Kitbag Conversations - Kitbag Conversations Episode 8: Les Miserables

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

The boys sit down with a current serving French Foreign Legionnaire who walks us through their recruitment pipeline, TTPs, blending into a melting pop military organization and his visit to "the farm".

Demand Non rien de rien Non Je ne regrette rien Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait N'il a mal, ou ça m'est bien négat? Non, rien de rien. Non, je ne regrette rien. C'est payé, balayé, oublié.

Je me fous du passé. Hey everyone, so remember that movie, Bretton Frasier's The Mummy in that first part where there's a bunch of like, not Frenchmen fighting in French uniforms? We're talking that today. We're talking about the French Foreign Legion. We found a guy who actually had the balls to do what you never could and that's actually signed that dotted line on that website you keep going to.

Every time your wife yells at you, every time life sucks. I'm not just doing the French Foreign Legion, but all right, John, tell us what, I mean, from the day you walked, I mean, did you walk to the Paris station or did you go to that? Well, it's a big eye-opener, man. Before I joined the Legion, I didn't even want to do a lot of research because I was like, fuck, if I do a lot of research on the Legion, I might not know. So I didn't even really like look up too much information

other than the Legion website, like what you need, like where to go. And like I saw some videos on YouTube, which is just complete bullshit propaganda. I mean, there are some good units, you know, in the Legion, but like, yeah, it was kind of like, wow, this is really cool. Like, you know what I mean? And I, you know, I want to be a part of this again. Yeah. Like just coming back from my US military background.

But anyways, yeah, like I bought a one-way ticket to Paris. I had like $300 in my pocket, man. I saw everything I had. Like, this is like, I don't even know if it's going to make it, you know, but like, and you know, like fuck, if I didn't make it, I don't know what I would do because everyone knew I was going. You know, I would guess if I came back, I would look like a big, you know, jerk off. Yeah.

So I flew to Paris. I bought a one-way ticket like months before and I flew to Paris. I mean, and I didn't join right away. I got this hostel in Paris and just like to see the sights, like before I, you know, like all this bad stuff starts happening to me before I, you know, go through the ringer basically. So I went to a hostel stay there for a few days in Paris. And then I joined at the recruiting center at Fort Nogent.

It's called, it's an old fort in like the, in like the West, sorry, the East side of Paris, this old fort, big wooden doors. Like I literally knocked on the door and like, hey, I'm here to join the Legion. They take your passport. They make you sit in this room and like you basically wait. And I waited like 20 minutes before they in process to me, but I've seen like, I've heard people, they stay like, they wait for hours there. Some people just give up and like, yeah.

Yeah. So anyway, so that's what, that's the, that's basically the process. That was what I initially. It's just that simple. You just show up. You were to join. Yeah. It's really that simple.

And I had a backpack with running shoes. Like they said, bring running shoes, bring like, you know, change your clothes, stuff like that. Um, like I had my phone. I didn't, I mean, I didn't, I had like a backpack. Like that was, it was that simple. It was literally that simple. That's awesome.

No, cause there's a, there's a, like he said, there's a couple of videos up there and there's like this one, like early 2000s where it does exactly that. And it's funny cause if you have military training or time in the military, you look for the non-sexy thing and you're like, that's probably accurate. And it's exactly like you described. It's this, they do an Interpol check in the other room and like the, the Legionnaires are like, fuck this guy's wanted in like three countries. And so like,

Sick. Take them. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Back in the, back in the day, they would take a lot people a lot more, like as far as criminal, like what you did, however, that's changed a lot now, politics and all that.

They don't take the big time criminals anymore. If you're wanted in your country, you can still join like, depending on what it is, or if you're wanted by like, you know, if you're in the criminal organization and they're looking for you, you can hide in the Legion. I know people who, if you're like a big time drug dealer or like you've murdered and you're wanted, like you're on the Interpol, they're not going to take you.

