Episode 4/4 “THE BEST WAY TO WALK

First broadcast : November 20th, 2006

Since the end of military service in 1996, the French army has changed: now a professional army, it is faced with new needs and new training ambitions.

Today, France is not engaged in any direct armed conflict, and the military service of our fathers and grandfathers no longer exists.
Deprived of conscripts, the general staff has no choice but to recruit young people from all over the world and train new soldiers.
So the army recruits. And en masse!

With 30,000 jobs on offer every year, the military is now France's leading recruiter, surpassing the likes of Renault and La Poste. Although the majority of applicants are men, the army has also opened up to women. Today, almost 12% of military personnel are women, compared with just 6% in 1999.

Given this situation, we wanted to understand what the French army is like today: How does it recruit? What prospects does it offer young volunteers? Who are the young people who want to join the army? What motivates them, and what are they looking for?

For several months, Gael Leiblang filmed the recruitment and training of four young volunteers. They range in age from 18 to 23, and have all chosen to become paratroopers.
Marie-Charlotte is 18. She lives in Aulnay-sous-Bois and has just passed her baccalaureate in literature. She's in high spirits, but still dreads life in the barracks and the physical challenges.
Jeremy is 20 years old. An orphan with no qualifications, he is looking for a family and a structure to escape the housing estate where he grew up. But will he be able to respect the discipline imposed by his new life?
At 23, Corinne has already been through a lot in her life. She is raising a four-year-old boy on her own. It's for him that she's getting involved, to offer him a little stability.
Christopher is the son of a former soldier. A volunteer fireman and an athlete, he's the ideal candidate. But isn't he trying too hard?

A film by Gael Leiblang