Sandy talks about her internship experience at ENSOA (the national school for active non-commissioned officers)
How did you hear about ENSOA?
I first heard about it at the school’s back-to-school seminar in Lyon.
I was immediately intrigued by this opportunity because I had always been interested in the military sector. However, my preconceived ideas about military schools were an obstacle to my decision. I knew that I wasn’t in the ideal physical condition for this course. What’s more, military schools are notorious for accepting very few women. For other reasons, I preferred to abandon the idea of taking part in the course.
It was a friend of mine who convinced me at the last minute to take part in the physical selections. So it was thanks to him that I was able to take part in this course, where I learnt to surpass myself and where I discovered the military environment in total immersion.
What can you say about your preparation / tests for ENSOA?
As I was the last to register, I didn’t have enough time to prepare as I wanted. I’m quite an athletic person, so I had to be very active,
I sometimes trained on my own. During these training sessions, I mainly worked on my endurance and cardio. And I was right to do so, because over the course of the week, these were the two physical skills I used the most.
Describe your experience over the course of a week: pace, what surprised you, did you surpass yourself?
The week’s training went really quickly. We quickly got into the swing of things. The pace was quite tense. We were encouraged to push ourselves to the limit during the various sporting activities. We also had the chance to find out first-hand about the managerial organisation of a military school. We had lessons on how missions are organised with the captain of our class… We were able to ask questions, talk to the people involved… We created real links with our supervisors. It was a really rich human experience that I’ll never forget.
What did ENSOA bring you, what do you remember today?
Over the course of the week, I’ve learnt to step out of my comfort zone and push myself.
I’ve learnt to be resilient in the face of adversity and dynamic, while being observant and clear-sighted. These are qualities that serve me well on a daily basis and will continue to do so in the future.
Would you like to work for the army?
ENSOA enabled me to discover a huge range of professions, more interesting than the others. It’s true that the army offers a lot of career opportunities. Today, joining the army is not part of my career plan. But I’m not closing myself off to the idea that one day I could put my skills to use in the army.
