2e REP: 2024 Mountain Course for 2e CIE | French Foreign Legion Information

The officers, NCOs, and legionnaires with the 2nd Company, 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) have just completed their month-long mountain training in France.

After leaving Corsica and moving to mainland France, the “Mountain Company” carried out a jump in Pau at the Airborne Troop School (ETAP). The school provides parachute courses for all French airborne units except for the 2e REP, which is self-sufficient and runs its own parachute training for newcomers.

Pau lies in the southwest corner of France and is located only about 60 miles (100 km) from the Atlantic Ocean and 30 miles (50 km) from Spain. After jumping there, the 2nd Company set out for the nearby Pyrenees mountain range. From military mountain posts in this range, and later in the French Alps, the 2e REP men successfully completed the month-long course, earning their Military Skier Certificate (Brevet de Skieur Militaire, BSM) and a BSM badge.

The technically and physically extremely demanding BSM course is compulsory for all legionnaires assigned to the “Mountain Company”. The program included moving and traversing high mountain terrain, combat training, physical hardening, and sleeping in igloos and emergency shelters. The course culminated in a 36-hour maneuver that covered all of the learned aspects of high-mountain warfare.

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