Fabienne Lajonchère has been a Pedagogy-Simulator Manager at the Naval Group in Toulon since June 2019. In her spare time, Fabienne is also a reserve officer for the French navy.
A second hat that has given her many advantages, such as a feeling of belonging to an institution, working and participating in actions for Defence, but also diversifying her skills.
Before serving as a reserve officer in the French navy, Fabienne was an active-duty officer, under contract from 2008 to 2014. When she was recalled to active duty by her Commanding Officer in Toulon in 2017, she went back into service, but this time at a pace that suited her civilian professional life.
Joining the military reserves was a great opportunity for her to expand her network but also to return to an activity she knows well - teaching.
As an officer under contract, Fabienne was Head of the Training department at the Naval Training Centre in Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer, managing a team of 20 people. Now, it is still in the field of training that Fabienne carries out her missions of reservist at the submarine navigation school. “I have a cross-functional activity, not exactly the type of job you would expect from a military position. But by helping to improve the training of submariners on the operational side of things, I also contribute to actions for Defence.”
This mission as a reservist has allowed Fabienne to gain greater credibility with her colleagues, both at Naval Group and in the French navy: “Being a reserve officer has helped me build a close relationship based on mutual trust with my professional environment. It has made it easier for me to identify people’s needs, whether at Naval Group or in the French navy.”
The number of days of reserve activity per year varies according to the army's needs or to the reservist's wishes and availability.
Between 2017 and 2019, Fabienne worked for 60 days as a reservist. But, she is now looking to reduce her time in the reserves in order to better balance her civilian professional life, her military life and her private life.
Fabienne wants to continue serving in the operational reserve force for a few more years and hopes to move to a completely different position, training young soldiers.
