AN ARMY THAT IS A REFLEXION OF ITS COUNTRY.

An Army That Is Becoming More Feminised

For a long time exclusively male, the French army is now one of the most feminised in the world with 15.5% women in its ranks - mainly in the ground forces, the largest of the four branches of the French forces (air, land, navy and gendarmerie). «The values of the French Army are just as attractive to young women as they are to their male comrades: high standards, merit, fraternity, fairness, surpassing oneself and altruism. And the word military is written in the same way in the feminine and masculine,» emphasises Colonel Paul-Marie Vilbé, head of the Île-de-France and Overseas recruitment and selection group for the French Army, who points out that today women can access the same positions as their male comrades, with identical career prospects. «All specialities are open to them. During recruitment, each soldier, male or female, will get a speciality that corresponds to his or her expectations, his or her assessment results... A female soldier can be a dog handler, a sniper, a helicopter pilot, a paratrooper, a combat diver, work in human resources...»

Social Diversity And Meritocracy

«The army is looking for the best profiles, whatever their background. Apart from the fact that we don’t recruit people with a criminal record, we don’t discriminate against anyone who joins. The only condition is age: you must be between

16 and 32 years old,» insists Paul-Marie Vilbé. Our soldiers are not judged on their origins, their level of education or their convictions, but on their merits, their commitment and their aptitudes. We recruit on the basis of aptitude to become a soldier, not on the basis of skills. Consequently, these professional skills are acquired during the various training courses which represent 25% of a soldier’s time. With real career prospects, including for soldiers without any diplomas: «contrary to a persistent myth, there is, for example, no need to be an engineer to become a helicopter pilot», smiles Colonel Vilbé. Equal treatment, equal opportunities... for a long time associated with the army, the idea that officers all come from the same families and the same social backgrounds has not been true for a long time: today, 58% of non-commissioned officers in the army come from the ranks and 51% of career officers are former non-commissioned officers and non-commissioned soldiers, with the institution playing a fully-assumed role of a social ladder.

Careers With Varied Perspectives

It is often forgotten that, in addition to combat soldiers, the army offers access to a wide range of professions, each requiring very diverse skills, from logistics to maintenance, including catering, health and music. «The 16,000 young people we recruit each year can exercise their talents in sixteen different major job areas, with 117 different specialities,» explains Colonel Vilbé. This is an operational necessity in the face of evolving threats and goes hand in hand with the constant transformation of professions and skills that are constantly changing.

«Our values are unchanging, but the Army of today is not the Army of the 2000s, nor is it the Army of the 2030s. Joining the army is a guarantee that you will evolve with it.»