DÉFENSE ZONE
This week we are publishing a new issue of our print magazine, another opportunity to pursue our reflection on the commitment of the armed and security forces.
Enlisting, taking up arms, putting on a uniform, leaving one’s comfort zone, taking risks, putting one’s life on the line: these are the choices of the men and women who decide to join the defence and security professions.
Bold choices that deserve to be highlighted, and also to be questioned. Enlisting, for what? For whom? For which missions?
Is there a parallel between a PGHM gendarme (the Gendarmerie’s high-mountain rescue unit) winched above an Alpine glacier and a French Army soldier patrolling an Afghan valley swarming with Taliban?
Military life, like that of a member of the law-enforcement agencies, is a life of adventure. A life full of stories that we want to tell in this magazine, while continuing, in complete independence, to question this concept of commitment.
In this new issue, we meet two characters who at first sight have nothing in common: the legionnaire Major Gérald and the irreverent Mike Echo. These two social-media “stars” bring together large communities of service personnel which, in the end, are not so different from each other.
Beyond the style of the message, the substance seems consistent when it comes to the question of commitment. Indeed, aren’t Mike Echo’s antics a godsend for the armed forces’ recruitment services? We’ll let you make up your own mind on page 52.
“Join up, they said, you’ll see the world”, grumbled a legionary in Astérix. In this Issue 5 of Défense Zone, we head back to the Sahel, more specifically to Burkina Faso, to find out more about the MINUSMA battalion. What is daily life like for these 15,000 blue helmets who have come from all over the world to “stabilise” Mali?
But before taking off for Africa, a quick stop at the customs service is in order. In our “How to become” section, we look at a profession that gets little media attention: customs inspector.
We also offer a focus on another little-known profession: scientific gendarme in an intervention unit.
Before wishing you happy reading, for once we would like to thank you for your loyalty and support.
It has been a year since we launched Défense Zone, and your very positive feedback is particularly encouraging. By buying this magazine or subscribing to our Premium area, you support and fund an independent media outlet, created and fed daily by professional journalists whose mission is to investigate, explain, bear witness and produce quality reports on defence and security issues.
Moreover, if you have already held Défense Zone magazine in your hands, you will have noticed that it looks nothing like what you will find at a newsstand in the military category. We have also chosen quality when it comes to printing.
The magazine is printed on photo paper, the cover has no plastic coating for a better finish, and finally, this fine object is printed in France and not in the depths of Eastern Europe, as most specialist press publishers do.
We refuse to cut corners on important things, such as quality and our values.
We believe that made in France, the press and quality journalism still have a bright future ahead of them, and we want to keep fighting for that.
Help us by subscribing and by sharing this message with people who share our values.
Thank you again and happy reading!
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