They even might alert the authorities, but they won't, they definitely not going to take you. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's funny to hear that cause I mean, even in the surge in the American army, like 2003 to 2011, we were like jail or fucking Marine Corps and it, it works. I know a ton of guys who did great things for their fucking country, even though they had to run in with the law and they're good soldiers or Marines,

but it's crazy. Those are the ones you want, man. Yeah. We were talking about that. I don't think I was all laced up and like pressing out his socks on his bed. No, you want the guys like, did you get a rape charge last weekend? She woke up and regretted it. Okay.

I'm fucking ugly. No, but that's, and so then it's just like a little bit more waiting. And then off to boot camp, huh? Or. Yeah. So, um, like, okay, I'm trying to remember. They take you in the building and you'll see all the other guys waiting. They give you like this, uh, like little sport uniform.

I had like, it was a red, uh, sweatshirt with like blue French army, uh, sweatpants, basically, you know, as you change into that, they immediately make you do your physical tests, fitness, tech, well, the pull-ups, not the running. They immediately do. And when I joined it was seven. So like you had to do minimum seven. Um, they make you do this IQ test right away.

Like a bit. It was, it's like, dude, five grade, fifth grade level IQ test. And I don't even really remember it, but it's like matching shapes. Like, like just easy stuff. So I knew that. And like somebody failed that actually. I'm, I, I should you not, uh, when I went there, like three, uh, there, two other guys were with me.

One guy from Poland and the other guy from Africa and the guy from Africa did not pass the first IQ test. The Polish guy did not pass a second IQ test either. Like he was cool guy. There's the joke in there somewhere, man. Okay. We'll talk about that later if you want. But anyways, yes.

Right off the bat. And then once, once it's that you wait because there's, there were like 40 guys in there. So like, you know, it's, um, uh, the priorities that guys who've been there longer. So I was there for two weeks before I got interviewed. I was just like, some guy had been there for like a month and he's like, I don't know like, you know, what they're doing,

why they're taking so long. And like he left. He just got, he was from Slovenia. And he's just like, yeah, fuck this. I don't know like why they're not talking to me. And he just decided to leave. Like you can leave. If during the, because you're not in like the Legion yet,

you haven't signed any paperwork. They'll just, if you want to leave, you be like, yeah, I want to leave. They let you out. So I could took two weeks. They interview you. They ask you what your background is. They give you a fake name, a fake birthday. Uh, uh, uh, your mother and your father have fake names.

Like you just have a complete new identity. Um, they'll do your medical. Like they're going to make, see if you have any scars or anything, like any broken bones, like they would do like, you know, you'll, you'll do a piss test and all that. And then you'll go to a bond in South France, which is right outside of Marseille, where you go through a whole nother thing of tests.

So like there's two different recruiting centers. And if there's anyone who wants to join the Legion who's listening, do not go to, I would, I mean, if I were to do it again, don't go to Fort Nogen cause you're, you're going to do like everything. Again, once you go to a bond. So you go, yeah, it's ridiculous. It's like, we took a train. Like the, the, the Legionnaires were actually like a, you know,

ranking guys, like E five sergeants. Like we took a train, like everyone who made the first cut, we went down to a bond and that's the commandment of a Legion. That is like the command center of a Legion. That's where you go. That's where all the big wigs are. That's where all the colonels are. That's, there's a big Legionnaire museum.

You have a big place, the plaza arm, I want to say. You have a big place for assembly, you know, has all the history of the Legion there. It's just like, you know, like a lot of civilians go there. They do ceremonies there. So anyways, you go there, the obon. And so they're going to do another IQ test on you, uh, you know, more medical tests.

Yeah. Like they'll like describe what a perfect day is. They'll ask you, like what's, what's a perfect day for you? You know, like they're going to make sure there's not any psychopaths, but it's ridiculous because I've seen so many psychopaths join the Legion. So like it's just hit or miss or like the whoever's asking you questions. You also go through the thing called the Gestapo and like it's called the Gestapo and it's like higher ranking Legionnaires who like 20 years of service

who are there to see if you're lying about stuff. That's where they catch people lying. They'll, they have your phone. They'll look, they don't always look through your phone, but they might be like, okay, open your phone. They'll look at your, your pictures and like your Google history and stuff like that. They didn't look at my phone. They didn't even, they didn't even take out my phone.

