2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment

The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes, 2e REP) is an airborne regiment of the French Foreign Legion, stationed at Camp Raffalli near the town of Calvi on the island of Corsica, just south of mainland France. It is part of the 11th Parachute Brigade and the spearhead of the French Rapid reaction force.

History
As a consequence of the successes of the Parachute Company of 3e REI (Compagnie Parachutiste du 3e REI), the Legions' first parachute unit, serving in the First Indochina War it was decided to raise two battalions of Legion paratroops. The 2nd Foreign Parachute Battalion (2e Bataillon étranger de parachutistes, 2e BEP) was formed on October 1, 1948, and based at Setif, Algeria.

Indochina
The 2e BEP was sent to Indochina on January 13, 1949 and arrived at Saigon on February 8. From then until November they served as 'sector troops'.

In 1950, the battalion became a part of the General Reserve in Indochina. Following the French defeat on Route coloniale 4 in October 1950, the battalion was transported by ship to North Vietnam. The battalion took part in several battles, including the first battle of Nghia Lo (October 1951), the Black River (November–December 1951), and the fight for Route coloniale 6 (January–February 1952) during the Battle of Hoa Binh.

The battalion made a parachute drop on Dien Bien Phu as reinforcement during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (March–May 1954). Fighting without reinforcements, remnants of the 1er and 2e BEP were overwhelmed after a final assault by Viet Minh forces; fewer than 100 legionnaires of the 2e BEP were taken prisoner. On 1 December 1954, after the surviving members of the battalion had returned from captivity after the Armistice, the 2e BEP was later reconstituted with replacements, and returned by ship to French Algeria.

Algeria
On December 1, 1955, the 2e BEP was enlarged to a full regiment, and was redesignated as the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes, 2e REP). The regiment served throughout the war and suffered a total of 741 casualties.

After the armistice on March 19, 1962 the regiment was to moved to Telergma and in September to Mers-el-Kebir. In June 1963 Lt. Col. Caillaud took command with a plan to transformed the now demoralized regiment into an elite para-commnado force. In June 1967 the regiment was moved to its current base at Camp Raffalli, Calvi on the island of Corsica. It was assigned to the 11th Division and became part of France's rapid intervention forces.

Chad
Elements of the regiment were deployed to Chad in April 1969 as part of a French force to support the government against two rebel forces. Returning at the end of 1970. Individual companies were deployed again in 1978-79 to protect French lives and again in 1984.

Zaire
In May 1978, a force of gendarmes katangais entered the Katanga province of Zaire from Angola and occupied the mining town of Kolwezi. They began to loot the town and kill government soldiers and civilians (including several Belgian and French employees of a mining company). At the request of the government of Zaire, 2 REP was airlifted to Kinshasa and dropped on Kolwezi. The operation was a success and the town was quickly recaptured with minor casualties in the ranks of the paratroopers. Some 120 civilian hostages died in the occupation.

Afghanistan
2e REP deployed to Afghanistan from January to July 2010, as part of Task Force "Altor". Two Legionnaires, Pole Konrad Rygiel from  2e REP GCP, Slovakian Robert Hutnik from the regiment were killed in action.

Selection
Selection for 2e REP takes 4 weeks. The first 2 weeks are physical tests across terrain. Parachute training takes place at Camp Raffalli and runs for 2 weeks with a total of 6 jumps.

2e REP is the only regiment of the 11th Parachute Brigade which trains its own paratroopers. The Legionnaires spend their parachute training in Calvi TAP within the walls of the regiment. All other Army units are trained at the École des troupes aéroportées (ETAP) in Pau.

Organization
The regiment is composed of around 1140 men organized into 8 companies and a reserve unit of 60 men.


 * Compagnie de commandement et de logistique (CCL) - Command and Logistics Company
 * Compagnie d'administration et de soutien (CAS) - Administrative and Support Company
 * Compagnie d'éclairage et d'appui (CEA) - Reconnaissance & Support Company (recce, anti-tank, sniper & pathfinder sections)
 * 1er CIE - 1st Company (specialises in Urban warfare ) (a command section and 4 combat sections)
 * 2e CIE - 2nd Company (specialises in Mountain warfare ) (a command section and 4 combat sections)
 * 3e CIE - 3rd Company (specialises in Amphibious warfare ) (a command section and 4 combat sections)
 * 4e CIE - 4th Company (specialises in sniping and demolitions ) (a command section and 4 combat sections)
 * 5e Compagnie de maintenance (5e CM) - 5th Maintenance Company (formed August 1994)
 * 6e Compagnie (6e CIE) - Reserve Unit (founded July 2001 upon the dissolution of the 173rd Infantry Regiment of Corsica)

Some members of the 2e REP belong to the Commando Parachute Group - Groupement Commando Parachutiste which is a special forces unit of the 11th Parachute Brigade of the French army. While GCP members of other units wear the parachutist's red beret, the 2e REP GCP members conserves the green beret of the French Foreign Legion.

Deployments
Operational deployments of 2e REP
 * Chad (in 1969, Operations Pout, Manta, Sparrowhawk)
 * Djibouti (1976 Loyada, 1992 Operation Iskoutir)
 * Zaire (1978, Kolwezi)
 * Lebanon (1982, Operation Orca)
 * Rwanda (1990, 1992, Operation Noroit)
 * Gabon (1990, Operation Shark)
 * Iraq (1991, GCP, Operation Daguet)
 * Somalia (1992, Operation Oryx)
 * Central (1996, Operation Almandine)
 * Congo - Brazzaville (1997, Operation Pelican)
 * Former Yugoslavia (1993 Sarajevo, 1995 RIF 1996 and 1999 KFOR, Kosovo 2001 and 2003)
 * Côte d'Ivoire (2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 Licorne)
 * Afghanistan (OMLT 2008, GTIA Altor 2010, Red SGTIA 2011, Operation PAMIR).
 * Mali (2013, Operation Serval)

Battle honours

 * Camerone 1863
 * Indochine 1949-1954