Living at the 4eme Regiment Etranger was growing tedious with the final weeks marked by service such as kitchen, guard duty and other regimental errands together with revision of all the theoretical content to be assigned with our final notation. There was no freedom to spend our weekend as we wished; everyday appeared the same …
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Legio Patria Nostra
After marching on the plains of Lille in Northern France for 2 whole days, we were put to sleep in a gymnasium floor. In the morning we got dressed into our parade uniforms, epaulettes, gilly gillies, kepi and the ceinture blue which wraps around the torso followed by another belt to hold the bayonet. We …
March or Die
We trained once a week with a march equipped a full backpack and FAMAS semi-automatic rifle making up about 15-18kg; every week incrementing distance, speed and difficulty of the march along the French countryside around 100km South-East of Toulouse. Our kit was arbitrarily inspected before depart and touched up to verify the weight of the …
The Farm
We packed up all our affairs into our two large sacs and musette given by the Legion, or the French army (the Foreign Legion has been fully integrated into the French Army since 1962 since an attempted Generals Putsch). We embarked on the bus with everything, nothing remained at the regiment at Castelnaudary even though …
Castelnaudary
I finally reached red stage and was promptly given everything I needed for the next few months at Castelnaudary, the 4eme Regiment Etrangere where Engage Volontaires become Legionnaires and go through all the basic instruction needed to join the respective combat regiments. About 20 of us were selected out of the 40 that remained to …
Le Gestapo
After a few days lolling around within our jail-like conditions and humiliating evening reviews where we would put ourselves into garde-à-vous position in our slips every time the Caporal-chef came in to the room. “Chambre numero 140, pret pour la revue a vos ordres Caporal-chef”, a camarade with about 1 or 2 weeks more service …
Aubagne – Military life commences
Aubagne We departed at 5 am from Fort Nogent in Paris to Gare du Lyon to catch the first train to Marseille in our large group of pre-selectioned candidates in our civil gear, tracksuits, shorts and myself in my suit-jacket and tie. I sat next to Chahine to converse in Arabic and French; he was …
Back to Boot Camp
getting into the legion.
Welcome to the Legion
Ex-journalist, chemist, lawyer, Bollywood actor and cowboy farmer takes on a new role as Legionnaire. Neil Gaston (a variation of his actual legion name) goes through the claustrophobic conditions of selection and training in one of the most secretive armies in the world made up of foreign mercenaries. Some are young, some are violent and …
Diaries of a Legionnaire 