The Legion saw service most recently in Mali, where they helped restore the government against insurgent Al-Qaeda forces. Other arms have been garrisoned in French Guiana and the United Arab Emirates. The paras are based in Calvi on the island of Corsica (they are still not trusted to be on mainland France after a coup attempt in 1961). The Legion is composed of several branches: engineers, paras, armoured cavalry, infantry, and pioneers. These young, rootless men swear their allegiance not to France, but to the Legion itself. Around 10 per cent come from Latin America and 10 per cent from Asia. In recent times, 42 per cent of recruits come from eastern and central Europe, 14 per cent from western Europe and the US, and around 10 per cent from France.
The modern Legion is around 8,000-strong and needs only 1,000 new recruits each year to replenish the ranks. Several thousand apply per year, and some 80 per cent are rejected – the Legion doesn’t accept anyone wanted by the police or with a serious criminal record, though misdemeanours and petty crimes are still acceptable. Young men still queue to join up in great numbers. Then, a legionnaire could afford wine or tobacco, not both, and certainly no other luxuries. Even the most basic pay of a recruit is €1,205 a month, which, considering there are no bills or food costs, is nothing like the five centimes a day it was in the 19th century. The wages, though, are now quite good, especially if you see duty in a combat zone.
There remains an emphasis on marching (to enter, you have to complete several hikes in full kit, ranging from 50 to 120km) and the men who join are still keen to fight. The modern Legion still has a few things in common with its previous incarnations. Today, legionnaires are much more than a band of mere ‘expendables’. Now in its third, the official image of the Legion is of an elite fighting force, to be compared with the British SAS or the US Navy SEALs. In its second incarnation, the Legion became a sort of substitute family. In its first version, the Legion was seen as a rough mercenary force that guaranteed immunity from criminal prosecution, as well as a new life and French citizenship. Men who joined up after a lifetime of crime, fighting valiantly, then leaving the Legion to become tough, faceless mercenaries trading on their background, or else dying in the mud of Dien Bien Phu as the last choppers leave for La Belle France. What comes to mind when you think of the French Foreign Legion? Most likely men struggling through the desert in heavy blue coats and white peaked caps.
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