Watch a nice presentation of a SAED commando-like platoon of the French Foreign Legion. A combat support platoon, it is still a relatively little-known unit among Foreign Legion enthusiasts. You’ll learn more about the platoon in this article.
The first Dismounted Combat Support Platoon (Section d’Aide à l’Engagement Débarqué, SAED) appeared in France in 2006 and soon engaged in Afghanistan and Africa. According to the terms of reference given by the French Army Staff in 2008, the main purpose of a SAED platoon is to make a precise, autonomous, and limited contribution to the intervention of a ground force. Its objectives are to facilitate preparation, engagement, execution, consolidation and, ultimately, disengagement of dismounted combat units (soldiers on foot).
The SEAD is considered the foundation of the dismounted combat capability. That’s why its men require intelligence training and the ability to make the best possible use of the terrain, from a tactical point of view.
The platoon is a combined arms entity. It possesses the appropriate means to hold contact without losing mobility until the arrival of a more important combat element or, in retrograde movement (disengagement), to end the last combat.
The men in the SAED enjoy privileged access to several training courses and acquire additional qualifications related to intelligence, commando techniques, shooting, or hand-to-hand combat. They are often considered an infantry version of paratrooper or mountain commando groups (the well-known GCP or GCM).
In the Foreign Legion, the first SAED platoons were created around 2016. Today, each infantry regiment has its own commando-like SAED platoon: the 2e REI, 3e REI, and 13e DBLE. The recently reactivated 5e RE in Mayotte should have a fully operational SAED platoon in 2026.
As for the 1er REC, the Legion cavalrymen have their own commando-like platoon, naturally non-dismounted: the PAEA (Amphibious Combat Support Peloton, also often spelled as PAE).
Within the 6th Light Armored Brigade (6e BLB), which includes the 2e REI, 13e DBLE, and 1er REC, both the SAED and PAEA are part of a larger Amphibious Combat Support Group (Groupement d’Aide à l’Engagement Amphibie, GAEA). In the GAEA, they operate alongside PCG engineer combat divers and FOS operational search elements from the 1er REG, another Legion regiment of the brigade. The GAEA’s purpose is to conduct reconnaissance of the landing zone for an amphibious landing operation and provide the joint force commander with an overview of the surrounding area (the first miles/kilometers on the ground) so that he can make the right tactical decisions. The GAEA’s modularity, small size, and infiltration capability are advantages when it comes to obtaining reliable and immediate information that can be used quickly.
Besides supporting brigade-level operations within a GAEA, the SAED can work for a French battalion-size operational task force, called the GTIA (Combined Arms Group), or its smaller version, the SGTIA (Subgroup).
When it comes to joining the SAED, there is usually one selection process per year. Candidates are evaluated for physical and mental fitness, fighting skills, and basic knowledge. Experienced soldiers are preferred; legionnaires with less than one year of service are rarely selected.
For the record, a legionnaire of the SAED 2e REI died in Iraq in 2018.
In the following video, the 2e REI’s SAED is presented by its platoon leader. He reminds that his men must undergo a four-phase training that consists of combat tactics theory (two weeks), commando combat tactics (undefined timeframe), amphibious infiltration training (three weeks), and urban warfare training (two weeks). First, we see them receiving training in shooting, safe weapons handling, urban warfare tactics (called AZUR), and night infiltration at Camp Garrigues near Nimes, their garrison town. Then, they take an amphibious course at Camp Canjuers, the largest military camp in continental Europe, built by the 61e BMGL in the 1970s.
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