a French Foreign Legion Forum

Welcome! Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

End of basics physical tests (for placing)

Joseph Cosgrove

Moderator
Legionnaire
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
9,556
Reaction score
7,900
Location
Thailand
Home Country
New Zealand
I received this question by PM and do not feel sufficiently placed nowadays to answer it:

"Anyway, my question: as knowledge about selection tests (Luc Leger, pullups, 25m swim) are pretty clear and information about those can be found everywhere, I couldn't find anything about tests at the end of Castel- the one which determines ranking among Legionnaires. What do they consist of? Soldier skills obviously, but they are taught during training. Language obviously- I'm learning. So the remaining question is: what fitness events it consists of? Unless there is more I don't know about."
So if anyone has any knowledge on the subject, it would be much appreciated.

In my day we had gym tests: squats, pull ups, press ups, rope climbing* and sit ups.
Covapi which was 12 minutes around the track* and the 8 Kms TAP**. Plus the assault course.
There was no swimming test per se, although when you arrived in your regiment you, you were classed as "swimmer" or "Non-swimmer".

*although a little off the subject, for my CAT 4 (képi noir) we had to do the covapi, min. 1650m and either 2 times the 6 metre rope using feet or once using arms only. Obviously the more you ran and the faster you got up the rope the more points you got.

**8 K TAP (Troupe AeroPortée) which consists of running with full kit (combats, webbing, rifle and helmet) and rucksack of 14 Kilos for:
1) 1500m in les than 9 mins.
2) 8000m or 8Kms in less than 60 mins.

For anyone who was wondering what the point of running 8Ks in less than hour;
It was estimated that if the soviets (eh oui -that long ago) were to seal off an area it would take them 1 hour to confine a surface of 8 Kms radius. So if you were told to "bug out" you had an hour to get outside the perimeter.
Not really feasible today with modern troop carriers, but then again, it does show that you are fit enough to do it.
 
Joined
Mar 23, 2018
Messages
5,481
Reaction score
2,205
Location
UK
Home Country
United Kingdom
We were trained (one Team) per Battery to fire them. So called tech OPs. I got spammed for it twice 🙄
Me and another 2 guys armed it. One was a Tool man. Passed the Tools to us me and another guy prepared the round and Set the fuse. Fitting it and it was a window with numbers we Set with a small Tool like a ratchet.
Tested by the americans in Sennelager.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

Moderator
Legionnaire
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
9,556
Reaction score
7,900
Location
Thailand
Home Country
New Zealand
8 km is the minimum required distance to escape from a chemical / biological attack (by artillery shelling or aerial d' épandage)
I'd have thought that getting kitted up in your NBC suit and gaz mask would take priority over running for an hour. Saying that, I'm not saying that your version is false, I suppose it depends on who is giving the lesson.
 

dusaboss

Hyper Active Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Messages
4,545
Reaction score
1,640
Location
Serbia
Home Country
Yugoslavia
I'd have thought that getting kitted up in your NBC suit and gaz mask would take priority over running for an hour. Saying that, I'm not saying that your version is false, I suppose it depends on who is giving the lesson.
Looks bit odd to me. You run 4 km and then next shell shell drops to your 8 km mark. Not good. :).
Running and increasing respiration surrounded with mustard gas probably isn't good idea. Running would be good only in limited situations but there is many factors like amount and type of the chemical agent, the means of dispersal, weather conditions.etc.
It's probably something that instructors say to recruits to give them purpose and motivate them. Probably not standard procedure in case of attack.
In our army there was drill while on march instructor will say "atomic from left (or right)" and whole company would drop on the ground in opposite direction. Like that would save you from termo-nuclear blast. :) Actually isn't that crazy. By laying on the ground or small ditch you getting good chance of survival if atack isn't too close. Also you would see mushroom cloud seconds before blast come.
 
Joined
Mar 23, 2018
Messages
5,481
Reaction score
2,205
Location
UK
Home Country
United Kingdom
Looks bit odd to me. You run 4 km and then next shell shell drops to your 8 km mark. Not good. :).
Running and increasing respiration surrounded with mustard gas probably isn't good idea. Running would be good only in limited situations but there is many factors like amount and type of the chemical agent, the means of dispersal, weather conditions.etc.
It's probably something that instructors say to recruits to give them purpose and motivate them. Probably not standard procedure in case of attack.
In our army there was drill while on march instructor will say "atomic from left (or right)" and whole company would drop on the ground in opposite direction. Like that would save you from termo-nuclear blast. :) Actually isn't that crazy. By laying on the ground or small ditch you getting good chance of survival if atack isn't too close. Also you would see mushroom cloud seconds before blast come.
chemical agents can be dropped from above. you can´t see or smell them
 

Le petit caporal

Legionnaire
Joined
Sep 4, 2017
Messages
5,490
Reaction score
4,188
Location
Nimes
Home Country
North Korea
The 8 klick run is a tactical retreat...do you think for an instant that the 2 REI would abandon there precious VABs or the New équivalent with all that expensive equipment our véhicules carry?....get wise. We drive away and dress up in our NBC suits and masks inside
our VABS
It is called, 'the 8 km march commando', by thé way
T.A.P. for troupes Aéro Portée , meaning paras
They had no blindée (armoured véhicules until WE taught them how and that was for the Yugoslavia)
No one carrys their NBC suits into combat, ffs!
Gas Mask, aye
Le Caporal
 
Joined
Mar 23, 2018
Messages
5,481
Reaction score
2,205
Location
UK
Home Country
United Kingdom
The 8 klick run is a tactical retreat...do you think for an instant that the 2 REI would abandon there precious VABs or the New équivalent with all that expensive equipment our véhicules carry?....get wise. We drive away and dress up in our NBC suits and masks inside
our VABS
It is called, 'the 8 km march commando', by thé way
T.A.P. for troupes Aéro Portée , meaning paras
They had no blindée (armoured véhicules until WE taught them how and that was for the Yugoslavia)
No one carrys their NBC suits into combat, ffs!
Gas Mask, aye
Le Caporal
no you mask up straight away regardless what you have.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

