Joining the French Foreign Legion!

[thegreatmind]

I have given a lot of thought on this topic and already have plans to travel to France in a year time to apply and try my luck in getting in this so called mythical or fabled organization of soldier from 130 nations all over the world.

The expendable unit of Armee de Terre as most people say!

Honneur et Fidelite!
Legio Patria Nostra!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQmko_AV05I&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4abc...feature=relmfu

Any fellow Filipinos interested in signing up and serve Madame le Republique?

[VOS]

moi if i could go on leave from law school in Berkeley. always hankered to be in North Africa

[thegreatmind]

I am trying my luck this coming 2012 after my contract in my company expires. Would like to try some new challenge, adventure and ever high adrenaline action.

That I am getting myself fit and running from time to time just to get an excellent physique. Plus learning French language would not be an easy task.

Anyways, I will post the recruiting site.

http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/

Hi VOS, there is no external operation in Libya for the time being. Legion units are stationed in Ivory Coast and Chad (under UN mandate representing France / French Army as peacekeepers) in le Afrique.

Kapisa, Afghanistan were the 2nd Foreign Engineers Regiment or 2eme REG are engaging Al Qaeda and Talibans under NATO.

13th DBLE or 13th Half Brigade is in Djibouti but moving to Abu Dhabi under French and emirates defense agreements later this year.

The Centre d'Entrainement Commando Arta Plage (CECAP), the French Foreign Legion commando training center in Djibouti will still be maintained by a detachment of by French Foreign Legion, Marines and French Army Special Forces.

[Papichulo168]

^
Mahina ba real estate business ngayon? Pagkaaalam ko bawal magka real property ka pag nasa FFL ka. Kahit kotse o bank account.

[thegreatmind]

^
Mahina ba real estate business ngayon? Pagkaaalam ko bawal magka real property ka pag nasa FFL ka. Kahit kotse o bank account.

Not really, I just want a new kick for adventure in life and travel and shoot people. just kiddin.

I have been dreaming of this a years back.

You can have a bank account in modern FFL, car and house and lot unless you served and completed your five years contract and also if you already were promoted to caporal and have a French passport.

[Papichulo168]

^
Mag Blackwater ka na lang. Marami ka pang pwedeng raket on the side. Mas malaking pera pag dinala mo business model ng Blackwater dito. Pwede kang maging subcontractor.

[Azulbanirpal]

If accepted, and this is like going thru a press, you need to serve 5 years. So many benefits though, even French citizenship with pension. You need to learn the language though and be extremely tough.
Good luck sir.

[boieex]

ayos yan bro. ako im planning to join US navy soon.

[cretinous00]

if you've read "legionairre" by simon murray or talked to someone who's actually done his 5 years, you'll think it over more carefully. during the interview stage, they let you listen to how life in the legions will actually be like(in different languages.) you will have to do your 5 years if you sign up. you cannot back out afterwards. if you try to desert, you will be hunted down like a criminal and be jailed. at this stage, one or two applicants are already screaming to be let out (and you're still in paris.)

once in and at stationed somewhere in north africa, you will live lower than the lowest regular french army grunt. you'll get slapped and kicked around by anyone with rank of corporal or higher. your peers will bully you if they think you're too meak or passive. they don't like wimps and will weed you out if you're one --not out of the legion but shunted to some ancilliary job no filipino will want no matter how well it pays. jail sentences within legion units ae doled out as often as porrige. deserters who are captured tend to be suicidal (i wonder why?)

traditionally, the legion was a haven for criminals, fugitives, nazi war criminals in hiding, even deposed / disgraced royals. that's probably no longer true today but it's often the low lives who sign in (why would well-off europeans want to sign in for 5 years in the first place?)

it used to be only the top-6 graduates of st. cyr academie may elect to go to the legion. now the top-6 rule is no longer followed but admissions standards are very rigorous. the legion gets the very best officers.

the only good thing for you? legionairres are paid better than regulars. that's about it. if you're good, you may be admitted into paratrooper school. training to be a paratrooper is tough in any army. your pay will double. if you're even better, you'll be admitted into corporal school. now that's tough. basic training's a walk in the park compared with corporal training. if you pass, your pay will be double that of a private. if you're still better than that, you'll be admitted into sergeant's school. even tougher. finally, if you're really good, you will be trained to be an officer an maybe take your last two years at strasbourg or st. cyr. but as a foreigner, you will rise no higher than captain.

so think it over. be good, be wise, be tough.

[Artemio Ricarte]

I also read that book Legionnaire by au Caporal Chef Simon Murray, alias "johnnie". He later joined the British foreign service and then became president of Deutsche Bank, Hong Kong branch before retirement.

