How do you become a french legionary?

Pass the Welcome to the French Foreign Legion push-ups test. Know your medical history. Pass the main selection tests in Aubagne. Finally join the French Foreign Legion and become a Legionnaire.

1. How do you become a French legionnaire?
2. Is it hard to get into the French Foreign Legion?
3. How much does a French Legionnaire get paid?
4. Can French citizens join the Foreign Legion?
5. How many French foreign legionnaires have died?
6. How do you get French citizenship?
7. Can you leave French Foreign Legion?
8. What do you eat in the French Foreign Legion?
9. How elite is the French Foreign Legion?
10. Is the Foreign Legion worth it?
11. How long can you serve in the French Foreign Legion?
12. Are French Foreign Legion mercenaries?
13. What happens if you desert the Foreign Legion?
14. Are French Foreign Legion Special Forces?
15. Does the French Foreign Legion give you a new identity?

How do you become a French legionnaire?

You have to serve honorably and have to be “recognized person” (to serve under your real identity, recognized by the French government) to qualify for getting French citizenship. Be sure, however, that you have to serve more than five years (usually eight years) to be approved to obtain it.

Is it hard to get into the French Foreign Legion?

Every day, several dozen men hoping to enlist arrive in Aubagne and in other recruitment centers throughout France, officers say. The selection process is notoriously harsh, and only one in nine candidates will ever don the Legion's trademark white kepi. Applicants must be between 17 and 40 years old.

How much does a French Legionnaire get paid?

Their starting pay is roughly $1450 per month for at least the first couple of years in. That's a pretty small paycheck compared to the lowest-ranking U.S. Army soldier making $1546, which is guaranteed to go up to $1733 after being automatically promoted six months later (if they don't get in trouble of course).

Can French citizens join the Foreign Legion?

Can a French join the Foreign Legion? Yes. A French can join the Foreign Legion. He is just going to change his nationality while he is hired to comply with the statutes of the legion.

How many French foreign legionnaires have died?

More than 35,000 foreigners have been killed in action while serving with the Legion. Throughout its history, the French Foreign Legion — and the fighters who make up its ranks — were seen as expendable.

How do you get French citizenship?

You can become a French citizen with all the accompanying rights through either naturalization, marriage, or birth. You must be over 18 and be living in France. It isn't necessary to renounce your original nationality when you become a French citizen but can have dual nationality.

Can you leave French Foreign Legion?

Legionnaires leaving after 20 years

You can go to retirement after 19,5 years of service, but this law is going to change in the near future. This is going to be valid for the whole French Army, not only for the French Foreign Legion.

What do you eat in the French Foreign Legion?

French Army ration packs when in the field/combat. Contracted fresh food supplied in garrison, either local or shipped in. Fresh bread when available; cheeses; wine ration.

How elite is the French Foreign Legion?

Today, with a strength of approximately 8,000 men, the Foreign Legion is one of the French army's preferred units for overseas service. It saw action in the Persian Gulf War of 1990–91 and has since been sent often to Africa, as well as to Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and Afghanistan.

Is the Foreign Legion worth it?

Is joining the French Foreign Legion worth it? For you, the answer is no, it's not worth it, you don't have the “bug”. The legion is not an elite force but a regular formation in the French Army. There are two types of persons that will find it worth it.

How long can you serve in the French Foreign Legion?

The initial contract is for 5 years. At the end of this first contract, the legionary can choose to continue his career by means of successive contracts whose duration varies between 6 months and 5 years.

Are French Foreign Legion mercenaries?

That force is the French Foreign Legion, a unique mercenary unit in the French army that advertises itself as "the school of second chance." ... Unlike typical national armies, which recruit their own citizens, this military force only recruits foreigners. That's why it's called the French Foreign Legion.

What happens if you desert the Foreign Legion?

If a Legionnaire decides to desert, for the first two days he is "Absent". After seven days of being absent a Legionnaire would be declared a "Deserteur". There is a standard sentence of 40 days. ... The author also noted that in his experience a deserting individual faces beatings and imprisonment, if captured (ibid.).

Are French Foreign Legion Special Forces?

The French Foreign Legion aren't special forces, per se, but they maybe more closely align with U.S. Army Rangers. We are a first-reaction type force that will go in and take over an airport, for example.

Does the French Foreign Legion give you a new identity?

EVERY Legion recruit receives a new name once they complete the “psychotechnic” testing portion of selection (the first thing you do, basic mathematics and reasoning problems in your native language). You keep three things about your identity. Your initials, your birth year, and (usually) your country of origin.