On 1 April 1978, Puga was assigned to the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 2e REP, where he was, in succession, section chief, assistant officer, and commander of a company in a unit combat capacity. Accordingly, he was promoted to the rank of captain. He participated in several operations and exterior deployment: at Kolwezy in Zaire in 1978, at Gabon in 1979, at Djibouti in 1980 and 1981, at Beirut in 1982, at Bangui in Central African Republic in 1983 and Tchad in 1984.