There are in all probability few military-related goals extra romanticized than operating away and becoming a member of the French International Legion. Members of the Légion étrangère are clothed, fed, and housed freed from cost for the primary few years of their service. In addition they obtain month-to-month salaries, 45 days of paid trip, and after three years of service (or a fight wound), Legionnaires can apply for French citizenship.
Oh, and candidates even have to surrender their id and nationality whereas serving within the International Legion, together with a handful of different standards and restrictions. Consider it or not, the Legion doesn’t simply take anybody.
The French International Legion is France’s storied and elite particular unit. First fashioned in 1831, it was a method for international nationals to hitch the French Army, initially posting them in French colonial possessions in Africa. At the moment, it’s nonetheless an elite unit, fashioned of like-minded people from everywhere in the world who be part of for the problem of serving in probably the most bodily demanding navy items.
There is just one strategy to be part of this elite brotherhood of a preventing drive. Males between ages 17.5 and 39.5 should journey to mainland France and go to a Légion étrangère recruiting heart, that are all open 24/7 day-after-day of the 12 months. They have to even be bodily match (measured by physique mass index), be capable to learn and write of their native language, and have proof of id.
The Legion says that there are just a few issues enlistees will want when making use of to enlist within the International Legion – and the primary rule is to pack gentle. They shouldn’t take greater than 300 Euros, and can want a pair of operating exhibits and solely three pairs of underwear, t-shirts, and socks. Like all good fundamental trainees wherever, they need to bear in mind to pack their private hygiene kits and an excellent pair of bathe sneakers.
Relying on their desired place within the Legion, enlistees have totally different standards to fulfill in different bodily phrases, together with eyesight, colour blindness, and former surgical procedures. No applicant will be lacking greater than six enamel or should have at the least 40% of their enamel in wholesome situation. No enlistee will be lacking a finger when signing up.
Enlistees all signal contracts for 5 years. Throughout that point, the applicant’s citizenship, id, skilled standing, marital standing and background are all thrown out the window. Race, faith and schooling all don’t matter, in response to the International Legion web site. The Legion will even train its new recruits the French language throughout their coaching.
What does matter is the particular person’s prison background. Nobody needed by Interpol, the Worldwide Prison Police Group that focuses on transnational crimes, corresponding to drug and human trafficking, cybercrime, and worldwide terrorism. The International Legion doesn’t wish to be an id laundering group for main worldwide criminals.
After a battery of assessments that embrace IQ assessments, psychological testing, bodily exams and health testing for operating, swimming, and pull-ups, candidates are both accepted or denied. To be accepted into the Legion means your passport, IDs, and even clothes are taken away, as any legionnaire with lower than 5 years of service should put on the uniform throughout free time.
Upon leaving the International Legion and serving in one of many world’s most storied items, they’ll both preserve their new id or return to their outdated one. The concept of gaining access to a brand new life might be the explanation so many individuals romanticize the thought of becoming a member of the Legion within the first place. They simply want to recollect it’s not as straightforward to get in as they may suppose.
