Friend of mine at the end of high school joined the Legion. His last semester in high school was OAC french.
He was extremely physically fit, very motivated to do well and a natural athlete. His father had been an MP in the USARMY and his cousin became a Royal Marine Commando.
My buddy went to France, got thru the selection process allright, and essentially dissapeared off the face of the earth for the next six months. I spoke to him again at the end of his five year hitch. Here's what happened:
Did Basic Legion training, was selected for one of the Para-Commando Regimets, (not all Legionairres end up as infantry - he was a shoe-in however) did four phases of infantry training incuding Jungle Warfare(the time he was closest to giving up), arctic/mountain, desert and FIBUA, as well as airborne quals and all sorts of nasty para-commando stuff. Training was brutal. A good example? Didn't shave close enough one morning to the satisfaction of his training "caporal" who then proceeded to burn the stubble of his face with a lighter. I am not making that up. Swimming across the pool carrying giant chunks of concrete. Morning runs around the castle included a confidence jump over a gap over a sixty foot fall. No net. No hugs. No excuses.
Many Euro nations sent elite troops to South America in the early 90's (probably Columbia but he never came clean with me)to fight narcos. He lost his first friend there and had to carry his semi-decomposed body out of the bush at the end of that engagment.
Spent time protecting "French Interests" in sub-saharn Africa, where he lost another friend during a riot of some sort.
One of the first units into Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm were the Legion in APCs who fought so far and fast they overshot their objectives in the first 72 hours in a big way. Showed me photos of sitting in the desert with a shamag around his face, surrendering Iraquis, blown-up T72s, etc. Sobering stuff.
Two Yanks tried to escape from Basic during the first few weeks. Were chased, grabbed, beaten and thrown in jail courtesy of the Legion. Who knows for how long.
Learned French so quick and dirty in an environment so bloody intense he spoke with a heavy french accent for years afterwards. That, friends and neighbours, weirded me out in a big way. Used to get the shakes so bad if he didn't down a 26er of alchohol by 10 o'clock at night. Another bit of weirdness. Fell off a cliff during arctic/mountain phase training and was saved by virtue of the fact that he had bergens strapped to both his front and his back - cushioned his fall somewhat.
Did five years and became a training "caporal" himself. Woke up his candidates at three in the morning every morning by throwing all their kit out the window of the castle they inhabit during basic. Had them climb up buildings using the water pipes along the outside. Again, no net, no hugs, no SHARP training. Massive amount of trg injuries. Many people getting weird during their hitch. Many coming home feeling neither Canadian nor French.
He gave his airborne wings and all decorations to his little brother and had little interest in keeping them or extending his hitch. Left after five hard years and rarely speaks of it anymore.
Just a little dose of reality to anyone seriously considering joining. Politically, be aware that you would essentially be enforcing French interests in former colonies and that may put you in morally ambiguous situations.
Be aware of what you're getting yourself into and decide whether it's worth the white kepi.
Mr. Ted