The 2d Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment of the French Army

Background

Forget your visions of Beau Geste. Today's Foreign Legion is an integral part of the French Army, made up of well-trained, highly skilled professionals in units which have been deployed around the world to crisis situations. In fact, the Legion is a large portion of France's "elite" conventional forces. Legionnaire soldiers are still required to be foreign nationals (although officers are usually French), but they function as if they were regular professional members of the French Army. Only one in eight applicants is selected. They have to enlist for 5 years, after which Legionnaires with the rank of corporal or above may marry (with the commander's approval), live off post, and own a vehicle. At the same time, Legionnaires may resume their real names (discarded on enlistment in the Legion) and may apply for French citizenship.

The 2d Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment (REP) shows the kinds of roles filled by Foreign Legion units. It is part of the 11th Airborne Division, and is stationed at Camp Raffalli in Balagne, Corsica. The regiment is organized with a headquarters, four rifle companies, a command and support company, and a heavy weapons company, and, unique to the 2d REP, an indigenous support and maintenance company. The regiment often serves as a laboratory for French Army tactical experiments. For more than 20 years, 2d REP units have been involved in every operation where French troops have been deployed abroad. These are the kinds of French soldiers you may be fighting beside in Bosnia or the next multinational operation.

All Legionnaires of the 2d REP are trained to be qualified parachutists. Each company includes a Parachute Commando Group (GCP), a team trained for special high-altitude, low-opening (HALO) jumps. Once on the ground, they perform such actions as destruction of objectives behind enemy lines, capture of enemy officers for interrogation, gathering French citizens for evacuation, reconnaissance, and intelligence gathering. GCP is a new name for the group, replacing Reconnaissance and Special Action Commandos, or CRAP. The new name can only improve the image of an elite group of highly qualified warriors.

1st Company

Each rifle company of the 2d REP is trained and equipped to carry out a particular mission. The 1st Company specializes in night and antitank operations and in urban combat. It frequently trains at the "combat village" at Frasseli, Corsica, and recently trained at the Bundeswehr's combat village of Hammelburg. Company members are trained in night fighting, rope climbing, and rappelling. The company has 12 pump shotguns that fire buckshot and slug ammunition or CS gas rounds--the slug rounds can be used to destroy doors in a building being attacked. The company also uses FAMAS assault rifles from Heckler & Koch with laser target designators and has some 12 FAMAS rifles with silencers. Another weapon is the 89-mm LRAC antitank rocket launcher. The company is testing modular ladders and grappling-hook launchers. It also has a K-9 platoon of 17 dogs, for guard duty and tracking in urban combat. Recent deployments for the company included operations in Djibouti, Sarajevo, Bangui, and Brazzaville.

2d Company

The 2d Company of the 2d REP specializes in intervention under extreme climatic conditions and in irregular terrain: winter snow in mountains or difficult urban terrain, such as multistory buildings or communities built on hillsides. Company members learn to live in igloos, make snow shelters, climb using ropes, and maneuver on skis. They train at Vergio and Golo in Corsica and at the 27th Mountain Division's chalet at Mongenevre. Company members are qualified as military mountaineers and military skiers. NCOs train for 11 weeks in summer and 11 weeks in winter at the mountain warfare school at Chamonix. Company weapons include the AA-52 light machinegun and .50 caliber sniper rifles from Plessy. The 2d Company's recent deployments include Djibouti, Gabon, and Bosnia, where they ran ski patrols on Mount Igman to monitor compliance with the Dayton Accords.

3d Company

The skilled riflemen of the 3d Company deal with amphibious operations, especially reconnaissance and seizure of beaches. The company members have two specialties: scout swimmers (who also qualify for the basic diving certificate) and boat pilots, who earn coastal pilot licenses. After 5 weeks of training, company members conduct an exercise that involves sailing around Corsica, carrying out raids and beach approaches, navigating by compass and GPS. At least once a year, the company participates in maneuvers with the French Navy, performing parachute jumps over water, jumping with SCUBA gear from helicopters, launching swimmers from submarines, and conducting raids from surface ships. Recent operations have included Chad, Djibouti, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, and Bangui.

4th Company

The 4th Company specializes in sniping, demolitions, and operations behind enemy lines. It often tests new weapons for the French Army; it is currently testing the 8.6-mm and .338 Super-Magnum rifles, both made by the British company Accuracy International. The company is also trying out a new kind of platoon structure, with three rifle squads, an antitank squad armed with Eryx, and a support squad with Hecate-2 12.7-mm sniper rifles. The company is trained to put small groups behind the enemy for sniping and confusion. Demolition experts use plastic, tolite, and TNT. Training sites include the Engineer Training Center at Mont-Louis and the Arta-Plage Center in Djibouti, and recent operations include Kolwezi, Rwanda, Sarajevo, and Bangui.

Reconnaissance and Support Company (CEA)

The CEA has the heavy weapons of the regiment: 120-mm mortars, 81-mm mortars, MILAN antitank guided missile launchers, and 20-mm antiaircraft cannons. It is organized into two antitank platoons, a heavy mortar platoon, a reconnaissance platoon, an antiaircraft platoon, a command platoon, and a GCP. In addition to the roles defined by platoon titles, the CEA is active in urban combat situations, in anti-sniping, and against light armored vehicles. The GCP is one of the few organizations in the French Army equipped with cameras and transmitters which take pictures, encrypt them, and send them by burst transmission in near real time to the regimental Command Post. The company or its platoons can act independently or with other units. The CEA has participated in all French Army foreign deployments for more than 20 years, including Iraq, Sarajevo, and numerous operations in Africa.

Future Prospects

The Foreign Legion is being affected by the downsizing in the French Army, but only about 10% of the Legion's 8600 troops will be cut over the next 3 years, leaving a force of 7800. The 2d REP will remain at its present location and is not expected to undergo any major changes. Since the French Army is converting to a totally volunteer force with all units capable of being deployed, the Foreign Legion may provide the model for the rest of the French Army. The resulting professional soldiers will be better trained than their conscripted predecessors, and units will have to develop capabilities to cope with a variety of situations. This might be accomplished by having groups within each larger unit specialize in certain kinds of operations, just as each company of the 2d REP specializes in a particular kind of capability.