My interview lasted an hour. So it depends from on the person. Like for the Russians, like they, they really do. Apparently like all my Ruskophone friends. So like a Ruskophone is a guy who speaks Russian, Ukraine, Russian, Moldovan, whatever. They're like Gestapo process. I guess the guys, the guys who are, you know, Russians, they really like to interrogate the guys.

So it depends. Yeah. So anyways, yeah, you get more blood work on, you know, make sure you don't have any like STDs or HIV. And then you will go through like this little place and they'll call your name and put you all in attention and like, if they call your name, you're good. You go to this one line. If they don't, that means you weren't accepted.

So I got my name called and then the process starts. You get your gear, go in this room, like logistics. Yeah. Everything's lined up. Okay. Get this thing. Yeah. Everything's spoken to you in French.

You know, you know, you know, one knows what's going on. So yeah, man, it's a big cluster flock. Jesus. So they're like, um, that big monument that you went to that has like, was it like a timeline history of the Legion or something like that? Cause I know, you know, our Marines, we have something very similar. If that's the case where it's like, yeah, here's our key battles. Here's like figureheads and everything.

Or is it just like a simple monument? No, the, the, so more than the monument, they have this museum of the history and like, you're going to hear a capital dungeon, which we have this thing called the battle of Cameroon, which took place in Mexico. And that's like our big celebration. We celebrate that every year. Um, where, uh, 60, uh, man, yeah, Legionnaires, you're going to hear me. You're going to, I'm going to fuck this up.

But it's like six, 63 Legionnaires took, uh, held this, um, for it. Like it was like the Legionnaires Alamo basically in Mexico. Uh, they held this fort, um, against thousands of Mexicans. You know what I mean? And there's four, like down to four, uh, the captain died. Okay. It got down to four, uh, lasted down to four men. Like everyone else died in it.

You know, four men were captured and then the Mexicans, you know, kind of let it let the four men go or whatever like that. But, uh, they have this museum. They have his hand there. Captain Don Joe's wooden hand. Um, they have a lot of, you know, Legionnaire memorabilia from all the wars that we fought in, uh, and stuff like that. Hmm.

Yeah. So, uh, this is, this is the enlisted process. Are your officers just French officers who get assigned to 90% of the officers are French. There are some Legionnaires who go through officer school that can become an officer, but you have to be a French citizen. Um, one of my, like one of my captains, uh, he was a Hungarian. He was a Legionnaire Hungarian, really smart guy, very, very good.

Uh, sport wise and very athletic and, uh, you know, made it through the ranks as a Legionnaire and then went through officer school and be in like, you know, became a lieutenant and then made his, he's a captain. I made his way to captain. Uh, I know Romanian, uh, Legionnaire who did it as well. You know, his back. I'm not a few, very few, but normally it's French officers very from very prestigious schools, like the way their officers school is over there.

It's, it's a little different than the United States because. Officers in France used to be like royal blood. No, I mean, it's, it's very different mentality as far as officers go here. And if you're a Legionnaire, the officers look at you like second class citizens because you're not French. It's good when a fragger, uh, get your own frag then. Pretty much it landed on the HLC and he just fucking disappeared. Bro.

Yeah. That's funny. They took our frags on one mission because, uh, they, because of that issue, they took our hands. They did not want us to frag our platoon leader. Like one of our sergeants did not as late. He's like, Oh, you guys aren't getting your names. They, they took our grenades from us.

Well, that's fine. I can do it by own two hands. I can. No. Uh, that's so, yeah. And so. Yeah. And then it's just what a six month bootcamp or what is it?

Just a four months, four months. Yeah. Four months. Uh, so like you go after. Oh, oh, bond. You'll go to the basic training regiment, which is in Castell Castell. Notary is the name of the city. It's like a town.

It's like a town, you know, so, uh, and there you start your basic. Like you get there. You'll meet your corporal. Like, so like basic in the Legion is, is weird. Like it's kind of basically how a company, like a platoon set up, and you don't have like drill sergeants, uh, like in the U S military, like you're literally, you're literally it's formed. Literally forming a company.

