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A few question's regarding joining the FFL

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patrickw1995

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First up I'm planning to join the FFL between June and September next year, after being in the ACF 111th the rifles platoon at the age of 16 I decided not to join the regular army as of basically retards that just want to go to Afghanistan to kill someone. These are not the people I want covering my back in a firefight. Now that I'm 18 and pretty much ready to leave my nest that I have been in for 18 years I decided the French Foreign Legion will be the right choice for me especially the 2REP.

I know that I'm not going to sign up and straight away become Rambo running through fields with bombs going off and jets carpet bombing stuff, like you see in the Hollywood movies, I'm guessing that the first 6 months will be cleaning, ironing, cleaning and more cleaning, I know that and I'm perfectly fine with that. As of all the fitness tests like the Luc Léger and pull-up I'm not worried about because I have been training for long, and I also train at college studying uniformed public services level 3 course. So as of fitness I'm ready for the FFL, I got to level 11 on the bleep test, then immediately after done 50 push up and 15 pull-ups. I'm also very competitive, so when I see someone doing better than me I keep on going even though my muscles are telling me to stop from all the pain. The rest I'm going to put it in bullet points

1) I don't like interviews so that's why I'm worried about the ‘gestapo’ interview. I do have stage-fright and I know that interviews put me in the spotlight. At least that's how I feel and of course I go red, sweat and my hands start shaking. I'm worried that they may not accept me for this or will think I'm trying to hide something which i'm not. When I get usee to the people then I'm calm and able to give a presentation and that but surrounded by new people I will be very nervous and probably have my heart racing and legs feeling numb and of course have the butterflies in my stomach feeling. I hope that this won't affect their decision to keep me or tell me to go home, what do you think?

2) I know that I have to cancel all my contracts and not take my phone with me or credit cards or anything electronic but if I don't get accepted then how do I go back home from Aubagne to London? If I knew the exact date that I would get rejected if I did then I would buy myself a return ticket on that day but I don't so what do you think I should do?

3) Of course just like any soldier I would like to see some action a.k.a war, would the Legion ever send me to Afghan or Mali? And lets say if there isn't any wars that France is involved with, then what do we do? Do we just stay in our base for like 3 years before we get leave?

4) How does the time period work in the Legion, I mean do you train for 6 months in homeland France and then get send to where the 2REP is based at just like the 13DBLE get send to the amazon and do training there as well.

As I said previously I have been training really hard for this and the legion is my dream now something to look forward to in life, I also been getting myself mentally ready by that i mean getting used to waking up at 4am and running 5 or 7 miles and I do this every fourth night and work on my upper body muscles during other days, I would really appreciate if you let me know the answers to my questions, i'm new here and I tried fitting as much stuff as possible into this and all the stuff that have been on my mind but I still reckon I missed a few.

Thanks.
 

voltigeur

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1) Be yourself and just answer the questions.

2) Save enough funds to buy a ticket back home.

3) Read the info on the official Legion web site. http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/

4) Basic training in France, further training in Regiment.

5) read all the stickies, search the archives and read the posts.
 

elfrex

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If i am not wrong it's the 3 REI which is in Amazon (French Guiana) not 13 DBLE.
 

Dairo

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Yup, the 13eme demi-brigade is in Abu Dhabi, or so I read.
 

mad jock

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Bugger me sideyways lad, so let me get this right: the Brit army is full of retards that want to kill everything? Damn you're in for a rough ride already. I suggest you go out, get drunk, find a whore and get your balls dropped little man, and as for cleaning for 6 months, try again kid, let me break this down for you: 70% of your time will be spent doing ‘admin’ that's cleaning shit up, 5% of your time is spent actually training, 24% will be rushing around like a headless chicken only to be told “wait hereâ€￾, you're then left with the final 1%, which is anarchy mate. As for wishing for a fight, when the heat goes down and rounds start flying down range, you will wish you were anywhere else but there mate.
Anyway, best of luck getting through life thinking you're awesome, cos you're not.
 

Brat

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Even the Legion won't make you as awesome as his awesomeness, mad Jock.
 

patrickw1995

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Bugger me sideyways lad, so let me get this right: the Brit army is full of retards that want to kill everything? Damn you're in for a rough ride already. I suggest you go out, get drunk, find a whore and get your balls dropped little man, and as for cleaning for 6 months, try again kid, let me break this down for you: 70% of your time will be spent doing ‘admin’ that's cleaning shit up, 5% of your time is spent actually training, 24% will be rushing around like a headless chicken only to be told “wait hereâ€￾, you're then left with the final 1%, which is anarchy mate. As for wishing for a fight, when the heat goes down and rounds start flying down range, you will wish you were anywhere else but there mate.
Anyway, best of luck getting through life thinking you're awesome, cos you're not.
For your information I don't actually have a GB passport because I wasn't born here, so the British army is a no-no for me anyways, and I'm not going to pay 700£ to get one and then wait a bloody year.
Secondly everyone in my family has served in the army and I was always a daddy's child, so trust me my balls have dropped already, and I'm guessing that the main reason why people join any military service is to go to war, right? As of the breaking down stuff you put I must thank you for that, have a nice day, Sir.
 

MaiYun

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People join military for various of reasons, it could be family problems, problems related with work, money, adventure - people who says that they want to go to war are usually people that never seen it by themselves. The reasons are limitless and the reason you want to join should stay with you - if thats what you want then go for it!

By the way, last year I did the same course as you do at this moment :). It was fun course with loads of “adventures and expeditionsâ€￾ meeting a lot of soldiers, police officers and people like that. Learning about discipline, leadership, teamwork and things like that ;).

