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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:36:45 AM EDT
[#1]
I thought about when I was younger. But then I met this chic and yada yada yada..... I went to school with a dude who claimed his "brother" was in the FFL at one point but that is the closest I ever got.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:38:39 AM EDT
[#2]
Considered it very briefly before my 2nd re-up. Signed with Uncle Sam again instead.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:44:22 AM EDT
[#3]
The State Dep't kinda frowns on it.
The pay sucks. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:47:20 AM EDT
[#4]
no friggin way
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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:51:35 AM EDT
[#5]
WTF DID YOU SAY I JUST SIGNED! I thought that was the application for a Federal Firearms License!
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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:55:58 AM EDT
[#6]
The reality of that kind of life exceeds the romanticism. No thank you.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:58:38 AM EDT
[#7]
I suppose if I was an escaped convict from death row it might be appealing.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 8:59:01 AM EDT
[#8]
I'll get totally flamed for this, but the French Foreign Legion is one of the toughest military units in existence.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:00:20 AM EDT
[#9]
No option for " I like pie'
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:03:21 AM EDT
[#10]
if you are going to join something, check out the minutemen first... |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:13:20 AM EDT
[#11]
BTW, the option for "I would if I could speak French" is irrelevant as almost everyone who joins can't speak it when they sign up. You learn as you go.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:16:51 AM EDT
[#12]
Yeah - in some units the instruction apparently used to be very straighforward. The french officers gave orders in french. If you didn't follow it, they had the crap beaten out of you. Then they gave the order again. People apparently learned fast.  |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:16:55 AM EDT
[#13]
Do it and report back to ARFCOM.
Don't forget to post pics and say "hi" to Jean-Claude Van Damme for us. Tell him Chuck Norris could kick his ass. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:18:22 AM EDT
[#14]
I have often thought that, if I got into shape, I would either join the US Navy or the FFL. I still think about it. I'm young, I have time.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:21:51 AM EDT
[#15]
I once got lost in Strassburg, France. I got directions from a FFL recruiting office there. He invited me to come back when I was 18.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:26:19 AM EDT
[#16]
theres no fuckin way id ever join a french fighting unit over a american one.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:27:18 AM EDT
[#17]
+1 |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:32:00 AM EDT
[#18]
You might if you were booted out of an American unit and still wanted to soldier. You wouldn't be the first ex US soldier to fight in the legion. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:34:21 AM EDT
[#19]
if i wanted to be a soldier that bad i wouldnt fuck up so bad in a american unit that i got kicked out.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:34:27 AM EDT
[#20]
Oh, BTW, is the FFL equipped with the FAMAS or do they use a different rifle? How about sidearms and other longarms? Anybody know?
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:37:29 AM EDT
[#21]
The FFL uses the FAMAS and all other standard French issued gear. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:37:40 AM EDT
[#22]
Those are interesting choices. Kind of opposites of each other. Just curious why you would think about the FFL over the Marines. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:42:16 AM EDT
[#23]
Good point. They say not to join the legion if things are going well in your life. They're notorious for spartan living conditions and brutal discipline. One main reason people join is so they can assume a new identity. The FFL used to be comprised mostly of mercs and people running from the law or their pasts. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:43:51 AM EDT
[#24]
If we were actually talking face to face, the response I would give to you would consist solely of a shrug of my shoulders. I can't really explain why. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 9:56:58 AM EDT
[#25]
Over 50% of the FFL is French. As I remember it, you have 3 months to learn the language. I looked into this many years ago. Only after the Army wouldn't let me be all I could be. Thanks to my eyesight. And thank God I grew a brain somewhere along the line.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:03:28 AM EDT
[#26]
THe FFL is not just a regular part of the french military. I don't now the details exactly of their arrangement w/ the French Gov, but I think that they are basically a mercinary force w/ an obligation to the french government in times of war. By mercinary, I don't know if individual units or divisions can go off, or if the FFL as a whole makes decisions about who they'll fight for. Some specific details of how the FFL works would be good. I think the biggest reason that I wouldn't want to be in is because of the scumbags you would be surround by (fugitives, valuesless mercinaries, convicts, dishonorable discharges etc). |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:05:12 AM EDT
[#27]
Do they get issued a white flag as well? |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:08:54 AM EDT
[#28]
You don't want any French pie |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:15:09 AM EDT
[#29]
 |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:15:18 AM EDT
[#30]
I saw something on Discovery or something about the FFL. They said Americans can't just up & join the FFL. And the irony, most FFL dudes are not even french.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:22:29 AM EDT
[#31]
really last i heard aobut 50% of them were from france and just said they were from some were else. im sure there a great unit but theres no way in hell i would fight for the french.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:27:46 AM EDT
[#32]
Cool. Just thought I'd ask. 
