How did InterForce start?

InterForce was established in 1999 as a direct consequence of the Danish Defence’s increasing engagement in international peace support and peacekeeping missions.

It quickly became clear that it would be necessary to draw on the approximately 10,000 Danes who at that time, alongside their civilian jobs, held a readiness contract with the Danish Defence.

There was therefore a need for an organisation under the Danish Defence that could build bridges between the military and the civilian labour market.

The initiative to establish InterForce was taken by the then Chief of Defence, General Christian Hvidt, together with former Minister of Finance Knud Heinesen, who was also appointed as the first chairman of InterForce’s national committee. The committee is composed of senior executives from a wide range of leading private and public companies, institutions, and organisations.

The committee’s first objective was to approach Denmark’s 200 largest companies in order to spread awareness of InterForce. Later, medium-sized companies were contacted either by e-mail or through InterForce’s growing network.

Until 2006, InterForce’s main focus was to provide information about the Reserve and to advocate for the Reserve within the civilian labour market. In other words, to foster an understanding among Danish employers that members of the Reserve should be granted leave from their civilian jobs in order to undergo training with the Defence or to be deployed in support of Denmark’s security.

In 2006, the volunteers of the Home Guard were included in InterForce’s portfolio. In 2012, the approximately 200 volunteer coastal rescuers were added, and in 2022 the volunteers of the Emergency Management Agency also became part of InterForce.

Collectively, the Reserve together with the volunteers of the Home Guard, the Emergency Management Agency, and the Volunteer Rescue Service are referred to as the Reserve Forces.

Today, it is therefore InterForce’s task to inform about and advocate on behalf of the entire Reserve Forces towards the civilian labour market.

Since its establishment in 1999, InterForce has undergone a regional expansion.

In addition to the national committee, the organisation today consists of six regional committees located in Northern Jutland, Central Jutland, Southern Denmark, Zealand, the Capital Region, and Bornholm.

In August 2020, then Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen and Chief of Defence General Bjørn Bisserup expanded the organisation with InterForce Greenland. InterForce Greenland was set up in the same way as the regional committees, and was established specifically to support the development of a volunteer force in Greenland – as determined in the Defence Agreement 2018–2023 – as well as to strengthen the Defence’s relations with Greenlandic businesses.

More than 3,000 Danish companies – both private and public – have so far chosen to support InterForce. Together, they represent over 1,000,000 employees.