So does anyone here have any personal experience with the French Foreign Legion or know anyone who did? It seems like a sweet deal for anyone who the army turns down or wants to see some prolonged brush fire conflict. The ability to change your name and fight without fear of prosecution strikes me as an interesting facet of the organization. The fact you dont have to know French helps too. The Legion is probably one of the last bastions for your mythical soldiers of fortune, I just wanted to see what everyone thought of it because we spend a lot of time talking about regular forces and the like but I think the Legion is in a category above.

i think the french legion rocks
la légion française balance
vive la légion française

I have a friend whose father and brother do it. His brother is actually in Algeria, protecting one of France's colonies. His father was killed there a few years ago...by his fellow soldiers.

From what he tells me, there was very little training, and just about no supervision. His brother sleeps with his gun incase one of his fellow soldiers comes to kill and rob him. He paints a very bleak picture of what they do.

The Foreign Legion generally attracts criminals, because you get a clean slate. So you have a bunch of people who have committed crimes, and now have what they think is a get out of jail free card. Just because they join a military force doesn't make them change their ways...

yeah that is the bad side of it

When I was stationed in Germany, we met a few Legionaires. They were stationed in Bitsch, France.

They said the Legion wil ltake you for any crime, outside of murder. Once you are accepted, you can change your identity. They had 16 weeks of training, and from what I gathered, it's pretty rough. After the 16 weeks, they are put into their specialty, and sent abroad. For 6 years, you have no contact with your family, to counter any outside influences. After 15 years, you can retire, and become a Frech citizen if you desire.

All I know is, France uses the Legion to do it's 'dirty' work; these men are basically expendable. After the battle for Algeria's independence, France left it's Legionaires there, basically to fend for themselves against the Algerians. The Legionaires escaped, and planned a Coup in France. They settled on a parade, where DeGaulle was making an appearance. They posted a sniper on top of a building, and literally minutes before the plan was executed, they were exposed.

Needless to say, they were all executed.

I have nothing but respect for the Legion, and all they go through!!!

Originally posted by nathraq
The Legionaires escaped, and planned a Coup in France. They settled on a parade, where DeGaulle was making an appearance. They posted a sniper on top of a building, and literally minutes before the plan was executed, they were exposed.

Needless to say, they were all executed.

I have nothing but respect for the Legion, and all they go through!!!

Yes what happened in Algeria was dispicable and typical french foreign policy, its true the legion is forced to do the dirty work in hell holes like Zaire and Zanzibar but it still sounds like an interesting way to see the world.

years ago in the 80's i saw a special on the legion and i will tell you they go thru incredible amounts of training and only a very small percentage who sign up actually make it thru the training...they are mostly used for anti-terrorism but during the gulf war they went farther and faster then anyone at the beggining of the campaign...
alot of people dont even know they were in the gulf war...
They are some bad asses and ill tell you from what i saw there training looks as brutal and as hard as any force in the world

I have a cousin who says the French Foreign Legions only accepts the best soldiers from each country. I was wondering how accurate that was.

I haven't thought about the French Foreign Legion for years, not since that crappy jean claude van dam movie anyway.

Very interesting stuff, I wonder if there are actually legionaires on ATS.

Spiderj

Do they have a website?

I have worked with a few legionaires and from what I gather they are real hardcore. I remember once bewing told that they have a identical assault course to the seals and they do it in over half the time

My dads friend joined the french foreign legion..he killed somone i dunno the details all i know is he was in alot of # and joined up..i hear if say the british police go over there to get u back the legion will fight them off and what not.

Here is a link to their official site:

Legion

Thank you nathraq

Spiderj

A friend of mine joined the legion, but he's out now. He did his time and would never do it again. He was an ex-Army infantry guy and thought they were elite. Like Rangers or Green Berets. But they are basically a bunch of grunts, VERY demanding physically. He was in good shape, and it was hard for him. He was airborne, the RLE, I think they call it. Kind of selective for the FFL. They made him a commo guy, although I forgot whether he chose his job or they chose it for him. I think they chose it for him. He said the worst part is how anal they are, and how many menial jobs you have to do. Anal in regards to their uniform. They are big on ceremony, tradition, and pomp and circumstance. A certain number of creases in your shirt, and you had to do it yourself. You couldn't 'send out' your uniform. And the hours of 'KP' and 'poliice call' (trash pick-up for you non-military types). Just hours and hours of mindnumbingly asinine details. And as for the criminal aspect, now they do background checks. So murders and such need not apply. They actually don't need that many people anymore, so they are a lot more selective. He said it was really hard to advance in rank, and the higher posistions were reserved for real French people. You can change your name and become a French citizen, but the benefits were so lousy, no one ever did it. They teach you the French language, but you learn it mostly while your D.I. is yelling at you, trying to describe how to work a stick-shift in French, for example. He told many many funny anecdotes, I'm just tryiing to remember the ones that shattered my misperceived notions. And no matter what you do. Never, never, touch their kepi (that funny hat).

EDIT: I just remebered something else. Everyone thinks about going AWOL, but you literally have nothing but your uniform, and the French police are always on the look-out for you, around the Legionare bases. And if they catch you, oh jeez! They have a harsh UCMJ. But if you actually get away, you are pretty much home free. The FFL really don't chase after you.

[Edited on 17-4-2004 by curme]

Originally posted by Who Dares Wins
My dads friend joined the french foreign legion..he killed somone i dunno the details all i know is he was in alot of # and joined up..i hear if say the british police go over there to get u back the legion will fight them off and what not.

Try getting more of the story out of him or at least what it was like in the Legion. Thanks for the input man, very interesting stuff. So he killed someone in england, joined the legion and then the police came for him but he fought them off.