2e REI: 1st Company in the Indian Ocean | French Foreign Legion Information

Since late April 2021, the 1st Company of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment (2e REI) have been deployed to Réunion, an island situated in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. The island is an overseas department and region of France.

The 1st Company men are deployed to Réunion for the so-called Short Duration Mission (MCD) which lasts usualy four months. They made part of the 2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment (2e RPIMa), a French overseas unit stationed on Réunion (in Saint-Pierre). Consisting of periodically rotating companies, the regiment is one of the two French Army units based permanently in the Indian Ocean, along with the Legion’s DLEM in Mayotte, within France’s Indian Ocean Southern Zone Armed Forces (FAZSOI).

The 2e RPIMa also provide men to two permanent detachments serving on small, inhabited French tropical islands lying between Madagascar and Mozambique, around 900 miles (1,500 km) west of Réunion: Juan de Nova Island and Europa Island.

The legionnaires from metropolitan regiments, assigned temporarily to either 2e RPIMa or DLEM, maintain French presence in the region, patrol and guard the territory and, if there is a danger, they are ready to intervene. Besides, they participate in joint military exercises and in training activities.

As a matter of interest, the Legion opened for the very first time a recruiting office on Réunion, in late March 2021. The purpose is to attract more Francophones to join its ranks.

As we can see, the French Foreign Legion still offers to its men coming from around the world a possibility to serve in interesting places outside the civilization, even in 2021.

2e REI: 1st Company in the Indian Ocean: 2021 Réunion Tropical Familiarization Center — 1st Company, 2e REI legionnaires train in the Réunion Tropical Familiarization Center (CATR), 2021.

2e REI: 1st Company in the Indian Ocean: 2021 Réunion - Grande Benare — 1st Company, 2e REI legionnaires at the peak of the Grand Bénare, the third highest mountain on the island of Réunion, 2021.

2e REI: 1st Company in the Indian Ocean: 2021 Europa Island — 1st Company, 2e REI legionnaires patrolling the Europa Island, 2021.

2e REI: 1st Company in the Indian Ocean: 2021 Juan de Nova Island — The Juan de Nova Island and its small garrison, 2021.

2e REI: 1st Company in the Indian Ocean: Zambia — In the meantime, the 1st Company commander and a small group of his men were detached to Zambia, a country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, to supervise instruction of local soldiers who will take part in the U.N. mission in the Central African Republic.

Photo source: 2e REI Facebook

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