created DLC: Global Mobilization. This was welcomed with enthusiastic joy due to the large amount of Wargame: Red Dragon players in the unit.
2022
The Cold War -era subject was continued in 2022 with the unit joining CFC's Rhodesian Fireforce event in the end of January. Shortly after this event, the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. This barbaric attack had a lasting effect to the unit's games and events. The members of the unit keep supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes for the Ukrainians to win.
Joint Ops were popular during 2022 as well. The unit had a large event hosted by CFC. In addition to having a typical CFC + FJT -event, the invitation was extended to Estonian Task Force and another Finnish community, called VResK. The event was a success, but additional follow-up events were cancelled.
The number of active members increased steadily during 2022 and preparations were made to host the games for everyone.
2023
This year marks the 20th birthday for the Finnish Jaeger Troops.
The member count is approaching the next stage of 40 players.
Who knows what the future might bring?