Military professionalisation took place all over Europe in the eighteenth century, but soldiers and their families were often poor. In Sweden, enlisted soldiers had to engage in various temporary jobs or self-employment to make ends meet, since their wages were too low to sustain their families. However, military employment did offer so-called legal protection, and thus it allowed them to combine all kinds of jobs and work. Enlisted soldiers came from mixed backgrounds, and many of them had educational training, mainly from abroad. Soldiers were free to exercise crafts outside the guilds, and this was a great opportunity for former journeymen. For those who lacked professional training, inn-keeping, baking, or butchering could be lucrative options for eager entrepreneurs. Soldiers could also enter the service of local manufacturers, providing brickworks or glassworks with much-needed expertise. They could also work as unskilled day labourers on farms or do other odd jobs for local inhabitants. Soldiers’ families could be highly mobile, and, if no legal jobs could be obtained, they could engage in illegal activities. However, not all enlisted soldiers were poor and marginalised; the situation depended largely on their professional skills or talent for business.