Without national service, professional soldiers may see themselves as a race apart, sharing different values from those of civilians, thus isolating themselves from a society with which they do not fully identify and which is no longer acquainted with them.

All change destabilises and provokes reflection. It can be viewed as something negative, as a risk or, on the contrary, seen in a positive way as an opportunity to reconsider things with a fresh eye and build new relations and ways of operating, rejecting old practices and mind-sets.

Thinking positively, one can take the view that, for the ties between the forces and the nation, ‘professionalisation’ constitutes an opportunity, and that even though we must remain vigilant, it will tend to strengthen them. The objective is to ensure that the forces remain open, integrated into society, living in harmony with it, and that the values shared by the men and women in them are those of their fellow-citizens. The other side of the coin is that civil society should know the Armed Forces and recognise itself in them.