They swapped their grey and black uniforms for the blue one, and put on their new stripes and the gendarmerie cap. Coming from Rabat in Morocco and Amman in Jordan, lieutenant Otmane Boussebaa and captain Ashraf Al-Shra’ah have been following a three-day, full-immersion course in the Loir-et-Cher divisional gendarmerie groupement, in the centre of France. This exploratory course takes place in the framework of their two-year training in the gendarmerie nationale officers’ school (EOGN) in Melun.
On the agenda: discovery of the activities conducted by their French counterparts, especially by the horse-riders of the Republican guard posted in Chambord castle, but also by the NTECH gendarmes specialised in new technologies, the ones working in the operational and intelligence centre or the intervention unit responsible for the security of a nuclear plant.
In February, they will take an intervention instructorship exam in order to train their teammates once they are back home. Otmane and Ashraf are not the only ones who benefit from this partnership. Each year, the EOGN welcomes several foreign students coming from all continents. A long-lasting and rewarding cooperation.
You can read the article in French here.