Military reserve forces of France
The military reserve forces of France are the military reserve force within the French Armed Forces.
History
From the very moment Napoléon Bonaparte took power as First Consul in the coup of 18 Brumaire, he was feared by his rivals, and keenly supported by the army. They participated in the creation of a new constitution that forbade a Consul from leading an active army outside France. The violence of the coup d'état had already caused disquiet, and the consuls had access to an impressive Consular Guard.Following the new constitution to the letter, Napoléon raised a reserve army at Dijon to support his war effort in Italy. This was the turning point of his Second Italian campaign.
From 1866, Napoleon III wanted to establish a military reserve comparable to the Prussian Landwehr. The army reserve was created by law on 27 July 1872 following the disbandment of the National Guard.
This law established a military service obligation of twenty years for French men as follows:
- five years in the active army;
- four years in the Army Reserve;
- five years in the Territorial Army;
- six years in the Territorial Army Reserve.
On 25 July 1889, military service was increased to twenty-five years; with three years in the active army, seven years in the Army Reserve, six years in the Territorial Army, and nine years in the Territorial Army Reserve. The law required members of the Army Reserve to participate in two exercises of four weeks each, and members of the Territorial Army to one exercise of two weeks.
On 21 March 1905, the drawing of lots was abolished. The increase in conscripts allowed service in the active army to be reduced to two years whilst still maintaining its strength. And members of the Territorial Army Reserve had to participate in one exercise of nine days.
On 7 Aug 1913, service in the active army was restored to three years, and the conscription age was lowered to 20. Military service was increased to twenty-eight years by extending service in the Army Reserve to eleven years.
On mobilisation in 1914, the active army was supplemented by:
- the Army Reserve of men aged from 24 to 33, i.e. born between 1881 and 1890.
- the Territorial Army of men aged from 34 to 39, i.e. born between 1875 and 1880.
- the Territorial Army Reserve of men aged from 40 to 45, i.e. born between 1868 and 1874.
Present organisation
On the suspension of obligatory national service and the professionalisation of its armies, France also modified the organisation of its military reserve in the same professionalising way. Law n°99-894 of 22 October 1999 set out the organisation of the military reserve and of the defence forces.The military reserve was organised into two bodies :
- the réserve citoyenne, group of volunteers actively getting to know the military world, undergoing training and maintaining the links between the armed forces and civil society. Citizen reservists have military status.
- the réserve opérationnelle, grouping together reservists with an ESR and former military officers with an availability obligation. The reservists serving under an ESR serve as military officers for periods of 1 to 210 days per year; they are coming from all fields and all the professional social categories.
The Reserve of the French Army
The Army operational reserve is about 60% headquarters/staff specialists and 40% sub-unit reservists.Two types of reserve units are in service:
- The Unités d'Intervention de Réserve, specializing in national defense
- The Unités Spécialisées de Réserve for the Engineers, Logistics and NBC units of the Army. These units share the same missions as the active units within the regiment.
- Reserve Initial Training : 15 days
- Technical Aptitude Certificate : 15 days
- Cadre training : 1 month
- Reserve Officer Initial Training : 21 days
- Platoon Leader Training : 21 days