How it would be in like when you go to your active duty station. So you'll have a platoon leader. You'll have your sergeants and your corpals. And you're just a group of trainee, like recruits going into, uh, that company. And like there's different companies. The first company of recruits, the second company of recruits and the third company of recruits.

There's three of them. Okay. So like my, my platoon leader, my chef, the section, he was French. Uh, he was an ex, uh, parish, uh, in the airborne regiment and you had sergeants, you get four sergeants, they split you up in four groups. And then you have at least two corpals, uh, with every sergeant. So that's basically how it is. And then you go to the farm and the first month is the farm.

I heard about the farm. Farm. It's every, uh, every, there's every, every three, every company, every, uh, recruiting company has a farm and it's literally a farm in the middle of fucking nowhere. Anything goes there, bro. I was about to say. I've heard it.

Unethical as fuck. Yeah. Like just, uh, this is like the thing to do with corruption. Like they just don't give a fuck. Like we had these Chinese, we had three Chinese guys in my, uh, section. They all wanted to quit the first night we got there. They did. If everyone's like worried about China, bro, if I seen how the China,

like the Chinese that come in the Legion, I'm fucking not worried about the Chinese. I was about to say. They, they were crying like my, our corporal might first off, all our corpals were all X or all sloths. Yeah. All the corpals were slothed, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Croatian and bro, they were fucking brutal man. The sloth mentality is different than the Western mentality and a lot of my recruits were sloths

like, dude, we had like 20 Ukrainian, like how many, uh, we had 63, I believe. Jesus. Yeah. And like before the war, it got brought down. Like, but like the Chinese wanted to quit the first night and like they sum up one of them spoke English. Some of the corporal spoke English. There's one Hungarian couple we spoke English.

And, uh, yeah, he's like, you're not fucking going home. Boom. And I was like, I don't want to go home. It is fucked up. And like the Hungarian guy didn't like me, but just for, I'm being American. I was only American in my, my section. And like there was a guy from Norway and a guy from Wales, uh, who spoke English. And then I'm trying to think like, yeah, not many people spoke English in mind.

But anyway, so like, I, and if that's a thing, like you can't defend yourself. These guys are, these guys are speaking French. Yeah. They're just trying like, Oh, you did this, you did that. And like, you, you can't defend yourself. You don't speak French. So don't give a fuck what you have to say. You know what I mean?

Yeah. It's a very brutal situation. And like there's a lot of corruption. Like the, the Slavic corporals were cool with the Slavic recruits. Like they would let them give them cigarettes. And like, like if I spoke English, I would get fucking smoked because you're not allowed to speak your own language, especially at the farm. But the, the Ukrainians recruits could talk to the Ukrainian corporals.

They speak their own language. But yeah, this, well, this is the legion. This is just how it works. Yeah. So discourage against like former military guys. Like I say, if a US Marine or like a brick commander went over to, they go like, fuck that. No, you're in the Legion now.

Fuck all of them. They don't give a fuck what you did. Like some guys, first off, some guys were like, Oh yeah, you know, I was fucking Navy Seal or something like that. Like, Oh, I was special forces in my country that were just complete full of shit. And you'll, they find, you find out right away, you know, they don't have to handle a firearm brutally. I mean, but also they don't care.

Like, okay, this guy's ex military, like as far as discipline goes, you can see who was kind of military ex military. And okay, they'll probably, they might respect that. Like, you know, they'll respect that. Okay. This guy's discipline. I can see, you know, he's gone somewhere in life or like he's probably ex military. They don't really care.

Like, um, they didn't really care that I was ex military. Like, you know, everyone's the same. Like you can be a pilot, you know, a fucking, you can be a Navy Seal or whatever. Like you're literally all the same. And like, if you were, if to say Navy Seal, like, yeah, I'm an ex Navy Seal, they would, they would fuck with you. Hard. Hard.

Definitely. Yeah. Just better shut your mouth and just ride it out. I mean, yeah. So they would smoke you. I mean, like, yeah, I, I never had anyone say they were ex Navy Seal or something like that. But like, they would smoke, bro, they would put you on guard every night.

