Twenty-two year old Noah is the newest crew member of the Standing NATO Maritime Group on the Swedish HMS Carlskrona. Is he ready to find himself on a real military battlefield? “It's hard question, but this is what we’ve been training for”. Swedish Soldiers have also been stationed on Gotland, an island just 300km from Russian territory, preparing for land combat. While the invasion of Ukraine strengthened public support for NATO membership, some concerns remain. “We had no referendum about joining NATO, no public debate,”says Knut Stahle. “Entering NATO comes with a price, and that price is much more spending on military and less on what actually builds a democracy, like welfare, culture and media.” The vote to join NATO had a large majority amongst MEPs, even by traditional opponents such as the Social democrats, the left wing and the radical right. The Swedish peace society lost public funding for opposing the move, yet membership has surged, demonstrating that not everyone is equally keen to end 200 years of Swedish neutrality.