The École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (“Special Military School of Saint-Cyr”) is the foremost French military academy. In our Photo Of The Day, we’ll follow some of the soldiers in this military school and their FAMAS bullpup rifles.

As I’m sure you’re already aware of, the FAMAS is being phased out and replaced by the Heckler & Koch HK416F.

From École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr’s Facebook, auto-translated from French:

OPERATION CARNYX: THE 1st BATTALION OF FRANCE IN THE FIGHT

The “blue 30” section has been in the field for 36 hours to ensure its zone control mission in the face of militiamen who are spreading terror among the population. The past day has been particularly trying. Three soldiers were “killed” and two others “injured”.

This second night outside promises to be complicated. Rain, mud and soon snow have accompanied men since the start of the mission. The area to be checked extends over a kilometer and a half and the section continues to be harassed by an opposing force which, in turn, perfectly controls its environment and knows the terrain well.

The Courtine camp is a new training ground, completely unknown to the students, with many differences in level, difficult climatic conditions and a tactical choice achieved over two weeks. By organizing this operation, the commander of the 1st battalion of the Ecole Militaire de Saint-Cyr intends to push further the education of his 260 students.

All pictures from École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, France.