Throughout the 1960s, the Soldiers’ Home Association was chaired by Annikki Elokas from Helsinki. The decade was a period of strong growth, because the so-called “Cold War”. Baby boomers were doing their military service. The 100-year history of soldies’ home work is described as sailing forward “in a brisk tailwind for the benefit of young men who had completed their military service”.

Mobile soldiers’ home work developed strongly, and the Soldiers’ Home Association confirmed, among other things, the operating instructions for mobile soldiers’ home operations. There were plenty of customers for the camp homes, and many sisters increased their skills in the terrain. If there were not enough sisterhoods of the soldiers’ home associations for all exercises, the head office took care of arranging additional resources. The associations acquired off-road equipment, and the first cars refurbished for soldiers’ home work were also acquired.

During a national military exercise held in Southwest Finland in autumn 1963, the organization’s first customer satisfaction survey was conducted, inquiring about the coverage and success of  the work in the field. In the end, the number of responses was quite small, but 90% of the respondents considered soldiers’ home work necessary and slightly less than 90% were satisfied with the service. Favorite sales articles at that the time were coffee, warm juice and soft drinks. The most popular breads were French bread (over 50%), sweet pastries (40%) and rye bread (15%).

In 1967, the delegation of the Soldiers’ Home Association decided to start publishing the Soldiers’ Home Sister magazine. To cover the costs, the membership fee was increased by one Finnish Mark. Chairman Elokas set three goals for the magazine:

  • that it constitutes to uphold the ideal for its members,
  • that it keeps members informed of current developments regardning soldiers’ homes, and
  • that it provides new stimuli through its material.

The Soldiers’ Home Association assisted the local associations in establishing libraries. The state allocated budget funds to soldiers’ home libraries, of which there were 84 in barracks and hospitals in 1965. These contained a total of more than 100,000 volumes, and more than 110,000 citations were recorded.