If they didn't like you, bro, they would fuck with you. They would hit you. Uh, they'd put you on, they would make you want to quit. Basically. Yeah. And like the funny thing is, is like at the farm, you really can't quit. Like they don't want you to go home. So like, no, you're not going home.

You're not going home because it looks bad on them actually. Like it looks like number wise, which is another thing. So like, yeah, man, it's just a really big cluster fuck for that first like sounds like that first two months is just fucking chaos. The Legion is a month. Uh, you do your Keppie Blanc barge at the end. That's how you get your Keppie. Uh, it's like a 60, 65 kilometer march or marching with at least, you know, 25 kilos.

We marched light. Uh, we, we, we really marched light. We're minimalists. Uh, very rip, very rustic. So like, we don't march a lot of gear. We're like old school in a way, you know? Uh, so yeah, you'll do that March and then you will have a ceremony. Uh, and then you'll get your Keppie and then that's then you're a legionnaire.

It's called after the first month, you're a legionnaire. Then you go back from the farm to Castle Notary and you spend three months there training, shooting, learning French, uh, you know, land nav, uh, uh, RT, uh, transmitter, um, you know, uh, how to march. Like you're, you're going to constantly march and sing. You'll learn like these Legion songs and stuff like that. You'll still do sport. You'll basically kind of live like a legionnaire life.

This is what you're doing in Castile is literally the same. How you're going to live in your active duty regiment. No one gets their own room. Like you're literally live at like the barrack style, like six people to a room. You know what I mean? You'll have like the whole time. Yes. From the beginning to the end.

Like you can't live off base to your first contract. It's illegal to. You have to live on base. Like your first, your first contract is five years and you have to live on base. Now people still do that. Like people after you go to your active duty regiment, like people will still like, you know, live off base. But if you get caught, you'll go to, you will get in trouble.

You'll go to Legion jail. There is no use in J and the Legion. Everything is punishable by jail. The Legion jail is on base. Like, yeah, it's, it's a lot. It's chill, man. Like so. It's what it's called.

You know, like let's say you get in trouble for doing drugs, which they'd like, it's just another day. Many days of jail. So you'll, you'll pack up like you'll pass your report, whatever. Okay. You're being charged 20 days ago in a jail. Boom. Go back to your company, your building, get your stuff, you know,

pack for like 20 days of jail and you go to the jail. There's like a couple of chefs. It's called, which is basically like between the E four and E five that runs the jail. And like you get, you don't get a rank in jail. You wear orange vest and you do yard work all day. You'll clean buildings on base. It's all on base.

Yeah. And you'll do yard work. And like it's not like every, you're not a real legionnaire until you've been to jail. And it's not like a big, it's not a big shameful thing. Yeah. Oh, they'll laugh at you. They'll see you working like, Oh, what did you do?

You know, and, and that's it. You finish your 20 days. And you go back to your company. And that's it. It is almost. Damn dude. I almost preferred for a lot of like junior soldiers and Marines like just put me away.

Just put me in time out and then I'll come back. I learned my lesson. It's a double edged sword, bro, because you know, you got guys, okay, who fuck up. Or like, dude, we don't really drug testing the Legion either. You got to be really stupid with drugs to get caught. Or if they don't like you, someone doesn't like you. They'll be like, this guy's doing drugs as drugs. You know, let's send him a jail.

Let's fuck with them. But these, these shitheads, man, who don't give a fuck, who continue to fuck up. And you know, guys have like a half a year of jail, man, like honey. And it doesn't fix them. They don't care. And it's virtually impossible to kick down Legion. And there's shit bags who should be kicked out of the Legion, man. There's literally legitimate shit bags.

Failure to adapt. Who should not be in the Legion, but like it's, you have to murder someone. You would have to murder someone to get kicked out of the Legion, you know. So, you know, it's a good thing and a bad thing. It's not like you get tapped in the back after you murder someone. They're like, all right, now you're going to the special club. There's a real, there's the real Legion. I knew, I heard a story.

Look, man, I've heard stories on other regiments. Like, I know once you make Sergeant, you're like really protected. And I knew like this one Sergeant, he like killed someone apparently. And this is, this is hearsay. Okay. Like I approve. He like killed someone and went to like jail in France and then like got out of jail for like a few years because France is like really liberal, like when it comes to their jail terms, got out of jail and like they take them back.

