Growing up Under the Flag. the Reasons for the Commitment of Young People in the French Army

Why join the french army? The question is posed in a modern world where the aspirations of young French people to become adults are fulfilled by means that are incumbent on them to find. Considering that young people are in search of sufficiently solid and reassuring supports to face the contingency of the world, we hypothesize that military commitment measures their greatness through the employment contract that gives them the means to be economically independent and to evaluate their value through militarity. By cross-referencing contract and militarity, the article identifies four profiles of enlisted men, each linked to an accessory: the stripe, the medal, the pay and the compass. Young people who wear the braid and those who wear the medal have in common motivations that are more or less detached from strictly economic interests. Those in the pay and compass categories are more detached from militarism. This typology first points to the irreducibility of military commitment to a vocation free from material interests. It then detaches military status from the career prospects touted by the recruiting army. Secondly, it underlines the specific characteristics of young people who enlist in the armed forces compared to other young people. Whatever their accessory, their commitment evokes a passage to adulthood as a combination of a personality adventure and a meaningful profession.