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Increase in Recruitment Numbers for 2020

kkillert0fu

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There's been a bit of chatter on the Reddit French Foreign Legion forum about the Legion increasing their recruitment numbers for the duration of 2020. Can anybody confirm or deny this?

Just on this first page here there are threads reporting on it. And if you go through other threads there is some chatter about it as well.

 

PAISAR

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Yes its true as general COMLE himself said that when he visited 1REG last month that recruitment will increase for the next couple of years as part of program SCORPION and there will be more places for the stage caporal, sergeant etc.
 
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There's been a bit of chatter on the Reddit French Foreign Legion forum about the Legion increasing their recruitment numbers for the duration of 2020. Can anybody confirm or deny this?

Just on this first page here there are threads reporting on it. And if you go through other threads there is some chatter about it as well.

Don´t think much of that forum. I think this is the only serious one in English.
 

kkillert0fu

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don´t think much of that forum. I think this is the only serious one in English.

No worries, I've heard as much. I still monitor it because any nugget of info is worth it, as long as you know how to filter through everything else and find it. This one actually appears to have some validity behind it, and just wanted this forum's take on it.
 
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No worries, I've heard as much. I still monitor it because any nugget of info is worth it, as long as you know how to filter through everything else and find it. This one actually appears to have some validity behind it, and just wanted this forum's take on it.
no probs bro
 
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Yes its true as general COMLE himself said that when he visited 1REG last month that recruitment will increase for the next couple of years as part of program SCORPION and there will be more places for the stage caporal, sergeant etc.
Just at 1er REG or all the regiments? Cause i could use that caporal rank about now.
 

Rapace

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Yes its true as general COMLE himself said that when he visited 1REG last month that recruitment will increase for the next couple of years as part of program SCORPION and there will be more places for the stage caporal, sergeant etc.
Well... I didn't hear exactly the same thing... I've seen an interview where the COMLE (Gen Denis Mistral, a former 1er REC officer) actually said that because of the increased complexity of the future equipment to be further deployed inside the Legion, as part of the “Scorpion” program, which has already been discussed on this board (new VBCI, EBRC “Jaguar”, VBMR “Griffon”, etc.) , there would be an increased need of French speaking legionnaires (French, but not only). It also means that, more than ever, any legionnaire contemplating a long term career in the Legion must master the language as quicky as possible.
Below a link to this interview... All in French... :D


 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Well... I didn't hear exactly the same thing... I've seen an interview where the COMLE (Gen Denis Mistral, a former 1er REC officer) actually said that because of the increased complexity of the future equipment to be further deployed inside the Legion, as part of the “Scorpion” program, which has already been discussed on this board (new VBCI, EBRC “Jaguar”, VBMR “Griffon”, etc.) , there would be an increased need of French speaking legionnaires (French, but not only). It also means that, more than ever, any legionnaire contemplating a long term career in the Legion must master the language as quicky as possible.
Below a link to this interview... All in French... :D


Yes, at the 3'30" the general points out that in 2025, the Legion will be taking on more French speakers...“contrary to what people think the French can join the Legion...”
In 2025 General Mistral will be long gone with the wind. Let's wait until if there are a few more French legionnaires killed on operations before we count our un-hatched chickens. Every short term mission overseas (4 months) that I did with the Legion was over the Christmas period. I can't see the French wanting to join for 5 years and not seeing their families for for the next five Xmas's.
 

Rapace

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You're right. Willing to recruit more French or French speakers in one thing, being able to do so is another one... The interesting thing is that, if you “read between the lines” or “listen between the words”, the COMLE seems to implicitly recognize that there's currently a problem with the Legion having too many non-French speaking recruits and that the overall level of proficiency in French of the currently serving legionnaires is becoming a concern.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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I can only agree with him. Gen. Piquemal gave the order that all MDR non-francophones should have French lessons while I was serving in 5e RE.
Over 14 ½ years service I was among legionnaires with less than 2 years service. The adjudant, to find out our level of French gave us a test. He recited an article from the Képi blanc. I'd already skipped over the article a few days earlier. :geek:. The only thing that the adjudant could pick me up with was that instead of writing est, I had mistakenly written et. My chef de service a certain Major Falko (Legion legend) quickly got off that particular corvée.
 

