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How the Army recruits the soldiers who will form the army of tomorrow

The army has launched a major advertising campaign to encourage young people to become soldiers. We went to the Ile-de-France assessment center to follow the recruitment process.

The sun has not yet risen and already around twenty young people are observing the raising of flags under the direction of a non-commissioned officer. They are dressed in civilian clothes and do not yet have the attitude of real soldiers. But they are there to try to become one.

The scene takes place in Rueil-Malmaison, in Hauts-de-Seine. It is here that the Île-de-France and Overseas recruitment and selection group makes its mark in its new facilities. This center, one of the five existing in France, has just left the Fort de Vincennes, where the DGSE will be installed in 2030, to settle in a military building built under Louis XIV, but recently renovated.

16,000 hires every year

The army must recruit 25,000 new soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers each year, including 16,000 for the army. A new information campaign has just been launched. For General Goujon, deputy director of the youth recruitment center of the army’s human resources department, “it better adapts to the culture of the armies.”

We follow this recruitment cycle in this human resources garrison made up of experienced soldiers under the authority of Colonel Simón, commander of this regiment. This senior officer is the former head of the Combat Training Center (Centac) – 1st Hunter Battalion – in Mailly-le-Camp, where soldiers are trained in high-intensity combat. This Saint-Cyrien passed through the 1st rifle regiment with which he was in Afghanistan and then in Chad.

“Our mission is to form the army of tomorrow. The young people who arrive here have already gone through a Cirfa where they have been trained to perfect their project and give them the means to carry it out. “Here we evaluate them before sending them to recruits,” explains Colonel Simon.

For two days, future soldiers come to take selection tests before being recruited. This center not only selects soldiers from the Army, but also from the Navy, the Air and Space Force and even the Paris firefighters. Welcomes candidates of all ranks, non-commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers or officers. The youngest candidates are 17 years old. They need parental permission. The oldest can be up to 39 years old.

The vast majority of candidates are men, but there are more and more women in combat units, as well as in cyber, logistics and health.

Physical tests and psychological interview.

But before being considered suitable to join a unit, everyone must pass selection tests. They start with physical tests. First, resistance with the formidable “Luc Léger” test. It consists of traveling about twenty meters in increasingly shorter times. The tests continue with squats and pull-ups. Everything is observed, not only physical performance, but also the way these evaluations are approached.

Next come cognitive and psychological tests, then an interview with a psychologist who will look for the candidates’ defects.

Retain recruits

Once these two days have passed, the candidates return home without knowing the results of the evaluations. Enlisted personnel will return in a few weeks. Then they will know when to join the regiment they have chosen. For non-commissioned officers, this will take several months. They will have to follow specific training for their degree.

After that, everyone will be able to climb what the military calls “the social ladder,” as if to indicate that moving up the hierarchy is not enough with the push of a button.

It remains to retain the troops so that they do not abandon the institution too soon. Loyalty is also the central theme of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Last March, Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces, presented a plan aimed at improving the living conditions of soldiers to prevent them from seeking a civilian life more compatible with family life.

These provisions refer to operational limitations, mobility, working conditions, remuneration and even professional career. Currently, 10% of soldiers leave the army “early.”

Author: Pascal Samama and Emma Depiot
Source: BFM TV

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