Career
He served as an officer in the engineer corps during World World War World War II Sutela worked his way up the Finnish Army and finally became the Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces from 15 April 1974 until 11 October 1983. His appointment was controversial since he was the first (and last) non-combat arms officer to be appointed as the Chief of Defence, but he was appointed solely on the basis of seniority. He was considered to be acceptable and a consensus candidate to both Sweden, Soviet Union, West Germany and East Germany, id est (that is) the main foreign players with influence in the Finnish defence establishment.
Sutela died in Helsinki, Finland on 8 November 2011 at the age of 93.
