French foreign legion

E

edgenaka

New Member
I have been looking at my options as far as joining the service and due to my juvenile charges the army and the marines have both denied my enlistment one day i was joking around with some friends and one suggested the FFL after doing some research and nobody has much info on them i mean a few things but what my real question is will i still get in with my charges the training i can handle i like pain and to be tested and as far as severing ties for some time i can handle that so i was just wondering does anybody have any legit info personal experience would be the best
 
From a documentary made about three years ago I'd say that the truth is, that they treat you like sh!t. But if you have the personality where you like physical and mental abuse, boredom, and revel in the thought that it makes you somehow "different", I'd say go for it

Don't fall for the old "espirit de corps" and travel, crap, if that's all you want you can join Greenpeace.
 
Any firm (e.g. Blackwater) that would hire you for that type of work without practical military experience is merely hiring cannon fodder, Run,... run as fast as you can.

Hot war zones are no place for learners.
 
I remember an article regarding an ex British Royal Marine or Paratrooper who served with the French Foreign Legion, he stated he wasnt impressed with their ability or command and structure.

Senojekips is right, anyone willing to take you on without military experience is looking for as he said "Cannon Fodder."
 
edgenaka said:
I have been looking at my options as far as joining the service and due to my juvenile charges the army and the marines have both denied my enlistment one day i was joking around with some friends and one suggested the FFL after doing some research and nobody has much info on them i mean a few things but what my real question is will i still get in with my charges the training i can handle i like pain and to be tested and as far as severing ties for some time i can handle that so i was just wondering does anybody have any legit info personal experience would be the best
Click to expand...

I can give you some help you with this, my soon-to-be-father in law is a retired French Army Colonel who has worked directly with FFL parachute companies. I can answer a few (but not all) questions here, if you need anything more specific I can ask my father in law and Ill get back to you. I cannot get you into the FFL, (nor will I try).

(To the Mods: I admit I have not been in the service myself, and I generally avoid this forum. But the information I am giving is legit from a family source. I would not volunteer this info if I didn't have access to this information). PM me if this is a problem.

1. First of all, are you an American citizen? If so that could be bad because you can technically lose your citizenship by enlisting in a Foreign Military. Yet *I think* there is an exemption for the FFL as Americans do serve in it. However, Since I am not 100% certain of this myself and won't vouch for it so you will need to ask the US State Department before you go any further!!!

2. As to the question of your criminal record. Yes, you can join the FFL with a criminal record but there are somethings you should know. Most importantly, if you have a criminal record or are wanted by the autorities YOU MUST TELL THE FFL EVERYTHING DURING THE INTERVIEW. Minor Crimes can be overlooked, even *certain* Felonies. Serious Felonies (violent, drug offenses, etc) however will not be tolerated, and they DO check. My suggestion would be to call the FFL recruiting office and explain your exact situation, they will tell you if you are eligible or not. DO NOT TRY TO LIE OR BE DISHONEST TO THEM. The FFL follows a strict honor code, punishment for violating the code is severe and chances are they will find out if you try to hide something. Just don't do it.

Contact info is here
http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/contact.php

Also if you have been sentenced to Prison in another country, service in the FFL will not exclude you from your arrest or sentence there, UNLESS the crimes were committed within the French Republic. In this case years in the FFL can (not in every case) be exchanged on a certain ratio (which I would have to check for you). However at the completion of your service you can apply for French citizenship and your record will be clean. My father-in-law says that many recruits are people trying to get a new start for errors made in the past.

One final point. The FFL standards and discipline are particularly strict, this is not the regular French Army or even the US Marines. I'll be frank, Legionnaire Life is quite Spartan and many of the recruits have prior military experience including some very unpleasant parts of the world where Americans are not liked. Be sure you want to do this, because once you have signed on your in it for the full 5 years. Think hard before doing this, this isnt Hollywood, forget your pre-conceived notions. It is a hard but rewarding life.

If you need other info, reply or send me a PM. I can check my inlaws for any other questions you might have.