Moderator
Legionnaire
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
9,556
Reaction score
7,900
Location
Thailand
Home Country
New Zealand
Looks bit odd to me. You run 4 km and then next shell shell drops to your 8 km mark. Not good. :).
Running and increasing respiration surrounded with mustard gas probably isn't good idea. Running would be good only in limited situations but there is many factors like amount and type of the chemical agent, the means of dispersal, weather conditions.etc.
It's probably something that instructors say to recruits to give them purpose and motivate them. Probably not standard procedure in case of attack.
In our army there was drill while on march instructor will say "atomic from left (or right)" and whole company would drop on the ground in opposite direction. Like that would save you from termo-nuclear blast. :) Actually isn't that crazy. By laying on the ground or small ditch you getting good chance of survival if atack isn't too close. Also you would see mushroom cloud seconds before blast come.
It does seem a bit odd does it not?
 

Joseph Cosgrove

Moderator
Legionnaire
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
9,556
Reaction score
7,900
Location
Thailand
Home Country
New Zealand
The 8 klick run is a tactical retreat...do you think for an instant that the 2 REI would abandon there precious VABs or the New équivalent with all that expensive equipment our véhicules carry?....get wise. We drive away and dress up in our NBC suits and masks inside
our VABS
It is called, 'the 8 km march commando', by thé way
T.A.P. for troupes Aéro Portée , meaning paras
They had no blindée (armoured véhicules until WE taught them how and that was for the Yugoslavia)
No one carrys their NBC suits into combat, ffs!
Gas Mask, aye
Le Caporal

Well this is the whole point of having a forum; for discussion.
The term TAP is not only for paras, it is for any force than can be mobilized by air, including the 2 REI. and as I've said before, every course that I've gone on started off with an 8Km, whether it was in Guyane (CTE 12 -Santé) no VABS there or stage commando Martinique= one Simca.
1580609684163.png Simca version cargo to convert it to version troop transport, you rolled up the sides and fitted metal seats in.
As for carrying their NBC suits into combat? I'd say that it depended on where the combat was taking place, for example during the 1st Iraqi war... enough said.
As for 2 REI teaching the REP how to drive VABs, yes, because until then the REP did not have VABs as part of their supplies issue. It was decided by the powers that be that the REP would take on another role, mechanized infantry and so they had to be taught to drive them and maintain them.
If the powers that be decide that the all polyvalent REP should take on a further role such as armored reconnaissance then they would be sent to the 1 REC to learn about the AMX 10 RC or the ERC-90 Sagaie. BTW I was sent to the 1 REC to learn how to drive the VBL.
1580607076594.png
This was considered a 'complimentary formation' so we didn't have an 8 Km TAP before. And it was only for 5 days.
The initial training with the 2 REI was enough (good instructors) as from there on the REP did their own VAB training.
Not only that the REP had to have an extra 80 HGV1 (super poids lourds) for the ex-Yougo mission, which off course meant that it was valid in civi-street. The 80-extra- drivers were sent away (I'm not sure where, French army base) to get their licenses.
Which led the REP to send off a bunch of legionnaires, min CPL with over 5 years of service and already in possession of their (newly acquired or not) HGV1 to go on an HGV1's driving instructors course. I know of one an English Cch, George Bennett-Write, who did it. This means that when he went civi, he was qualified as an HGV1 driving instructor.

Just a quick side step here, if you've learnt to drive an HGV1 legion style* on the winding twisting roads of Corsica, then you can claim to know how to drive an articulated lorry. What is more, by definition the HGV1 is dessigned for long distances. All the Kms that you do, whether it is in a P4 i.e. light vehicle or in a truck is noted down, in the carnet de bord of the vehicle. When you reach 10 000 Kms, your Chef de section can put you in for a conductor d'élite certificate which not only looks good on your resume but allows you 10% reduction on your civi car insurance.

* when I say legion style, I mean all the aspects that go with driving. The highway of course, but also how to change a wheel, what to check in the motor, where to look for any breakdowns, how to fill in a motor vehicle accident report (in French of course).

OK, it's Sunday and it's my day off from the Gym, plus Erika is going out for the day :love:, which allowed me to get distracted from the topic,
I said 14 kgs in your ruck sac, someone pointed out to me by PM that it might be 11 Kgs.
 

jonny

Actual or Former Legionnaire
Legionnaire
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
Messages
1,448
Reaction score
1,239
Location
Australia
Home Country
Norway
you jonny?
Yes, that’s me wounded by mortar grenade scrapnel in left tigh, receiving 1st aid. A very close call as well. A doctor once told me I had been hit less than an inch away from one of the main veins in the leg, which if ruptured I would probably have been bleeding to death within minutes.

I Still carry some of those bits of lead around inside me nearly 60 years later.
 

Attachments

  • 000320AA-6BAA-4650-BC61-19385F156917.jpeg
    000320AA-6BAA-4650-BC61-19385F156917.jpeg
    32.9 KB · Views: 4
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 23, 2018
Messages
5,481
Reaction score
2,205
Location
UK
Home Country
United Kingdom
Yes, that’s me wounded by mortar grenade scrapnel in left tigh, receiving 1st aid. A very close call as well. A doctor once told me I had been hit less than an inch away from one of the main veins in the leg, which if ruptured I would probably have been bleeding to death within minutes.

I Still carry some of those bits of lead around inside me nearly 60 years later.
You're a good man jonny. Tough as they come 👍
 
Top