France’s first national service recruits finish training and join units; ministry plans 10,000 by 2030

France’s first conscripts under its new national service have finished four weeks of initial military training and are moving to their units, the Ministry of the Armed Forces said on 13 October. Maj. Gen. Damien Wallaert, the general officer for national service, gave a first assessment one month after the first intakes, at a briefing at the ministry’s Balard headquarters in Paris.

“First of all, it is military service,” Wallaert said, according to the ministry’s account (the original is in French). The ministry describes the scheme as military, voluntary, selective and useful. It is aimed at 3,000 French citizens aged 18 to 25 and lasts ten months: one month of initial training followed by nine months in a unit.

What the first intake did

The recruits joined from September at 27 sites, four of them overseas. During the four weeks of training they learned weapons handling, shooting, navigation, first aid and communal living. They are now being assigned to roles ranging from infantry and maintenance to the protection of military sites and maritime surveillance. Wallaert stressed cohesion, rigour and self-improvement, saying that in the army “in a group, we act together to fulfil our mission”.

The ministry profiled one recruit, Private Yasmine of the 1st Infantry Regiment, who studied law and completed a ten-month civic service with a sports association before signing up. She described her first field exercise, a march and a bivouac, as one of her strongest memories: “We all helped each other, we all pushed beyond our limits together.” She is now in four more weeks of complementary training and said she looks forward to taking part in Operation Sentinelle, the domestic security deployment, for its contact with the public.

Planned growth

A second wave of recruits begins in October. The ministry gave planned numbers of 4,000 conscripts in 2027 and 10,000 by 2030.

The announcement comes as France reshapes its forces for a possible high-intensity war. Earlier this week the ministry also published its defence energy strategy, covered in France publishes defence energy strategy to 2030, planning for a major war and a fuel-hungry battlefield.