The Legion opens up a recruiting office at La Réunion island

[Rapace]

La Légion ouvre un bureau pour recruter à La Réunion

After Tahiti for recruiting in French Polynesia, that's the second office opened by the Legion in an overseas territory. La Réunion island is located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, in the same region as Mayotte where is based the DLEM (Détachement de la Légion étrangère à Mayotte)

 

[Le petit caporal]

Was a question of time... Next will be the Antilles (French West Indies) and probably French Guiana....
I have other opinions of the recruitment drive... Do not hatch your eggs in the same basket !

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

I agree with LPC, it will end up like one of the old colonial regiments - French regulars. Does anyone know if foreigners can join in Tahiti? I'm thinking of Kiwis and Aussies.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

The Legion opens a second recruiting station on La Réunion Island.
(Google translate)

General Alain Lardet, commander of the Foreign Legion, formalized the project to open the first information and recruitment office of the Foreign Legion (BIRLE, standing for Bureau d'Information et de Recrutement de la Légion étrangère) on the island.
It should see the light of day for the first half of 2021 in the city center of Saint-Denis. Applications will be open to people aged 17 to 40 who are medically fit for service.
We publish here the press release from the Ministry of the Armed Forces. (photo Ministry of the Armed Forces) General Alain Lardet, commander of the Foreign Legion (COMLE) visited the armed forces in the southern Indian Ocean area (FAZSOI) from November 16 to 20, 2020.

Before going to Mayotte to meet the legionnaires of the Foreign Legion Detachment (DLEM), he formalized the project to open the first information and recruitment office of the Foreign Legion in La Réunion, which will make it the second in overseas French territories, after the one of Papeete (Tahiti, French Polynesia).
After several months of study, this project will make it possible to respond to the desire for engagement of young Reunionese in the ranks of the foreign legion. The opening of this office is scheduled for the first half of 2021. Located in downtown Saint-Denis, thé BIRLE will welcome future candidates in premises allowing them to carry out the pre-selection tests.

Applicants should be between 17 and 40 years of age, medically fit for service, and committed to serving the Foreign Legion for a renewable five-year term. Composed of nearly 9,000 men, the Foreign Legion represents 11% of the Land Task Force (FOT). More than 140 nationalities rub shoulders there.
The legionnaires serve there under contract, on a foreign basis, and are commanded by French officers. This exception exists by the will of the nation which accepts in a derogatory manner that the Legion recruits, from peacetime, foreigners to bear the arms of France.

The Foreign Legion is today made up of a staff and eleven regiments or units forming a corps. They are engaged in all external operations and missions on national territory. They are part of the projection cycles of the French army. Two regiments constitute land elements of the overseas sovereignty forces and participate in the operational contract of the armed forces in Guyana and Mayotte.

 

[Le petit caporal]

La dernière salope engagé va se faire nos carrières.

 

[Jseven]

This us great news for South Africans, travel there is visa free. I think I'll wait and brush up on my French.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Hi Jseven, It's not sure that they will take anyone else other than Réunionese. The thing is, if they are taken and accepted then the Legion will pay for their ticket as they do with Polynesians.
A good idea?

 

[Le petit caporal]

What about the Gestapo?
France paying their ticket to the Metropole means they will be signed up... have my queries
French west indies and the Guyane will be next, imo
What about the Nouvelle Calédonie ?
RIMA are going to take the hump for sure

 

[Billy99]

Bonjour.
I would like to know if LA Réunion PILE is open (or would be opening soon) for non reunionese.
Specifically asking about South African recruits.
Merci!

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Not really much of an intro. However, I think it will be the same as Tahiti, only for Reunionese.

 

[USMCRET]

So question, if they enlist in the Reunion Island and say French Poly., do they get shipped off to the Farm for recruit training and then on for more formal training in a command or do they go back to those locales and serve as a sort of Legionnaire in that territory? Or, do they have the luck of the draw like any other to fill the needs of the Legion. If they do return do those regiments operate like locals or as the Legion as a whole?

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

So question, if they enlist in the Reunion Island and say French Poly., do they get shipped off to the Farm for recruit training and then on for more formal training in a command or do they go back to those locales and serve as a sort of Legionnaire in that territory? Or, do they have the luck of the draw like any other to fill the needs of the Legion. If they do return do those regiments operate like locals or as the Legion as a whole?

The idea is to get more French speakers into the legion. They will pass selection, much the same as in Aubagne, if all is good, fitness, medical, health, then they will sent be sent to Aubagne where they will take the same tests and from there they will be sent to castel where they will be on the same par as someone from the US, GB, or any other country for that matter.
The aim is to give those that want to join from the two countries the opportunity to go to France in order to do so.

 

[Fingolfin]

I wonder if this is an indication of further expansion than what they already have announced?

 

[USMCRET]

The idea is to get more French speakers into the legion. They will pass selection, much the same as in Aubagne, if all is good, fitness, medical, health, then they will sent be sent to Aubagne where they will take the same tests and from there they will be sent to castel where they will be on the same par as someone from the US, GB, or any other country for that matter.
The aim is to give those that want to join from the two countries the opportunity to go to France in order to do so.

Seems pretty soon if one does not speak a minimum of French Phrases as used in the Legion will not make it past the door. As you always tell the young aspirants have a well worn phrase book thumb marked and get as proficient as one can get, learn to conjugate verbs, and learn masculine and feminine forms of words and the meaning.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Seems pretty soon if one does not speak a minimum of French Phrases as used in the Legion will not make it past the door. As you always tell the young aspirants have a well worn phrase book thumb marked and get as proficient as one can get, learn to conjugate verbs, and learn masculine and feminine forms of words and the meaning.

It is essential to have a good base of French before making the trip. Because, although you will be given French lessons, it is in French and so the subtleties of each language is lost. The day begins, has a whole new meaning when translated from French to an Asian.