Wearing fatigues, headphones on their ears and weapons in their hands. Facing targets lined up at the end of the indoor shooting range, fifteen reservists in training are practicing the basics and handling of HK416F assault rifles. Outside, another group is running off to an infantry combat module. There are 60 of them finishing a week of immersion at the Lorient base of the Maritime Rifle and Commando Force Forfusco, in Lanester (56), very close to Lorient.
These civilians have responded to reinforce the land military patrols, which will secure the places open to the public, during the Paris Olympic Games, from July 17 to September 9, 2024. They come from all over France, are students or employees. For some, the Olympic mission will be like a summer job. For others, it will replace their paid vacation. This is the case of Petty Officer Alan, a big 28-year-old who feels at home here. And for good reason: a former marine rifleman in Brest, the Lorient native has finished his “active” life but now works at Naval Group, just opposite the Forfusco base. As a former soldier, he is also an army reservist and found it “natural” to make himself useful at this “extraordinary” event. Already seasoned, he nevertheless followed the three training modules in recent months, mandatory before being able to be “projected” into the field this summer. Like 164 other people in total.
At his side, Petty Officer Sharleen, 20, is small but highly motivated. Having recently graduated with a BTS in audiovisual, the Clermont native has also been an instructor for the Marine military preparations (PPM) in her region, in her free time, for the past year. “I am currently putting together my application for the École de Maistrance in Brest. So, this additional job for the Olympic Games is not something you can refuse! Men or women, no one makes a difference here, we all have the same abilities. I sometimes have older people under my authority during the PMM, it has already taught me a lot about myself, in terms of leadership and authority. The summer is going to be hot, we hear a lot about insecurity around the event. I am proud to make myself available so that everything goes well!”
Responsible for recruiting these reservists within the brand new maritime reserve flotilla (FRM) Forfusco, Commander Jean-Yves Piasecki describes it as “a great challenge”. “The General Staff of the Armed Forces ordered a pool of 100 people from us for the entire period covering the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is the very first time that the Navy has contributed in this way to Sentinel-type missions. This express recruitment gives us a tremendous boost for the constitution, in the longer term, of a renovated reserve. We used all the levers and social networks helped us a lot”.
More than 20 kg on the back
A reservist himself, the former active soldier was surprised by the enthusiasm of the young people aged 18-25, who make up half of the panel, “deliberately over-equipped to cover the entire period”. On a mission, each will carry more than 20 kg of equipment (bullet-proof vest, helmets, ammunition, weapons) on their back. Sports, close combat techniques, initial training in weapons and law were part of the common core. Fed, laundered, housed, the future patrollers have a basic salary of €60 per day on average, depending on the rank and excluding bonuses. They (there are 20.5% women) will be deployed in a South-West, South-East or South zone, with an effort on Marseille, “always in threes and according to the needs of the moment”. If some were not, in the end, called to the field, “they will be certain to be integrated into a unit for the duration of their mission”, insists the commander.
Everyone accepts the rules of the game. Petty Officer Robin, 28, works in a construction company in Lyon. He is here for his month of summer leave but says he is even ready “to take on extra unpaid work, if necessary”. Léopoldine from Lille, 32, will leave the semi-trailer she drives on the departmental roads in the garage for the entire period of the Games. “My mother and my partner will look after my four-year-old son, as they do for this second week of preparation in Brittany,” she confides. “I have been a PPM instructor for ten years, the uniform has been in my blood since September 11, 2001. My passionate patriotism pushed me to be here.”
40 operational reservists in the western zone for the Olympic Games
The General Staff of the Western Defense Zone of the Armed Forces, which extends from Vendée to Normandy, via Brittany, is also mobilized to secure the Paris Olympic Games. “In addition to our units activated on these Olympic Games, all armed forces combined (Land, Air, Navy), 40 operational reservist personnel are also included in the presence schedule, from July 17, 2024,” indicates the communications department.
Unlike the Navy’s volunteer recruits, specially trained for the occasion over the last four months within the brand new maritime reserve flotilla (FRM) Forfusco in Lanester (56), these 40 personnel come from an active reserve, already mobilizable. “They are mainly former military personnel, who ended their contract less than ten years ago,” the services further inform. These reservists are not intended to patrol areas open to the public. “They are only mobilized in the West zone, if necessary.” An area that is not on the front line. There was indeed the passage of the Olympic flame in Ille-et-Vilaine, in Morbihan and Finistère, at the beginning of June 2024. But no Olympic Games event is in fact being hosted in Brittany this summer.
