Hello, weapons: one day in the life of a French recruit

Photographer Denis Mayer documented the everyday life of French soldiers who had just joined the 3rd Parachute Regiment of the French Army Marines, and told how it was.

"The first time I met soldiers of the 3rd Parachute Regiment of the French Army Marines was in October 2015 during a three-day training course on vigilance in conflict zones. It was just before 100 new recruits joined the parachute regiment, who were to be trained for three months."

(13 photos in total)

Source: VICE

The first week of recruits is devoted to theoretical classes and more practical tasks: a visit to the hairdresser, a medical examination and vaccinations, if necessary. When all the issues are resolved, a three-month intensive training begins. During these three months, I followed the newcomers.

Personally, I have always had a huge prejudice against the army. You could say that I was an anti-militarist. Of course, as I spent time with the recruits, being part of their daily lives and accompanying them in training, my opinion of these guys changed a lot.

I was surprised at how mature the newcomers turned out to be. They were educated and had their heads on their shoulders. Most of them already had some professional experience: one of them was a carpenter, another was a firefighter, a third was a waiter, and a fourth was an art student. Someone wanted to join the army because one of the relatives also served. No one was there by accident.

During the intensive course, breaks or moments of solitude were infrequent. There was just enough time to have time to take a shower after a series of pull-ups, push-ups, jumping rope and hip and abs exercises that recruits do after sports. They could be woken up in the middle of the night, an hour after lights-out, for a night march for ten miles through forest thickets and dug-up fields.

The recruits overcame all this due to the camaraderie and the incessant flow of jokes during and after training. No one was left behind.

Each day began with a four-and-a-half-mile run or a swim in the Villefranche-de-Rouergue public pool. The pool was reserved for new recruits before it opened to regular visitors. After that, the instructors showed them how to conduct searches. They learned to live in nature. Several nights a week they bivouacked on the edge of the forest, built shelters from branches and learned to lay blankets on the ground to spend the night.

Every second weekend, the recruits could go on leave. Some were returning home to their families, others were meeting their girlfriends or hanging out together, visiting clubs and bars nearby.

During the training, some gave up — due to lack of motivation or simply because the rhythm of army life or way of thinking did not suit them. Others left because they were injured. But in general, the guys were proud that they were training for soldiers, would play a key role in wars and conflicts, and would learn to perceive death as something that could happen at work.