In France, it is now enshrined in law that operational reservists are only recruited to be used, and some of these ‘citizen reservists’ will be required to supplement others if they are insufficient for their task. But this recognition does not solve the greatest problem–recruitment. The requirement is the permanent availability of 100,000 operational reservists. Based on a career of 20 years, this implies a minimum annual flow or 5,000 per year, and probably more when other outflows are taken into account. In reality, we can no longer think in terms of a career as an implicit aspiration of the recruit, but rather of a contract of fixed duration. The question becomes one of the renewal of 30,000 contracts per year, based on an average contract of three years, which is a relatively optimistic estimate. So, we are faced with the double question: why do they volunteer and how can we get them to come?

In theory, it is always possible to count on the availability of former regular military personnel who have just left the service. The amended 1999 law requires five years of availability following the end of their service. But would we want to invoke this commitment? If not, these potential reservists fall into the same pool of reservists as the others, in the sense that the same questions apply to them.

This is why the recruiting services have promoted the advantages in cash and in kind to try to capture the latent market in those seeking part-time jobs: help with school or university studies; attractive pay and access to other advantages open to the military. But economic considerations do not by themselves account for engagement. Particularly when the observer is a reservist himself, he is naturally led to conclude, on the basis of his own experience, that the rewards for enlistment are as much moral as material. Also, the type of engagement must be considered. Certainly a reservist, as a soldier, has the ultimate ambition of participating in combat. But nowadays that means taking part in external operations and a reservist is only liable for such service if he volunteers. There are therefore two types of engagement: one which consists of participating in the day-to-day functioning of the defence service in peacetime, and one which leads to service in a theatre of operations and acceptance of the risks inherent in such a situation. Obviously, the motives are not exactly the same in the two cases.