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:30:40 AM EDT
[#33]
The guy that sold me my ISUZU Rodeo(Murfessborro?TN) was on SOF magazine when he was in the Legion.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:35:23 AM EDT
[#34]
Chauchat most dropped only once
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:46:23 AM EDT
[#35]
American law used to state that fighting in another country's military would get your citizenship revoked. I don't know if that is still the case. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:51:40 AM EDT
[#36]
The FFL is a great concept. If only the French had the nerve to use them. They could be in Iraq right now, and the FFL themselves probably want to be there. Just think, a group of soldiers with no family, no connections, no one will miss them if killed. Those crazy French! I Yi Yi
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Posted: 2/27/2006 10:54:07 AM EDT
[#37]
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:08:13 AM EDT
[#38]
Les Têtes Brulées. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:09:16 AM EDT
[#39]
They do use them. The have been quite busy in Ivory Coast of late. They have been in the Congo recently also. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:09:43 AM EDT
[#40]
My French is rusty, but... "the burnt heads?" |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:11:40 AM EDT
[#41]
A guy who was in my LRS Det in the INARNG ETS'd and went to France to try and join. About 2 months later he called up the unit asking for help to get home to the US. Was out of money and they had not accepted him into the Legion.
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:13:51 AM EDT
[#42]
The FFL don't accept fugitives or ex-criminals. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:17:50 AM EDT
[#43]
My mother is French-born. That's what they call them in France. "burnt heads" because they often served in North Africa and with the regulation buzz cut, their scalps were always sunburned when they got back to France. She told me most she had encountered were very hard cases. People can make fun of the French all they want, but those Legionnaires are some tough bastards. When I was growing up i met a couple that were friends of relatives, had been in places like Morroco and Algeria. It's a way for some to get Citizenship. Citizenship in France may not seem like something you would want, but believe me there are far worse places in the world. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:18:10 AM EDT
[#44]
The FFL is a regular part of the French military and have been since the 1830's. The whole idea was to recruit foreigners to fight for France. Their mentality was "if a few foreginers get killed, big deal". Today the FFL is usually the first French unit to be sent. Their 2nd parachute regiment rivals some of the better known spec ops groups. By law, French citizens were not permitted to serve in the Legion until very recently. A few would sneak by claiming to be Canadian, etc. The Legion is not representative of the entire French military culture. They're probably some of the toughest soliders out there. flame away  |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:20:03 AM EDT
[#45]
One thing, Officers were/are often French born. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:21:41 AM EDT
[#46]
Would that still work? According to http://www.br-legion.com/ang/index.html you'll have to show some sort of valid ID when enlisting. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:24:48 AM EDT
[#47]
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Posted: 2/27/2006 11:34:12 AM EDT
[#48]
They also offer a lifetime pension after 15 years of service, so you could join as an 18 year old and retire on a sergeant's pension (or higher) at age 33. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 1:14:05 PM EDT
[#49]
Here's a clue: ATF does not give out those nifty berets with every application. |
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Posted: 2/27/2006 1:21:40 PM EDT
[#50]
The Legion d'Etrangeres wears the Kepi Blanc, not a beret, and they don't award it until you complete a 50km march. I know you were joking, but I obsessively correct and edit things.
That depends on you living that long.
Oh, yes. The Legion d'Etrangeres and GSIGN (of which GIGN is a part, I didn't misspell it) are absolute high-speed-low-drag badasses. Hey, if you get French citizenship after serving in the Legion, do they allow you to join the Gendarmerie? |
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