@J9R4W
I am researching previous posts and conversations on this topic with others so as to re-use some of my previous replies on this topic. It may end up being a slight mish-mash, but I shall try to keep the flow going.
Firstly:
This year (2022) it will be forty-one years since I joined the Foreign Legion and thirty-six since I left, so I'm not the most up to date person.
@Jean d'Epee who posts intermittently on the 2 REP thread mentioned above is currently serving and is probably a good bet for more info (depending on if he's still about and when and whether he has time to answer).
However I can give you some pointers which, despite the intervening years, are still very likely to be relevant. Have you read all the posts in the 2 REP thread? Particularly mine, especially the ones that deal with the bullshit, discipline and prevailing attitudes?
Secondly, the medical selection procedures:
At recruit selection will be grilled thoroughly on your background and why you want to join the Legion and it is always recommended to be as truthful as possible, as the questioning is very deep and inconsistencies rapidly become apparent. An unfulfilled desire to join the UK Armed Forces would be a plus point as it underlines your commitment to serve in a military capacity. Rejection on your stated medical grounds in the UK may not be mirrored by the Foreign Legion, A basic medical is undertaken at the Fort de Nogent in Paris (f you present yourself for recruitment in northern France) and a full thorough medical examination is undertaken at the Legion's Depot in Aubagne.
Medical conditions | Légion étrangère.
If successful. the full recruitment selection process takes about three weeks from arrival at the recruiting office to departure from Aubagne to the Training Regiment at Castelnaudary. This is an extremely fast process (and you get paid from the day you sign your contract).
Thirdly, you should be aware of the following:
The Legion recruiting process looks for suitable candidates, that not only have the necessary medical health standards, the relevant physical capabilities (be at a good level of fitness when you join) and who score reasonably on the mental and psychometric tests; but also who have the right attitude, motivation and background to be able to "hack" the Legion and "stay the course". From their point of view, medical test results notwithstanding you are not a prime candidate for the following reasons:
Your background as a UK citizen, a nearby country with advanced living standards (equal to France) where you have many other opportunities available to you to fall back on should you so decide, This is vastly different from many recruits who come from much bleaker backgrounds, have spent their last pennies getting there and for whom the Legion is a lifeline to a secure and respected/respectable future. Your commitment will be regarded as suspect. It is up to you to show them that you really want to become and to stay (at least for the initial five years) a Legionnaire. Coming to the Legion "for adventure" is viewed as suspect as most who do so are quickly disillusioned. There is not much adventure in cleaning toilet rims with a toothbrush while a "Caporal" berates you for being a dirty slacker. When I joined, the British "Rosbifs" had the greatest reputation for desertion.
Your social background is taken into account. I may be very wrong, but I will hazard a guess by the standard of your written English that you are reasonably educated and given the fact that you are in your late twenties relatively mature and worldly-wise, your social class/status may be above most of your peers and of a lot of the non-Officer cadres above you. There will be a question of "fitting in" and "knowing your place" in the hierarchy. Your willingness and ability to do this will be questioned.
Any higher education level (admirable in itself), is a hindrance as a ranker in the Legion. Legionnaires with higher levels of education tend to be disparagingly refffered to as "intellectuels de gauche" by their fellow rankers especially the Junior and Senior NCOs. Critical thinking and initiative is not something that is generally encouraged until the rank of "Sergent". The level of basic training is pitched at the lowest common denominator. It is all in French and it is geared to non-Francophone (i.e non-French speaking) recruits. Blind obedience is de riguer, often to what seem like demeaning and non-sensical orders.
As I've mentioned French, here's a good place to explain that prior knowledge of the French language is not a requirement for joining the Legion. However the more you know to begin with, the easier should be your progression. But an ability to quickly pick it up is a major attribute and good for promotion prospects.
Even when reaching your Regiment, many of your immediate superiors and seniors are likely to be less educated, less cultured, less sensitive than you. You will be expected to conform to their brutishness and brutality. If you don't or if you show any sign of resistance, aggreviation, or if you try to "argue your case" then not only you, but your fellow recruit cohort or your peers on arrrival at your Regiment will feel the brunt of the wrath of the "Caporaux", the JNCOs who are your immediate masters.
You are a cog in the machine and any remaining "imperfections" that prevent you meshing in gear with all the other cogs will be ground away, or the cog itself will be broken and potentially discarded.
In the beginning, you will be subject to a relatively severe restriction of your civil liberties, very basic communal living arrangements, a complete lack of privacy, seemingly arbitrary disciplinary measures (some of them physical), much menial physical work (some of it seemingly pointless), a miniscule amount of "free time", a lack of opportunity to contact the outside world. In fact some recruits from "developed" countries have compared it to prison conditions. You must be ready for this.
This rigourous conditioning of Legionnaires lasts not only in Basic Training, but also for the first few months after posting to your Regiment (especially in 2 REP), when as the "newbies" the arrivals from Castelnaudary are treated as potentially unreliable and are "tested" by their immediate superiors as to their mettle and their willingness to stay in the Regiment. The supposition is that if they crack at the discipline they are subjected to then, then they are likely to crack in combat and let their comrades down.
This tends to finish by the end of the first year's service (sooner if you are lucky enough to go on an Operational tour). Then things calm down a lot and your life becomes relatively normal (still maintaining Legion practices but without the "beasting" reserved for newbies). But you have to understand that basic soldiering remains very basic in the Legion (apart from specialist courses for which you can be pinged relatively early-on if deemed apt). Legionnaires and Legionnaires First Class are just required to unquestioningly carry out orders and these orders are deliberately kept simple and straightforward.
When you get to "Caporal, Chef d'Equipe" (Corporal, Team Leader) which is possible within two years if you are pinged for the rapid promotion ladder, you are given a handful of other Legionnaires to command and maybe a little bit more leeway depending on your "Sergent, Chef de Groupe" (Sergeant, Section/Squad Commander). If you go on a technical specialisation course, you may get some extra responsibilities. It is only when you get to the rank of "Sergent" (possible within your first five year contract if on the rapid promotion ladder) that things start getting interesting and you can be given a lot more responsibility and possibility to "do your own thing" and use your initiative.
All this may seem very strange and quite odd. However, it is a system which takes in recruits from all over the world, many from seemingly inappropriate backgrounds and moulds them into a cohesive and effective fighting force.
If you join, you must be strong-willed, resilient (especially mentally), physically robust, willing to endure hardship, pain and anguish. You must remain clear-headed and objective and understand that there is a method behind the madness (though from time to time the odd headcase/nutjob may lurk there as well - these you have to watch out for). There is no point in signing that five year contract and then flunking out for whatever reason.
There is much opportunity in the Legion and particularly in 2 REP (I am biased, of course). Once you are through the first-year shitty end of the stick, the remaining four-fifths of the original contract can be very rewarding. Then if you want to stay on and the Legion wants you, potentially a full career beckons. A contract with the Legion is definitely two-way. You pledge allegiance to them and they will look after you. The Legion is an integral part of the French Army and you have the full support and resources of a First World military machine. Pay and promotional prospects are good, healthcare and medical support are good. Pensions and injury/disability, social security provision are good. Living terms and conditions although restricted until the end of your initial first five year contract (or earlier if you make the rank of "Sergent") are then equal to the rest of the French Army.
Further continuation separately, as too long for one post.
