"The Making of a Legionnaire" by Bill Parris

[Mince]

A Geordie joins the Legion! It's an account of his five years in the French Foreign Legion, detailing joining and training and his time in 2 REP (a parachute regiment within the Legion, considered very chuffin' tough). There's some jungle shenanigans and a couple of conflicts thrown in as well.
All in all it does give a good idea of what it's like in the Legion. Parris fancies himself as something of an artiste, but it's worth ignoring the tongue-chewing horrors of his prose for the story it's trying to mangle. It leaves you with the impression that he just hastily slapped together a 'training book' to cash in on the very healthy market but it was still well worth reading if you're interested in such things. The hardback RRPs at £16.99 though, so you might want to sniff about the library.
:grab:

[RobT]

Just bought it today myself, i've gone "Leigon" crazy with "Leigonaire" by Simon Murray too.

[chriszg_oz]

I read the book but I can't say I like it much. To romantic for me - why sign up for the legion if everything is crap like he say it is ( small pay, hungry all the time, exhausted, confined to the barracks). Doesn't sound that good to me! Not much combat, mostly running around with a pack on your back. It had a few interesting chapters but thats about it. Hope you find the book more interesting than I did.

[exgreenjacket]

Ill have a look at these ones because Im always interested to hear about people who fight for other Countries, wether they are Legionaires, Mercenaries or anything else. Im curious to find out what motivates them.

Romance aside, I really dont understand why somebody would want to be hungry and skint and stuck in the middle of North Africa doing nothing.

Ive heard stories about the Legion 'Taxing' hefty sums off people when they try to leave as well.

[harry hackedoff]

Stories about the Legion are usually just that, stories. Mostly the Legion exists to do the shite that France`s Army wouldn`t touch. Two Para is a thing apart, they are highly trained in Commando techniques and are the best that the Legion has to offer. Most of their NCO`s were either Para Reg or Booty when we did Dragon Hammer and I thought they were good enough
There is a shit load of stuff on here about the Legion, just use Search.
There`s also a former Para who joined them called Jim or Jock Love who has a website. He was a member here for a while but we didn`t get on. He is the real deal though.
Two Para= Deuxieme Regiment Etrangere, Parachutiste or 2 REP