2e REP: 1st Company in Guiana in 2024 | French Foreign Legion Information

Watch a short, interesting French Army documentary showing legionnaires from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) during their deployment to French Guiana (France’s overseas department in South America) earlier this year.

In the documentary, we follow a platoon with the 1st Company, 2e REP. Its men, alongside their colleagues from the Gendarmerie, carry out a mission targeting illegal gold-mining gangs that are plundering the rain forests of French Guiana near the border with Suriname. According to the documentary, a dozen of such missions are conducted almost every day, as part of Operation Harpie, which was launched in 2008.

Legionnaires from the 1st Company 2e REP were deployed to French Guiana earlier this year, from January to May. They were assigned to the 9th Marine Infantry Regiment (9e RIMa). This unit, alongside the Legion’s famous 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment (3e REI), is stationed in French Guiana to guard the territory and keep French presence there.

Both of these regiments are overseas combined arms units consisting of regular personnel (rotating every two to three years) and elementary units (platoons or companies) from different French Army branches, which usually rotate every four months. While the 3e REI is based in the town of Kourou, the 9e RIMa is garrisoned about 40 miles (65 km) to the southeast, at Cayenne.

During its deployment to French Guiana, the 1st Company 2e REP became the 2nd Company 9e RIMa.

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