One of the peculiarities of the Gulf War, which is rarely raised today, is the almost total absence of military women in the deployment of the Daguet Division. As the coalition's Desert Shield operation (2 August 1990 - 17 January 1991) took place on Saudi soil, this Islamic monarchy categorically refused their presence for religious reasons. As a result, whether they were civilians or soldiers, the women (and their families) had to stay behind and wait for news. This raises the question of communication between the soldiers, deployed more than 4,000 km away, and their relatives. This is all the more true as the operation lasts longer. Soldiers are sometimes kept in operation for seven months without being able to return home.

Difficulties in maintaining the link with the rear base

Despite the media's ability to transmit this war live to the four corners of the world, the soldiers in the field do not have the same facility or frequency to communicate with their loved ones. On a weekly basis, exchanges are only made by post, which takes several days to reach its recipient. Apart from this traditional means, a few lucky ones are able to contact their family by telephone, but this is only done at the end of a long journey. Patrice, at the time platoon leader in the^1st Spahis Regiment, said: "From time to time, we go to the King Khaled camp [infrastructure housing the armies of the international coalition], three quarters of an hour away from the runway. You have to queue for two hours to get to a phone booth. It costs a fortune, fifty francs a minute [the equivalent of almost 10 euros in 2020]. We talk to our loved ones for three minutes and then that's it1 ".

Decisive national support

To compensate for this lack of relations between soldiers and their families, a great movement of national solidarity was set up in the first months of the war. Many parcels and letters of support were sent to them, which increased as the Christmas period approached and the war continued. In addition, associations were formed, such asUn soldat dans le Golfe2, and regular correspondence was established with wartime godmothers. In other words, the actions of the rear base show a real national support, which is essential to maintain the morale of the troops. General Bernard Janvier, at the time head of logistical support from September 1990 to February 1991, then in charge of the Daguet division, even considered this national effort as a factor of victory: " We were stronger because the country was behind its soldiers.

The mail as a concentration factor: an advantage that is being lost?

If the delay in receiving and the low frequency of mail from relatives seems to us today to be prohibitive, it nevertheless presents advantages in terms of personnel management. Not only does the paper format make it possible to weigh the choice of words and avoid sharing trivia, but above all the weekly receipt of letters allows soldiers, the rest of the time, to focus fully on the present moment and their mission. Gaultier d'Andlau, lieutenant in the^1st Spahis Regiment during the events, remembers that "at thetime, there were no mobile phones and it allowed me to have my team with me even better, to be able to manage morale even better, because there is nothing more difficult than wanting to motivate, to convince personnel, and to know that in his head he is somewhere else, especially by phoning his family daily, who do not have any distance . Indeed, the problem of immediacy brought about by new technologies is a real issue today, since the continuous reception of unfiltered information from the rear base risks compromising the full concentration of the soldier on his mission.

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1 - Hubert Leroux, Antoine Sabbagh, Paroles de soldats. Les Français en guerre 1983-2015, Tallandier, 2015, p. 77.

2 - Hubert Leroux, Antoine Sabbagh, ibidem, p. 76.

3 - Remarks collected by Pierre Bayle, "Daguet: the establishment and the rise to power (Interview with General Bernard Janvier)", Operation-daguet.fr, August 16, 2018

4 - Frédéric Bouquet, La conquête d'As Salman. La grande aventure de la division Daguet, Ecpad webdocumentary, 2012.