Can I know how did you join the Rifles in the Uk without being a UK citizen? Because it is impossible to serve in the Uk military without being a "British" (a British citizen) - Ehhh, how many times did I try that ^.^.
 

BafuD

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“Basically retards that just want to go to Afghanistan to kill someone.â€￾

“Of course just like any soldier I would like to see some action a.k.a war, would the Legion ever send me to Afghan or Mali?â€￾

Derp. Some conflicting interests here :p.
 

VN101

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I watched a video in youtube about ‘gestapo’ interview, there was an American guy when copl asked him, “why do you want to join the Legion?â€￾, he said “because the Llegion is the best army in the world, better than US, UK and Russian.â€￾ After that I saw him in the line of go home guys.
 

Old Adj

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I watched a video in youtube about ‘gestapo’ interview, there was an American guy when copl asked him, “why do you want to join the Legion?â€￾, he said “because the Llegion is the best army in the world, better than US, UK and Russian.â€￾ After that I saw him in the line of go home guys.
Maybe the reason he was in the line of “go home guysâ€￾ had nothing to do with this question (nor his answer to it)?
 

Legionnaire Parent

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Maiyun, not correct Sir. South Africans can join the British Army which may or may not have something to do with the fact that South Africa belongs to the Commonwealth .
 

patrickw1995

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like i stated it was the ACF not the regular army and you usually need a UK passport but the corporal in charge put me as a UK citizen on my application form and sent it off without anything else needed and that was me being accepted into it
 

patrickw1995

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“Basically retards that just want to go to Afghanistan to kill someone.â€￾

“Of course just like any soldier I would like to see some action a.k.a war, would the Legion ever send me to Afghan or Mali?â€￾

Derp. Some conflicting interests here :p.
No, it's two different things. I had four 16 year old wanting to go there, just to get a confirmed kill. Those are also the people that lured a dog when we were on camp and started cutting it with a butchers knife which they had because all of us had one, but they did not kill it completely just left it there. For me these are serious psychological issues and for your information I was the one that put the dog out of its painful misery. I'm not going there to shot anything that moves, I go there thinking that I'm going to help people but of course if someone shoots at me or my comrades then i will shoot back. Now, hopefully this has sorted out the conflicting interests question there.
 

BafuD

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No, it's two different things. I had four 16 year old wanting to go there, just to get a confirmed kill. Those are also the people that lured a dog when we were on camp and started cutting it with a butchers knife which they had because all of us had one, but they did not kill it completely just left it there. For me these are serious psychological issues and for your information I was the one that put the dog out of its painful misery. I'm not going there to shot anything that moves, I go there thinking that I'm going to help people but of course if someone shoots at me or my comrades then i will shoot back. Now, hopefully this has sorted out the conflicting interests question there.
Oh come on... The Legion has its fair share of nutters too, and save me from the “I want to help people, not go to warâ€￾ shit. You said you wanted to see action aka war in start, not help people, not buying it. :p
 

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I think stage fright at an interview is a psychological issue IN FACT just the issue of being afraid of an interview makes me think I don’t want YOU covering my back in a fire fight.


ACF... am I to think that’s army cadet force? in which case all the best to you after serving in such an elite force and thinking you have a single solitary right to judge ANY of my serving colleagues in the same light as a 16 year old cadet.

ON camp... let’s be clear that was a two week annual camp that cadets do with about a two day in the field exercise.
Put the dog out of his misery… how did you find time to do that whilst doing all the close protection drills and the underwater knife fighting course?? I have been a cadet and the drivel of killing a dog would have seen you kicked out. We had guys kicked out for fighting so killing a dog would have seen you gone.
Also the flaw to your story… you watched your mates kill a dog with butchers knives… didn’t have the backbone to step in.. maybe say… don’t kill the dog… or were you secretly enjoying it… feeling those thoughts of all the times you were told you weren’t allowed to kill innocent puppies… feeling empowered as you (supposedly) watched two others killing a dog…

JOIN THE RAF REG THEY LOVE DREAMERS.


1. If your issue is an interview then maybe get some experience with those before you leave or just don’t go. If you have concerns about that then final inspection may just see you committing suicide with anxiety.
2. If you go by train then to the barracks by taxi then have 50 euros in cash buried somewhere or with you when you join and catch a taxi back to train station and go the opposite way. Its not that far to get back to never land.
3. To get the ILLUSION out of your mind. You may go 4-5 years without seeing a single fire fight. Just on the gate guarding a barracks. *fact* ask any of the guys on here or anyone who has served. It’s not all fire fights and war movie esk situations. Reality is allot of prepping for the maybe situations and shed loads of cleaning.
4. No answer for four as I wasn’t legion but one of the green may help there.

In summary good luck to you but keep your illusion that you know anything about the British army or labelling me and my comrades still serving as retards to yourself as you haven’t got a clue.
 

Afrikaaner

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A while ago when I played Rambo with the British pathfinders, I talked to one guy who came from Zimbabwe and another from Canada and they were able to join a special force in the UK. You need to be a British citizen to join the territorial army or British reserve force and after living 4 years in the Uk you can ask for citizenship. The British regular army is open to a lot of nationalities.
 

G.I. Joe

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(...) after living 4 years in the Uk you can ask for citizenship. (...)
If I am reading this right you are saying you have to live in the UK for 4 years to gain citizenship: this is incorrect. My last conversation with a British Army recruiter said that if you are part of the Commonwealth you can apply for citizenship as soon as you enter the country and that it can take around 4 months...
 
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