Lieutenant General Mika Peltonen is Chief of Operations in the Finnish Defense Forces. General Peltonen was born January 23, 1956 in Tampere, Finland. He was a foreign exchange student taking part in the Youth For Understanding exchange program. He lived in Glendale, California where he attended and graduated from Herbert Hoover High School. He graduated from high school in Finland in 1976 and the Finnish Military Academy in 1980.