Charlène, a dog handler in the 132nd Dog Handling Infantry Regiment, was working in a large book-shop in northern France during the wave of terrorist attacks that swept through France in 2015 and 2016. Already attracted by the physical activity an army career would promise and brought up on stories told by her father about his military service in Germany, she realised it was decision-making time…
Lieutenant Miléna took command of a combat engineer platoon just six months ago. She’s the only woman in it “but so far I haven't had any problems with my platoon,” she says, having made it clear to her men when she arrived that even ifshe is young, she’s been trained to be platoon commander. If they don't understand her decisions, she's open to dialogue, but it's clear who’s in charge! “You shouldn't expect to be accepted by everyone,” she remarks, lucid beyond her years…
Anaïs knows that sometime in 2021, although the exact date remains to be determined, she will move up a rank from Squadron Leader to Wing Commander. This charming young woman also knows that she will be leaving the greyness of Air Base 105 in Evreux, 100 kms west-north-west of Paris, to take a command post under the sunnier skies of Martinique where she will be director of the State Aeronautics Centre. “At the civilian airport there is a military zone that I’ll be responsible for,” she tells me, adding enthusiastically that the advantage of working in the armed forces is “that you can have several careers in one”…
Don’t think that registering with your local job centre is a waste of time. Because this is how Kathleen – somewhat unusually for someone in the military – began her career in the army when she was almost 27 years old. Today she’s an air-traffic controller and instructor in the 3rd Combat Helicopter Regiment of the French Army…
It’s the last few days in November and Astrid’s tan still bears the white marks at the top of her nose imprinted by her sunglasses. The only female instructor at the Chamonix high altitude military school (known by its French acronym EMHM for École militaire de haute montagne), she has just finished the climbing season and is enthusiastically looking forwards to the ski season…
Malia was 18 and looking for adventure. She found it in Valence, at the foot of the French Alps more than 22,000 km, a 36-hour flight and an 11 hour time difference from her home. The young woman, today a radio transmitter and top-performing athlete, was born and raised on Wallis, which, together with the islands of Futuna and Alofi, form a French overseas collectivity in the Pacific Ocean…
