A technical and logistical challenge over 1,500 kilometers. About twenty students, including two girls, from the Defense class at Mêzen High School in Alençon are getting ready to hit the road for a week-long educational trip. They are all preparing for a professional baccalaureate in Goods Road Transport Driver (CTRM).
The departure is scheduled for Monday, May 18. The Defense class is a program that connects a school with a military unit, in this case, the military delegation of the Orne department. The convoy for this trip consists of four trucks and a utility vehicle.
Military immersion
The convoy will follow a specific route, defined in advance by the students and their teachers: the group will stop each evening at military sites to sleep. “Every day, meetings are planned between the military and the students,” details Lieutenant Colonel Desachy, the military delegate of the Orne department. Equipment presentations are also scheduled, and the students will attend flag ceremonies (raising of the tricolor flag).
Duty of remembrance
During the week, the students will visit the Fort Queuleu in Metz, a former detention site for political prisoners during World War II. The duty of remembrance will come to life through the transport of the Montereau tank, loaded on a tank transporter driven by some students. The entire weight is “just under 48 tons,” specifies Cyril Gandois, the principal of the class. This weight classifies it as an exceptional convoy of category 1.
The Montereau tank will be presented by the students at the 501st Regiment of Combat Tanks in Mourmelon-le-Grand. They will themselves be responsible for presenting the history of the Montereau tank to the military personnel present. After this week of immersion, the students will return to Orne on Friday, May 23.