So one more thing for Mr. the greatmind to think about is you have to enlist under an "alias", (a Deuxième Bureau requirement), you better chose a name upon enlistment....i suggest 'Leon Mandirigma", howze that for an alias?, he, he, he.

Good Luck to you, and at the end of your stay with the Legion may you be able to say...."Non, je ne regrette rien"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Kvu...eature=related

[kartero2002]

i wanted to join this when i was younger.

[patrol_man]

I don't know where I have watched it, Discovery or NatGeo. I was quite impressed by what recruits in the legion do and what their life as a legion is. They train well and not just well equipped. it was better than watching JVD's movie the legionairre. I always had the dream of joining such kind of military or group. No one can just quit once you enter. Its not like what we see in "Surviving the Cut" wherein you are given a chance to quit and be reevaluated. Most in the legion want to join it because of their low life in their countries. Or they have relatives already in France but sadly they could not apply for French Citizenship. For them, this is their only choice. You also have to think about the benefits of being a French Citizen while being old. And then some just really like it or are to prove themselves because they were not admitted in the SAS or SBS. And of course some are there for the training for they get to have credentials to be a better paid mercenary.

New Like, Better Life, or a New Beginning.

[quick_ben]

yep.... and there's the part of the possibility of getting shot.


for me.... being a soldier isn't about glamor. It's about risking your life defending something you love or believe in. It's about service.

Joining the Foreign Legion? It's just being a glamorized mercenary.

People who believe that being a soldier is all about glamor and glory are the first ones who gets killed in a firefight anyway....


Oh, yeah.... better read up on Dien Bien Phu.... Where the Foreign Legion figured prominently....

[Papichulo168]

^
Based on your description, it doesn't sound glamorized anymore. Mag Blackwater-Xe / Halliburton/ Diligence LLC mercenary na lang kayo. Up to $1200 /day ang sweldo, and laws of the wild wild west apply in your area of operations. Kadalasan VIP escort ang trabaho kaya VIP accomodations and transport ka rin.

[patrol_man]

Or if you want to be sponsored by a Legitimate Government, try PMC(Private Military Contractors). Soldiers or Marines do the fighting, PMCs do the Logistics of civilian goods. Malaki din naman ang sahod ng PMC.

[Artemio Ricarte]

Actually may kanya-kanyang danger rin iyan, you could be a hired civilian hand driving a cargo truck around Iraq or Afghanistan, but you can get ambushed or abducted by insurgents and get beheaded any day.

If that were the case, better to have been well trained to defend yourself with a gun in hand riding on a military vehicle with some armor protection and a radio to call for help. Or, if your time is really up then at least have an even chance to take a few of your killers with you.

Blackwater mercenary?....I believe they only hire ex-professional soldiers, ex-royal or U.S. marines, ex-SAS, ex-legionnaries, or whatever else special forces. Or else, if you were a fireman, or police officer with many years expereince.

Get this...Blackwater people tend to be divorced ex-special forces guys who need quick and cold hard cash to pay for alimoney. It's easy enough to see how the hectic schedules of special forces soldiers could ruin their marriages.

[Papichulo168]

^ If you're an ex Phil Marines or SOG or SAF with actual combat experience in Basilan or Maguindanao and can speak understandable english, you'd be happy to be paid half that amount. $500/day is still a lot of money anywhere.

[thegreatmind]

Met an American ancien (Legion veteran) before. He served 7 years in the legion, became a caporal chef (senior corporal). He gave me an advice on how the legion life was. And ask me this question, You have to think 1,000,000 times before entering the Legion. He gave me Simon Murray (Legionnaire) and the one written by Jaime Salazar (Legion of the Lost).

FFL training is far tougher than the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines training course. He was also a Iraq vet with US Army during the Invasion of Iraq.

Being in the legion is different from being a PMC.

It is not about the money but the life of danger, adventure camaraderie and being among the elite military is enough for me. Being tougher than the rest is the challenge. Plus the wine, pastis and tons of Kronenbourg beer Is what makes it different from other armies.

If I get in there maybe we will raise the numbers of Filipinos serving in the legion because there is no exact figure on how many kababayan are in it today.

In John Robert Young's French Foreign Legion book published in 1988. There were 8 pinoys who served in the legion during World War I in France. No data for today.

French citizenship, I doubt if I get it after serving with honneur et fidelite for 5 years. If ever I get to meet a French madamoiselles would be a nice thought too

Legion Recruiting Site: http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/

[cretinous00]

legionaires have a tradition of fighting to the last man when cornered in battle.

[timothydalton]

This is really tempting. The sports test is a breeze. Is that all??