french foreign legion...

any one know anyone who has enlisted in this military branch? i doubt any of you do, please prove me wrong and provide any information you can.

ROFLMAO. No, no I don't, and neither does anyone here.

Once you join the legion they take your passport, and all personal belongings, and you're locked in for five years-. It's  arguably the hardest military life and training anywhere.

You MUST join under a 'declared' (false) identity- a matter of tradition dating back to when the legion attracted a lot of people fleeing justice elsewhere, though this si generally no longer the case. After a year's service you can 'regularize' your identity back to your real; one.

For the duration of your first five years you must wear uniform at all times; no civilian clothing allowed. You cannot own a motor vehicle for the first five years. You cannot get a civilian abnk account until your ID ahs been 'regularized'; i.e., for the first year at minimum.

After three years in, or after you've been wounded in combat, you can apply for French citizenship.

Basically the Legion is something that once a person gets into, they'll generally never look back. There are communities for retired legionairres, since it's a very tight knit unit, with almost zero outside interaction while you're in it.

It makes for very interesting ressearch though; they're damned good troops, and that's what counts in the end.


Edited by brihard - 06 April 2006 at 12:02pm

My bad. I forgot Rambino. Usually he keeps it on the down-low.

So you don't have to be a  citizen to join?  Interesting, I guess you learn something every day.

usafpilot07 wrote: So you don't have to be a  citizen to join?  Interesting, I guess you learn something every day.

Yeah, The Legion is people all over the world.

Bihard his right, they are a very very close knit group of people. It is almost more of a lifestyle/cult than a millitary branch.

 

GThomas wrote: usafpilot07 wrote: So you don't have to be a  citizen to join?  Interesting, I guess you learn something every day. Actually no French are allowed in the foreign legion, thats why its called the foreign legion. The French created the legion so that they could protect their empire and interests whithout spilling French blood.

Not exactilly.

From Wikipedia:

 

Membership

While most of its commissioned officers are French, approximately 10% are former legionnaires who have risen through the ranks. The rest of the Legion is made up of men from a wide variety of nationalities, with French citizens representing 25-35% of the legionnaires. The foreign volunteers are primarily European. Before and during World War II, many Jews from Eastern Europe fled to France and ended up enlisting in the legion. Ironically, after the fall of the Third Reich, Germans (long a major presence in the legion) accounted for roughly sixty percent of the manpower, with many former German troops coming directly from WWII POW camps (Bernard B. Fall, a leading expert on French Indochina and author of Street without Joy and Hell in a Very Small Place, disputes this fact and claims that at most Germans only made up thirty-five percent of the Legion in the post-WWII period). The book Devil's Guard relates a former Waffen-SS member's brutal account of joining the Legion and fighting with fellow former SS against the Vietminh in Indochina. During the mid 1980s the Legion contained large contingents of British and Serbian nationals. Present day has seen a number of recruits from African countries.

The Legion's ranks historically tend to be filled with enlistees from countries undergoing some sort of crisis. In recent generations, however, many of those joining have come from middle-class backgrounds in stable prosperous countries such as Britain and the US (and indeed France itself).

Legionnaires can choose to enlist under a pseudonym ("declared identity") and a declared citizenship. This disposition exists in order to allow people who want to turn over a new leaf in their life to enlist. French citizens can enlist under a declared, fictitious, foreign citizenship (generally, a francophone one). After one year, legionnaires can regularize their situation under their true identity.

In the past, the Legion had a reputation for attracting criminals on the run and would-be mercenaries. In recent years, however, admission has been restricted much more severely and background checks are done on all applicants. Generally speaking, convicted felons are prohibited from joining the service.

After serving in the Legion for three years (out of a five-year initial enlistment), the legionnaire is allowed to apply for French citizenship. Furthermore, a soldier harmed in combat for France is also allowed to apply for French citizenship under a provision known as "Français par le sang versé" ("French by spilled blood").

I saw a show about them on the military channel. very interesting.

GI JOES SON wrote: ive always been curious on how one joins the UN....anyone know?

The US is a member, you live in the US, you are a member. If you mean blue helmet work, you have to be enlisted in the military of your country in the first place, then you country has to decide to re-hat you. The US usually does not do this.

Benjichang wrote: 98God wrote: I saw a show about them on the military channel. very interesting. I didn't know there was a military channel. This thread has been very interesting to me, actually. I had always wondered about the French Foreign Legion, and now I know.

Yeah it has some pretty interesting shows on it.

amishman89 wrote:  The French= WEAK

Witness, folks, a kid who knows just about NOTHING about the French Foreign Legion, and who conveniently summed it up for us in three words and a symbol.

Amish, read up on the Legion. They're hardcore.