Rapace

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(...) The only thing that the adjudant could pick me up with was that instead of writing est, I had mistakenly written et. (...)
For the “couilles de loup” non-francophones let's mention that “est” means “is” (Je suis, tu es, il/elle est, I am, you are, he/she is) while “et” means “and”. The pronunciation is exactly the same... One of the tricky things with the French language.
 

PAISAR

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Just at 1er REG or all the regiments? Cause i could use that caporal rank about now.
Not just in 1REG as I understand, he said there will be an increased recruitment in general for all Legion regiments. He said this on his visit to 1REG somedays before the day of 'Ste Barbe' in front of all the regiment in his addressing speech. But I can't give any rates of increase or time period etc. as I don't know myself. I know only what COMLE said in front of us.
 

Rapace

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For those who are not in the know, Ste Barbe is the patron saint of sappers and artillerymen. Ste is short for Sainte (female) while St is short for Saint (male). Funnily, Barbe (meaning beard in French) is a female saint... :D. Having said that, again, in the interview posted above, I haven't heard the COMLE speaking of enlisting more recruits, just heard him saying he wanted more French speaking recruits. But, I may not have the full picture.
 
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(...) Ste Barbe is the patron saint of sappers and artillerymen. (...)
We disliked sappers 😆 sort of stems from this...

Origins of The Lanyard & The classic "Sapper Leg-pull"
There has long been a tale-usually told by Sappers-about the Gunners wearing a white lanyard for cowardice, allegedly for deserting their guns. Of course, the story is nothing more than a piece of leg pulling. The tradition of ‘winding up’ stems from the age-old rivalry between the two ‘sister’ corps founded under the Board of Ordnance and trained together in Woolwich. However, I am still being asked by Gunners whether this story is true, so it is time it was put to rest.
Lanyards associated with dress came into use in the late 19th Century, when field guns, such as the 12 and 15 ponders, used ammunition which had fuses set with a fuse key. The key was a simple device, and every man had one, attached to a lanyard worn around the neck. The key itself was kept in the breast pocket until needed. The lanyard was a simple piece of strong cord, but it was gradually turned into something a bit more decorative, smartened up with ‘Blanco’, and braided, taking its present form.
The gold stripe in the Gunner stable belt stems from the colours of the uniform at the time the stable belt was introduced. It was not a question, as the jokers would have it, of yellow stripes for cowardice! Equally ludicrous is the suggestion that the Gunners has seven ‘flames’, as opposed to the sapper's nine, because we lost two guns at some point in history!
For those still plagued by jokers, the simplest answer to this kind of leg-pulling is to invite the joker to produce his evidence. No change to any of the Army's dress regulations can take place without a formal order, and-let us be realistic! it is ridiculous to suppose that the Army Board in its wisdom would countenance the idea of a ‘badge of shame’ to be worn by any branch of the Service. It would guarantee that no one would ever join it! And since no such evidence exists, the joker's story falls flat on its face. One might even ask why other arms and corps wear lanyard.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Lanyards associated with dress came into use in the late 19th Century, when field guns, such as the 12 and 15 ponders, used ammunition which had fuses set with a fuse key. The key was a simple device, and every man had one, attached to a lanyard worn around the neck. The key itself was kept in the breast pocket until needed. The lanyard was a simple piece of strong cord, but it was gradually turned into something a bit more decorative, smartened up with ‘Blanco’, and braided, taking its present form.
Very interesting.
Getting back to the Sainte Barbe, she is also the patron(ne) Saint of the Sapeurs-Pompiers Fire fighters.
 

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In the Marine Corps St. Patrick is the patron saint of engineers.
 

PAISAR

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There will be an increase in recruitment this year and it will be about 1700 candidates in total as it is written in editorial of 'Kepi blanc' magazine by COMLE Gen. Denis Mistral, also this edition(january2020) features GRLE and the recruitment procedures. So you can find some more information if you are really interested. Also a 'not relevant here' info that, there are changes in the yearly physical tests ie. (CCPM) that they totally omitted Rope test and Crunches with pushups only and test Cooper and Swimming also modified. I will update informations of the test once I get the exact confirmed numbers.
 
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