In the late 1940s, René was ordered to report for compulsory military service. Being the main breadwinner and one of 10 children, his mother asked the military authorities to exempt her son. The Army agreed and postponed his military service to a later date. In 1951, Rene followed the model of his half-brother Jean-Pierre Meyers, who served in the Foreign Legion, and enlisted in the Luxembourg Army. Later, he volunteered for the second contingent to fight in the Korean War. 

Overseas, on the evening of 4 August 1952, René and Jean Simon sneaked out of the field camp and headed towards Seoul to spend the night. A few days after their illicit absence, René was charged with unintentional bodily harm and intoxication. The sentence had been up to 4 months of incarceration in a military detention facility and one additional year on probation if it would not have been for Her Majesty the King of Belgium himself to release René from most charges. In the end, he only had to spend 11 days in custody before he was sent back to his unit. More precise information about the course of events of the mentionned night were sadly not to be found. 

Upon his return from Korea, he extended his military service until 1955. The rest of his life remains unclear.