P.S

I found this for you from a magazine, just to let you know what you are in for...

http://www.military.com/news/article/french-foreign-legion-is-still-a-draw.html?wh=news
 
Last edited:
Reconsider

edgenaka said:
I have been looking at my options as far as joining the service and due to my juvenile charges the army and the marines have both denied my enlistment one day i was joking around with some friends and one suggested the FFL after doing some research and nobody has much info on them i mean a few things but what my real question is will i still get in with my charges the training i can handle i like pain and to be tested and as far as severing ties for some time i can handle that so i was just wondering does anybody have any legit info personal experience would be the best
Click to expand...
I have personal experience and would urge you to re-consider, this is not for you. The Legion is not for people who have "options". Please try to reconsider about making bold statements regarding pain and training you can handle and the like, this is a very serious no looking back engagement in which you face a reasonable expectation of death in the bonds of a foreign service. People with any kind of ties at all or anything going for them in life do not choose this path. The address of Colonel Negrier is still inscribed for all to see who enter, "You are Legionaires and solders who are meant for death and I am sending you where you can die." I do not wish to offend you in any way but your life lies before you and you can put the past behind and resculpt your self into the kind of person you want to be, the military is not the only path to being a decent and productive person. If in the end, you choose this path, you need merely to show up at the recruiting center in France and they will do the rest but trust me, you can better invest five years of your life. regards.
By the way, you do not forfeit your citizenship for serving with the French or with the Israelis or with the British. The people who run afoul of this are those who take up arms against American interests or mis guided private personnel who wind up in the employ of illegal enterprises or who commit crimes while providing security services.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Again, a little late to this thread but thought I'd share a personal experience with the French Foreign Legion.

I went to Verdun, France with a signal company when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain was erected. Not long after we got there, France got themselves whipped by a ragtag army in rebels in Algeria and began to pull the Legion back to France - they had nowhere else to put them, outside of disbanding them.

We were all shocked when the entire US Military forces in Verdun were put on high alert, we were all issued arms and ammo, and extra security was put on all the entrances to the barracks. All civilian employees were also brought on base and put up in temporary quarters.

For the next week, the Gendarmes in Verdun hid out in the barracks and stations while Legionaires rampaged through the streets. Any female outside was attacked and violated. They broke into and looted a number of shops and stores. They took over most of the hotels and turned them into pig sties.

It was only when their own officers began executing them and called in other French Army forces that it stopped. The legionaires were locked up in the barracks and, for the remainder of my time in Verdun, only officers - in pairs - were allowed out.

The French government did their best to cover up the whole thing - threatening the USA when a couple of Stars & Stripes reporters tried to release photos of the carnage.

I was told - from a third-person source - that they were highly pissed because they felt deserted by the French government in Indo-China and North Africa.

:type:
 
Spanish Foreign Legion

whiterabbit said:
Spain Has a foreign legion too.
Click to expand...

Spain never had a foreign legion, foreign citizens CAN join the military in Spain, but must be residents.

Spain's foreign legion is just a mistranslation from Spanish to English. In Spanish Foreign can also mean 'another land' so The Spanish Foreign Legion really means "the Legion for another land" (in other words, these guys are ready to be deployed to a foreign place for combat)
 
Last edited:
lvcabbie said:
Again, a little late to this thread but thought I'd share a personal experience with the French Foreign Legion.

I went to Verdun, France with a signal company when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain was erected. Not long after we got there, France got themselves whipped by a ragtag army in rebels in Algeria and began to pull the Legion back to France - they had nowhere else to put them, outside of disbanding them.

We were all shocked when the entire US Military forces in Verdun were put on high alert, we were all issued arms and ammo, and extra security was put on all the entrances to the barracks. All civilian employees were also brought on base and put up in temporary quarters.

For the next week, the Gendarmes in Verdun hid out in the barracks and stations while Legionaries rampaged through the streets. Any female outside was attacked and violated. They broke into and looted a number of shops and stores. They took over most of the hotels and turned them into pig sties.

It was only when their own officers began executing them and called in other French Army forces that it stopped. The legionaires were locked up in the barracks and, for the remainder of my time in Verdun, only officers - in pairs - were allowed out.

The French government did their best to cover up the whole thing - threatening the USA when a couple of Stars & Stripes reporters tried to release photos of the carnage.

I was told - from a third-person source - that they were highly pissed because they felt deserted by the French government in Indo-China and North Africa.

:type:
Click to expand...


I think your tale leaves out quite a few facts. Kinda like the one about the French not allowing Legion combat troops on the mainland during that period. In addition to the "ragtag" army of Algerian rebels, that would be sorta of like saying a ragtag army of VNA ran the Americans out of Vietnam. Politicians did all the running.

Politicians again stopped one of the best counter-insurgency operations in history (as nasty as it was) due to there lack of commitment and distaste for what really occurred in the war. The French public lost the commitment as did there President/PM. There were 500,000 regulars and colonials involved, not just some 30K plus Legion and not all those were committed to overthrowing the French govt.
The 1stBEP was disbanded and the 2eREP was relocated to the island of Corsica eventually.

