Page 92 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017
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 90 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
 2017 – A year of Operational Engagement for the 1er Régiment d’Infanterie de Marine
Faithful to their belonging to the Marines, the ‘porpoises’ of the 1er régiment d’infanterie de Marine (1er RIMa) of An- goulême were engaged many times in 2017. The headquarters
and a part of the Regiment were sent to Lebanon working un- der a United Nations (UN) Security Council mandate as part of UNIFIL. Meanwhile, the other squadrons of the Regiment have fulfilled missions in New-Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean; in Dji- bouti; in Ivory Coast and in Mali. Finally, all the Squadrons of the Regiment were engaged in the national heartland of Paris for the SENTINELLE mission against terrorism.
As of the beginning of the year, a squadron was deployed in the horn of Africa, in Djibouti, a strategic place for pre-positioned forces and a favorable area for medium tank training. As soon as it came back home, another squadron was projected to Ivory Coast in Spring where they received a supply escorting mission up to Mali through enemy areas. Meanwhile, one platoon was deployed in Mali and, crossing the whole world, another one in New-Caledonia.
From March until July 2017 the Regiment was in charge of the Force Commander’s Reserve for the UNIFIL mission in South- ern Lebanon. Two squadrons of the 1er RIMa were deployed with a Finnish infantry company. During the four months it lasted, this mission was centred on UN international coopera- tion, but also on French-Lebanese bilateral cooperation.
After the mission in Lebanon, the Regiment has said goodbye to Colonel Loïc Girard to whom Colonel Gabriel Soubrier has succeeded as Commanding Officer on the 19th of July, coming back to the regiment he had chosen 18 years before, following the cavalry training course in Saumur.
A few weeks later, Colonel Soubrier was in charge of a tactical headquarters in Paris where two squadrons of the 1er RIMa where deployed. The task was to reassure and protect the civil- ian population and to deter a terrorist threat and respond to any attack. All the squadrons of the Regiment were committed one after the other on this mission, in which the key axioms were mobility, unpredictability and a dissuasive posture.
After a year where the sun always rose on the 1er régiment d’infanterie de Marine’s engagements in France and overseas, 2018 will be marked by projection in Djibouti and armored training. With such a year of training exercises we will be ready for being deployed in Africa in 2019. 2018 will also be a year of amphibious training in French Polynesia for a whole squadron and, in Europe as part of the multinational exercise Catamaran with the British and the Spanish forces on Britan’s coast.
Captain Raphaël Chauvancy and Lieutenant Léopold
   
























































































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