France salutes end of military service

Thursday, 29 November, 2001, 15:48 GMT France salutes end of military service http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1682777.stm The last 1,000 conscripts are leaving armed forces Almost a century of French history has come to an end as the country's last conscripts completed their military service. Around 1,000 young men were being demobbed after their 10-month stint in the armed forces. The ending of military service marks France's move to a purely professional armed forces. Several other European countries, like Spain, Italy and Portugal, are also phasing it out. I think that they could have made better use of us Conscript Philippe Guiffault Among those coming to an end of their enforced army life were the last 24 men to be conscripted into the 16th Rennes Artillery Unit, based in western France. The conscripts had contrasting views on their time in the army. At a ceremony to mark the occasion, Emmanuel Lepine told French La Chaine Info television that he had found it beneficial. "You can integrate with everyone and different social classes. It's a good thing. Honestly, I think that it was a good experience for me," he said. But Philippe Guiffault reflected a not uncommon view among conscripts that they could have made better use of their time. Emmanuel Lepine was happy in the ranks "In light of the duties that we were given, I think that they could have made better use of us," he said. National service was originally going to be ended next year, but 200,000 young men breathed a sigh of relief in June when it was announced that they would not be called up. The French Government decided to withdraw the service earlier than planned because it said it had had major successes in recruiting professional soldiers. However, military experts have said conscripts are expensive to call up and then feed, clothe, house and train, but are of little use in a modern fighting force. Over the years increasing numbers of young men also refused to do military service and as conscientious objectors opted for a longer civilian service. Century of service The modern form of universal national service was introduced in France in 1905 when conscripts had to serve two years in the armed forces. Some conscripts said service was a waste of time This increased to three years in World War I but was progressively reduced to 10 months and millions of young men were called up down the years. France's armed forces are expected to comprise 92,500 professionals with another 27,000 participating as national service volunteers by the end of next year. BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.

See also: 29 Jun 01 | Europe The death of conscription 16 Nov 00 | Europe Spanish army goes professional 03 Sep 99 | Europe Italy to scrap conscription 15 Apr 99 | Africa Angola starts conscription drive Internet links: La Chaine Info television (in French) French Defence Ministry The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Europe stories now: Mass resignations rock Turkey Crash pilots given conflicting orders Serbia jails first war criminal New hope for Aids vaccine Ukraine mine death toll rises Russian anti-Jewish sign explodes Sicilians dish up anti-Mafia pasta Finland and Sweden plan 'Eurocity' Links to more Europe stories are at the foot of the page.