text: Finland Units of the Finnish Defence Forces have a single colour. The colours are either active or traditional. An active colour belongs to a brigade or an equivalent unit in the FDF. A traditional Colour belongs to a battalion or a regiment that has formerly been separate, but is now part of a brigade. The difference between an active and traditional Colour is the way of presenting them. The active colour always has a guard of two officers, while a traditional Colour is borne without one. The military oath is always given in the presence of the active colour of the unit.
  Finnish military heraldry is a mixture of Scandinavian and Russian tradition. The colours are usually modeled after Swedish regimental flags of the 17th century, but some units carry flags reminiscent of Russian or German traditions. Colours often bear the emblem of the province where a unit is located. They also commonly feature the traditional colours of a service branch or a shared design element, for example the black flags of most engineer units. There were no battle honours awarded during the Continuation War (co-belligerent with Nazi Germany), but some units have battle honours from the Finnish Civil War and the Winter War.
  Units and institutions of the Finnish Defence Forces which have not received a colour of their own use the unadorned swallow-tailed Flag of Finland as their State Colour, and the oath of service for NCOs and volunteer enlisted personnel assigned to these units are given in its presence.