Auditors and management of the 229e session in the Occitanie region organised by IHEDN, had the honour of being welcomed by Etienne Guyot, Prefect of the Occitanie region, Prefect of Haute Garonne, at the end-of-session session held on 16 December 2022 at the Prefecture.
The auditors of the 5 committees presented the conclusions of their work to the audience and the authorities present, Lieutenant General Pascal Facon, OGZDS Sud, sub-prefect Jean-Michel Delvert, head of department, representing General CA Benoit Durieux, Director of the IHEDN, as well as General Officers 2S Erick Landes, session director, and Jérôme Pellistrandi, deputy head of department and educational referent.
This day brought to a close 4 weeks of training which took the auditors to Montpellier, Perpignan, Montauban and then Toulouse, based on a rich programme of high-level conferences and visits to industrial, defence and security sites, in addition to committee work.
General CA Pascal Facon was delighted with the success of this session, one year after the organisation of the 223e session in the PACA region, in the same defence and security zone. In his closing address, Jean-Michel Delvert emphasised that this stage had once again demonstrated the Institute's determination to spread the spirit of defence throughout all the territories of the French Republic, at a time when the 220e session in the New Caledonia region. He thanked the regional prefect, the departmental prefects whom the auditors also had the honour of meeting, and the OGZDS, on behalf of the Director of the IHEDN, for their investment and that of their departments in the preparation and organisation of the session.
The 48 new IHEDN auditors finally received the certificate that confers this quality and confirms their desire to promote and disseminate the spirit of defence, in line with the Institute's public service mission.
Second week
Listeners gathered in Perpignan for the 2e This week's session, held under the boarding school system, focuses on knowledge of the armed forces and the defence system.
They immediately got to the heart of the matter thanks to the conference on France's nuclear deterrent at VAE (2S) Jean-Louis LOZIER. After outlining France's doctrine in this area, which is essential if we are to grasp the full scope of the issues involved, the speaker went on to demonstrate that our nuclear credibility is political, technical and operational. Finally, he put nuclear deterrence into perspective in the light of current international events.
On Thursday 24 November, the auditors travelled to Cerdagne. After a visit to the solar furnace at Odeillo, which highlighted the DGA's work on materials resistance, the session was given a tour of the mountain flight training centre, the only site of its kind in Europe for training army helicopter pilots. The enthusiasm of the morning's discoveries gradually gave way to impatience and anxiety about the visit to the National Commando Training Centre at Mont-Louis. The audience was not disappointed. Everyone was able to push themselves to the limit as they set off on the daredevil course, to see for themselves how soldiers toughen up. This memorable sequence naturally helped to forge the cohesion of the session.
The second week of the session ended with a guided tour of the Rivesaltes camp memorial, which was in turn an "accommodation centre" for undesirable foreigners, an internment camp for victims of the Vichy regime's exclusion policy, a deportation camp to Auschwitz-Birkenau via Drancy, a camp for German prisoners of war, a transit zone for foreign auxiliaries in the French army, and also a "regroupment camp for Harkis and their families".
At the end of the visit, a wreath-laying ceremony at the foot of the headstones commemorating the internees gave those present the opportunity to pay their respects in a solemn manner.
First week
By the afternoon, listeners were fully immersed in the session programme, thanks to the panorama of the contemporary world presented by Mr Olivier Sueurformer deputy director in charge of NATO, the EU and the UN within the DGRIS, and currently transformation impact advisor to the SGA.
The first week of the session gave listeners the opportunity to visit the Sémaphore de Sète, climb aboard the Seine, the French Navy's support and assistance ship, meet the airmen at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base 125 where the MRTT was presented to them, and explore the university space centre, the European reference centre for the development and launch of student nanosatellites.
The auditors also had the honour of being received at the prefecture by Mr Hugues Moutouhprefect of the Hérault department. It was an excellent opportunity to hear his views on the hunt for the terrorist Mohamed Merah in March 2012, in which he took part as advisor to the Minister of the Interior.
After Montpellier, and during the other 3 weeks that will take them to Perpignan, Montauban and Toulouse, the auditors will attend other high-level conferences, visit other military and industrial sites and work within their committee.
