Kaitseliit chief at Rapla parade: Estonia's future belongs to its youth

Major General Ilmar Tamm, head of the Kaitseliit, delivered a Victory Day speech in Rapla calling on Estonian society to trust and empower its younger generations. He emphasised that young people are not merely the future, they are needed today, as active participants in national defence. Tamm highlighted the role of AI, drones, and youth volunteer organisations in shaping Estonia's long-term security.

Speaking at the Victory Day parade in Rapla, Ilmar Tamm, Major General and head of the Kaitseliit (Estonian Defence League), delivered a passionate address urging Estonian society to invest genuine trust in its younger generations, not merely as a future promise, but as an active force needed right now.

Youth as the foundation of defence

Tamm opened his remarks by drawing a parallel with the War of Independence, noting that schoolboys and inexperienced but spirited volunteers fought alongside hardened veterans of the First World War to secure Estonia's freedom. «Their names on marble should mean far more to us than just names,» he said, suggesting that today's youth deserve the same recognition and responsibility.

He argued that asking young people rhetorical questions about whether they represent Estonia's future is not enough. «We, as a society, must say: we need you today, and you play an important role in shaping the future of our country,» Tamm stated, paraphrasing President Kennedy's famous call to ask not what your country can do for you.

Kaitseliit's role in shaping young Estonians

The Kaitseliit currently provides around 8,000 young people with opportunities for self-development, teamwork, and community responsibility. Tamm described the organisation's ethos as offering youth freedom, creativity, and accountability, freedom to contribute, creativity to find new ways of doing so, and awareness that their contribution genuinely matters.

Tamm singled out two torch-bearers at the parade as examples of the generation he described. Ann Pikkorainen, a member of the Harju branch of Kodutütred, has been involved with the organisation for 11 years and is set to begin compulsory military service within weeks before pursuing a degree in national defence. Robert Täht, from the Jõgeva chapter of Noored Kotkad, will carry the victory flame to a cyber defence unit, he has spent three years building, modifying, and flying drones at Kaitseliit and Defence Forces exercises.

He also thanked the Kozenkraniuse family from Rapla, Veronika and Erik, who together volunteered 340 hours for the organisation in just the first half of this year alone.

AI, drones, and the defence industry

Tamm addressed the growing role of technology in defence directly. He expressed confidence that younger generations would master artificial intelligence more effectively than their predecessors, and underlined that AI-based decision-support systems are already in active military use, systems on which lives depend.

At the same time, he cautioned against technological determinism: «Human wisdom still determines how and for what purpose technologies are used.»

He called on the private sector to engage more deeply with national defence, not only by maintaining reservists' salaries during exercises or donating equipment funds, but by viewing Estonia's defence industry as a viable career path. Young people, he suggested, should bring fresh ideas to the private defence sector and combine them with proven experience.

One shared goal

Tamm closed his address by reminding the crowd that Estonia restored its independence 35 years ago, and that it would be a mistake to assume only those who lived under Soviet occupation can truly value freedom. He argued that young Estonians, millennials, Generation Z, and Generation Alpha alike, understand freedom precisely because the current security environment makes its price clear.

«We have only one shared goal, a free Estonia,» he said, urging all generations to move forward together.