"Master Sgt", I would be interested in some collaborating evidence, as a student of history one man's opinion means little. No insult, but can you corroborate through documented history?

Thanks and regards
Bob Underwood
 
From http://www.legionofthelost.com/gallery.html

Since its inception as a throwaway army for fighting in France’s overseas colonies, the Foreign Legion has had a love-hate relationship with its adoptive homeland. After the failed Algerian putsch in 1962, when the Legion itself was planning to para-drop over Paris to invade, De Gaulle considered disbanding it altogether. But after downsizing it to 8,000 men, stripping it of all heavy weaponry, the Legion was spared, packed up and re-headquartered to metropolitan France.

From http://french-foreign-legion.com/french_foreign_legion_history.html

1962 to the present day: after leaving Algeria, the regiments regrouped in the south of France and Corsica, or overseas in Djibouti, Madagascar, Tahiti, and French Guiana.

If you want more cites do a Google search for About 1,600,000 results!!

:m1:
 
You do realize the book you quote was written by a deserter in the 90's. Jamie Salazar served less than 7 months in the Legion he never really served outside of basic training. If that is a reference you plan on using to back up YOUR experience, if so you ought to be ashamed. In fact, anyone whom would quote Jamie Salazar is laughable.

He was a deserter with less than 1 year service, the Legion experience bad or good does not begin until you are in your regiment. Salazar and "his escape from France" is an almost hilarious story considering the facts about going home. You failed. He wrote a book about failing in the Legion. LOL

If needed I can get his complete service record. Which sounds about as full of BS as your "fiction" regarding the Legion in Verdun in 61'. Easy to find the truth.....but I will let you drive your cab and continue to BS the public. Try Socnet.com or Cervens forum and see how far your tales get. Vetted sites.

Oh and the Legion has been gone from Tahiti for quite some time and has recently left Djibouti for the UAE in the last 6 months. Sir, you sound like a goggle commando....
 
Last edited:
lvcabbie said:
Again, a little late to this thread but thought I'd share a personal experience with the French Foreign Legion.

I went to Verdun, France with a signal company when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain was erected. Not long after we got there, France got themselves whipped by a ragtag army in rebels in Algeria and began to pull the Legion back to France - they had nowhere else to put them, outside of disbanding them.

We were all shocked when the entire US Military forces in Verdun were put on high alert, we were all issued arms and ammo, and extra security was put on all the entrances to the barracks. All civilian employees were also brought on base and put up in temporary quarters.

For the next week, the Gendarmes in Verdun hid out in the barracks and stations while Legionaires rampaged through the streets. Any female outside was attacked and violated. They broke into and looted a number of shops and stores. They took over most of the hotels and turned them into pig sties.

It was only when their own officers began executing them and called in other French Army forces that it stopped. The legionaires were locked up in the barracks and, for the remainder of my time in Verdun, only officers - in pairs - were allowed out.

The French government did their best to cover up the whole thing - threatening the USA when a couple of Stars & Stripes reporters tried to release photos of the carnage.

I was told - from a third-person source - that they were highly pissed because they felt deserted by the French government in Indo-China and North Africa.

:type:
Click to expand...

Do you know what happened in Algeria? When De Gaulle ordered a withdrawal from Algeria several Generals committed treason by ordering the 1st REP to overthrown the French Government. The government had to use French military personnel to arrest them.

France only just narrowly avoided a civil war.

The result was that the 1st REP was disbanded, the Generals were imprisoned (they would have been shot if France hadn't abolished the DP), the FFL was stripped of all heavy weapons and the entire legion became a new branch of special forces/quick reaction force under French military authority.
 
We were all kept well aware of what was going on in Algeria and Indochina. I know some will belittle the Stars & Strips but it did a good job of keeping up with such news.
I well remember how some of the French civilians working on our base were so upset upon hearing that a FFL unit was being assigned to a post just outside of Verdun.
In spite of what some posters here so vehemently declare, Legionaires did show up in Verdun and caused a great deal of trouble.
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]In Jan 1962, I was a Personnel Actions Specialist assigned to the 246th Signal Company in [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Maginot Kaserene[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif], Verdun, France
[/FONT]
I am not trying to start or even continue a fight on the subject. I know what I saw, heard and otherwise experienced.
 
French Military (most likely Airborne) units NOT Legion. Period. Nowhere near that AO.
History is what is is. Quoting Jamie Salazar's book....bad start to gaining any credibility.
Regards
Bob Underwood
 
War is cruel. Whatever the war.
track.php
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top