2e REG: 4th Company in Martinique in 2024 | French Foreign Legion Information

In late February 2024, the 4th Company of the 2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment (2e REG) left their garrison at Saint-Christol in southern France for Martinique, an overseas region of France in the eastern Caribbean Sea. See some images.

Martinique is a tropical island, part of the archipelago of the Antilles. It is located north of Venezuela and bordering the Atlantic Ocean, around 190 miles (300 km) east of Puerto Rico.

The legionnaires are part of the 33e RIMa (Marine Infantry Regiment). This regiment, like the other French overseas units, is mainly composed of rotational elements which usually rotate every four months (two companies). Another two companies comprise local reservists.

The Legion combat engineers formed the 1st Company, 33e RIMa, based at Fort Desaix in Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique. Their departure back to France is scheduled for this June.

Besides their common duties, the 4th Company 2e REG legionnaires maintain order in the region and keep a French presence on the island, as well as on Guadeloupe, another French department in the Caribbean. They also conduct military training, including a mandatory course at the Aquatic & Forest Training Center (CNEF), operated by the regiment.

In mid-March, a 2e REG detachment deployed to Saint Lucia, a small island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean, located northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. There they provided a honor guard to French Minister of the Interior and Overseas Gérald Darmanin who visited the island on March 15.

In late March, the legionnaires participated in a bilateral exercise, called Sabre 2024, along with soldiers of the Barbados Defence Force.

Apart from the 4th Company men deployed to the Caribbean, other 2e REG detachments currently serve in New Caledonia and Djibouti.

2e REG - Foreign Legion - Saint Lucia - Gérald Darmanin - 2024 — A 2e REG honor guard in Saint Lucia, March 15, 2024. French Minister of the Interior and Overseas *Gérald Darmanin* shaking hands with the guard leader, a lieutenant.

2e REG - Foreign Legion - Exercise Sabre - Martinique - 2024 — 2e REG men with their colleagues from the Barbados Defence Force, Exercise Sabre in Martinique, late March 2024.

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