You have to have spent 120 days on external operations, but I must make it clear that the concept of external operation has a legal basis. The Ministère des Armées determines whether the operation a person has taken part in is actually an external operation. In France, we have sovereignty forces stationed outside the country. Those stationed outside the country as part of those forces are not considered to be in an external operation.
So the concept of external operation has a legal basis. The decision to declare an external operation falls to the ministry. If that declaration is made, the 120-day clock starts ticking and participation is cumulative. I am sure you know that France's armed forces intervene in a number of operations. As I said earlier, operations occur in Africa, in the Middle East, and in other places around the world. A person may very well be deployed for 50 days in Africa, the Central African Republic or Mali or Chad, and 70 days in Lebanon, Iraq or elsewhere. As soon as the person has accumulated 120 days, they can ask for their veteran's card.