I know what you’re thinking, “Cece, what the fuck were you doing in a French military base?” Long story short, I had to be there or I wouldn’t get my diploma.
Short story long: In France, everyone aged 16 must go to a military base and play soldier for a day. This day is called the Journée Défense et Citoyenneté (JDC) or Citizenship and Defence Day, it’s mandatory in order to pass the Baccalauréat (Bac) or the French high school diploma exam, in order to get your driver’s license before the age of 24, to be automatically registered as a voter when you turn 18, and to partake in national exams to be a public official. Basically, you have to do it or you can’t do shit.
I was summoned for my JDC when I was 16 and living in Brazil. Usually, French citizens living abroad must do it at the consulate but mine hadn’t organised anything so I didn’t do it. It wasn’t a problem for me as I wasn’t in a French school and thus, didn’t have to pass the Bac. As for the rest, I was planning on getting my driver’s license in Türkiye and converting it, I registered as a voter myself and I don’t plan on becoming a public official. Briefly put, I had no obligation to participate in this stupid day.
That is of course, until my university started sending me emails about needing my completion certificate. I ignored them for two years since I had no intention of doing it, it’s just a day of indoctrination and I didn’t want any part in it. I was also under the impression that it wouldn’t inhibit me from doing anything since I had a solution for most of said obstacles but I was wrong. So, last year in december, I went to the administration to tell them to stop sending me the emails as I wouldn’t do the JDC. They told me they couldn’t give me my degree if I didn’t complete it.
What. The. Fuck.
I applied to complete my JDC late that same afternoon and waited almost a year to receive my summons. I would be doing it Wednesday September 30th 2026. I’d have to miss all my classes. Great. I tried to contact them about doing it on a weekend but my email was ignored, which doesn’t shock me given the shitty french administrative system.
I arrived at the military base an hour and a half away from my house at 8:30, the day would start at 9. I was the only adult there, which caused several teenagers to think I was their captain for the day. One of them asked me when they could go inside and called me “Ma’am” and a part of me died a little.
Surprisingly, punctuality is not a requirement to join the military. Our instructor or “captain” for the day arrived 15 minutes late and we were let inside. I, alongside around 150 teenagers were separated into three groups: blue, white and red, and were taken to the centre of the base to sing the national anthem— of which I only know the first verse. It was very awkward, I just mouthed gibberish and hummed the tune until it was over. I want no judgement for not knowing the French national anthem as you know I didn’t step foot into the country until I was 18. I know the Turkish national anthem, that’s enough.
Afterwards, we went to the parking lot to get our “military rations”. We could pick between a meat dish and a vegetarian dish and before the distribution even started, the captain barked at us not to ask him if any of the dishes are halal because “we don’t care about that here”. Mind you, no one even asked and we all know they don’t give a fuck. There’s no need to be upset by a potential question before it’s even asked.
We headed towards one of the rooms to play strategy role play games in which we were presented with a crisis scenario we had to resolve. This is where the magic happened and it all started with a map. It was a map of the world centring France. All the French colonies or “territories” were marked with a tiny little French flag. There was also a small dotted border to separate the EU and NATO members from the rest of the map. On the SWANA section of the map, and only on that section, figured several terrorism icons (shown bellow). Honestly, even knowing how islamaphobic the French are, I was surprised. I mean seriously? I understand the map separating NATO countries since it’s semi-relevant but the terrorism symbol on a map just screams propaganda. Especially since “terrorist” isn’t an international legal term, meaning the definition changes depending on the person in front of you. Or in this case, the state.
I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe the symbol was to signify active conflict zones or something but if that were the case, the symbol would be on Russia and Ukraine as well, which it wasn’t. One of the kids asked what the symbol meant and the marine in charge of this exercise said they were there to show terrorists and enemy states. So yay, I was right, I guess.
She started giving us “random” scenarios each revolving around the same trope. Jihadist terrorists have invaded France, Jihadist terrorists have closed in on the EU border, Muslim terrorists have done this, that, and the third. She said the words “Jihadist” and “Muslim” with such disgust I thought she was about to be puke. We had four scenarios, all recycling the same overused trop until the fifth one which was about North Korea launching nuclear missiles towards Europe. Gotta keep a diverse profile I guess.
I tried to recreate the map as we weren’t allowed to take pictures while we were inside.
I can’t even give them the benefit of the doubt as the goal of this day is to incentivise people to join the military. Guess what incentivises people the most: hatred. After we were done with the crisis resolution, we practiced shooting with laser guns. I was excited for this as I thought we’d play laser tag but no, we just lined up and shot at 5 targets. It was boring but hey, it passes the time and was certainly more entertaining than crisis resolution scenarios with thinly vailed propaganda.
Right after, we did the thing I dreaded the most: the french test. It was supposed to be simple, and I’m assuming it was for those who studied in the French system their whole lives but I have to admit, I was struggling. We had to pick which words exist or not in the French language and as someone who reads legal documents daily, I have to say most of those words sounded like they could exist. I randomly chose what I thought was the correct answer and then we had a reading comprehension test which was fine.
We ate our military rations which were mediocre and learned that one French combat ration could be traded for eight American rations. I almost pity the American soldiers that must be eating shit powder mixed with water or something (just kidding, I couldn’t give a single fuck if I tried). By then, it was the afternoon so our captain decided to introduce some people that worked in other branches of the military to show us how diverse the jobs and benefits are.
The most interesting thing I learned was just how low the salary is for someone who just started in the military. Minimum wage. I’m going to die for my country and you’re giving me minimum wage. Fuck you. Of course, your salary depends on your rank and role in the military but there really isn’t much of an incentive besides early retirement after 18 years (if you make it that far) and the fact that education isn’t really needed for a lot of the jobs available.
At the end of the day we had a “military goodbye” which was a distribution of pins saying we completed the JDC alongside a certificate that officiated it. We were told to shake hands with everyone and look into their eyes as we did so and of course that was accompanied by a comment telling the muslim kids who couldn’t shake hands with the opposite gender to “suck it up” because “this isn’t Friday prayer”. Again, nobody had even said they couldn’t or wouldn’t shake hands with anyone, no one there was even visibly Muslim. We shook hands with everyone then were set free.
As someone with a disgust for anything war or military related, it was a waste of a day. There were several people who were very interested in potentially joining the military or looking for internships and to each their own, I guess. I asked my friends who had completed the JDC on time if this behaviour was normal and they told me it wasn’t so that’s just my luck. In light of recent protests, the stupidity in the mandatory nature of this day is revealed. The entire day, we were taught about the ways in which the military as well as the police protect us in our daily lives and yet nobody taught us who would protect us from them. They are out here, using weapons of war against children protesting for better education and expecting respect for it while the very people they’re supposed to protect are having their lives changed for the worst by their actions.
© 2026 C. H. Gökdemir. All rights reserved.
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