In today’s Photo Of The Day, we take a look at the main firearm of the Swedish Home Guard (National Security Forces) in the hands of a U.S. Special Forces Group member. He uses the Swedish Ak 4B during FID training (Foreign Internal Defense) with the Swedish Home Guard late last year.

The Home Guard’s standard firearms are the Ak 4B and the Ak 4C rifles, which is a Swedish version of the German Heckler & Koch G3. The AK4 was the standard weapon of the Swedish Armed Forces until it was replaced by the Ak 5.

The Swedish Home Guard consists mainly of local rapid response units, with about 22,000 soldiers in 40 battalions. Most soldiers maintain a civilian job while serving the army part-time.

“A U.S. Army Green Beret team is sta­tioned full-time in Swe­den to help the coun­try’s 22,000-strong Home Guard—part-time cit­i­zen-sol­diers—plan sab­o­tage, am­bush and other op­er­a­tions to dis­rupt any at­tempted oc­cu­pa­tion.“

Picture by Jimmy Croona , from Combat Camera Sweden (Stridsfotoavdelningen).

Picture Source: https://www.forsvarsmakten.se/siteassets/6-aktuellt/forsvarets-forum/2020/forum_2001_webb_lowres.pdf (page 27 and forward, in Swedish only)