Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
"Come on, Villeminoz!"
"You see, love of life is wonderful! Wonderful!"
"You gonna do your best?"
"I will."
"See you later."
"Hurry up if you wanna go to bed early!"
The candidates undergo a land navigation exercise on a 6 mile distance.
The instructor drives his SUV along the course to see how things turn out.
"The point is to get them out of their cozy beds and daily routine for two months."
"Being woken up in the middle of the night is very unsettling."
"A GIGN operative must be able to prepare his backpack, explosives, ammo... in the blink of an eye."
"Each guy has a specific role. If you need one hour to get ready, you're not operational."
"We've reached the third landmark. It's right there."
This landmark marks the first third of the course.
"Who's there?" [Inaudible.]
"OK, go on."
"Who's next?"
"Fernandez."
"How's it going, guys?"
"Yeah?"
"No major problem?"
"Was it easy? Yes or no?"
"Yes, yes!"
The candidates get their card punched as proof of having reached the landmark.
"Here's Villeminoz."
"Hey, Villeminoz!"
"C'mere!"
"Want a ride? I'll bring you back in my SUV."
"Why?" "For fun. You interested?" "No, thanks." "OK, off you go!"
"What if he had accepted?" "He'dve been thrown out. We don't like cheaters."
Week Two of Selection
A shooting session for Stéphane Poulain and the other candidates.
They must fire 10 rounds in a target 15 yards away. Stéphane Poulain has some trouble.
"Focus on the sights. Now forget your finger."
"Relax your face."
"Finally. You'll get there." "I hope so."
"No, 'I hope so' is akin to defeatism."
"I WILL get there." "Yeah, thanks."
"A bad shooter has no future in the GIGN?"
"No."
"No, because when you hold a gun, you're not allowed any mistakes."
"It's something very serious, you're granted a right of life and death..."
"You're not allowed to shoot a hostage taker and hit a hostage instead."
"That would be unacceptable, a huge professional failure."
"Sharpshooting is a crucial requirement to join us."
"You kidding me?"
"More than 8 inches apart! You aim at one head and you hit another."
"It's damn serious!"
This is the "Asparagus".
A 33-foot high metal rod the candidates must climb up as quick as possible.
Now it's François Guibert's turn.
"He's really very heavy."
"Is it a disadvantage for him?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Push on your legs and pull with your hands."
François won't make it. Tiredness has taken its toll.
Another failure for him.
But there's no time for him to catch his breath, as the candidates are already off for a long night march.
"You're off in one minute. You're the first group to go, the other one will leave afterwards."
"This night will be short."
"You're not there yet!"
"You're off for a long march Stéphane?"
"Can't you see I've had enough, I'm sick of it all, I'm gonna kill myself!"
"This is beginning to really *** me off!"
"We're off for a very long march."
"There's a first landmark 6 miles away to reach."
"Then march another 20 or 25 miles to reach a rendezvous point tomorrow at 9am from what I understood."
8 am on the next morning - This night mission was hampered by weather.
"It's physically tough first because you have to walk for miles,"
"then the weather is on the instructors' side since it's cold and snowing."
"We're pushing the candidates' limits during this probationary period."
"This weather is a good thing for us since it'll further test the candidates' morale."
25 miles from the starting point, the candidates complete the march.
But the weather made the exercise even more exhausting.
"Has the night been long?"
"Long and cold."
"Very long?" "Very long indeed."
"More than long. Never-ending."
"It depends what you mean by 'long'. Distance-wise, it was indeed very long."
"Sleep-wise, it was short, zero."
The guys reach the rendezvous point, but far behind schedule. The instructor is furious.
"Two guys alone far ahead of your buddies, what the heck is that, selfishness or what?"
"Individualism?"
"2 hours 25 minutes behind schedule. It's unacceptable!"
"What have you guys been doing?"
"You threw a big dinner party last night and ended up at the Mickey D this morning or what?"
"Two hours and a half late, it's unacceptable!"
"What was your team's objective?"
"We were supposed to carry out an observation. We had to be on place at 8."
"Why?" "Because there was supposed to be a rendezvous."
"Well, you missed the rendezvous, you screwed up your mission."
"You dragged your team for more than 25 miles for nothing."
"Guys, there're some silly grins we'll take off your faces."
"Some of you are buttholes."
"They're pulling silly grins they'll pay dearly."
"We got a telling-off, especially me since I was team leader."
"I took the brunt of the blame, but that's part of the game."
"But it's hard to get over it."
"Especially when after 30 miles you've had enough."
"We often get told off, but that's the point."
"That's the point of the whole thing. I take it very philosophically."
"There are some things over which you get told off, and you understand why,"
"and for other stuff there were factors independent of your will, and that pisses you off."
"For such a long distance, we did our best."
"We did our best, we know we did everything we could."
"We didn't make it and it's disappointing."
"Morale took a little blow because nobody likes to dwell on a failure."
"But failing once doesn't mean you'll never succeed."
Back to the base.
A new shooting session for Stéphane Poulain.
But his progress is slow.
"You gotta do it 5 times over."
"You didn't align the sights properly."
"You have trouble with the sights and you made the same mistake twice."
Two weeks into Selection.
It's time for instructor Jean-Luc to sitrep some candidates.
"You expect to stay?"
"Well, as long as I'm not told to leave, that's sure."
"Your failure at the Asparagus was somewhat surprising. "
"You were not combative at all."