Legion took them back, gave them the same rank. Now that's all hearsay. Yeah. I don't doubt it. I do not. What's up? So roughly how long have you been in? A little over five years now, my friend.

So, so you've done my first contract. Oh, so it's only what you've only done one contract? Yeah, I'm on my second contract. Oh, fuck dude. Okay. So like one question I've got. Yeah. He's doing this for the BH and track care.

Yeah. No. So you've spent that entire time in a bay with like six other dudes, or are you like a. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So yeah, man. Like it. So now the new buildings that we got, it's maximum four. But when I was new, bro, we had, we had six, bro. So I built a lot of these buildings on my regiment. A big one, bro. Like 10 people to room 12 people to room. It's fucking refugee camp.

Man. So I used to, because I, I slept for like six months in a situation like that. And then you come home and you're, you're just alone, right? Is it fuck with you? I like being alone, man. This is not. being alone now, you're like, oh, fuck that vacation. I've gone on vacation alone now.

Now, don't get me wrong, like in the lesion, I don't know to do myself, man. Before I got married, I'm married, but I had these wild binges just going wild drug binges, like, just like, dude, what the fuck is going on? And like, you just, I don't know, man, kind of fucks with your head in a way. You're always with someone. It's like on some vacations, man, being alone, it does suck because you're, you're, you're just, you're not in America. I am American, so I'm in France.

Yeah, I speak the language, but if you don't have anyone hang out with, like, what the fuck you do, man? Like, you got it, like, you got to stay positive and like, okay, like, I'll go work out, like, you know, but like, I work out like every day in the Legion. Yeah, dude, um, when I'm, when I'm back home, I don't mind being alone, but like, dude, sometimes in my vacation, man, it did, it did fuck with me. I would say it did fuck with me being done. It did, for sure.

I mean, because it's like, you're always used to that. I mean, I don't know if you've read the book and I talk a lot about it on this podcast, but Sebastian Younger's tribe, right? Yeah, I've heard of him, but I've never read any of his books, man. You're going to probably want to read it because like the, he talks about like, how Native Americans are one of the most, they serve the most in combat arms in the American military. Like a 90% of Native American males serve in the United States Army or Marine Corps, and then they have the lowest PTSD rating and he attributes it to like, how you're living, right?

So it's like, he's always with the boys, you're always part of the tribe and you're moving like a nomadic people. And so like, as fucked up as that tribe is, yes. Yes. It's your tribe. Have you ever seen Platoon? You've seen Platoon, Tom Banger. I mean, that's like, bro, that's like the Legion man, like you have these big problems within the fucking platoon, within the company, man, like, I can give you countless stories, but like, for example, once you make Sergeant, it's like Mafia. You can't get in trouble for anything. And even if the Sergeant is doing some fucked up shit,

he's protected. Like they won't, they won't say anything. It makes you disrespect, like you lose respect for a lot of the Sergeant. And the mentality, especially with the Slavs is like, they're fucking God. It's just corrupt. They can do whatever they want. And so yeah, like they think, oh, they have this, the Legion mentality, I'm a Sergeant, like you salute a Sergeant and the Legion. It's ridiculous. Like you don't know the difference between a Sergeant and a Captain. Excuse me, a Captain is because it almost feels like the same. Like it's just like, oh, fuck. So there's a lot of problems. Like there's a lot of internal shit that happens within the platoon and with different nationalities, bro. And you gotta think after work, who do you stick

with? The fucking guys speak the same language as you. So like Ruskophones, it's namely stick with the Ruskophones, you know, like the Asians, the South Americans, you know, then the Anglophones, which the guys speak English, we'll all have our little clicks, you know what I mean? It's normal, I think, but there's a lot of internal shit that happens in every platoon and the Legion, bro. Like a lot of backstabbing shit, man, like, especially like people will get jealous, they don't want you to succeed. It's a bit fucked up, bro. It's like prison rules too, in a way, you know what I mean? So the heart is not like the US military. It's completely just an animal, bro. It sounds like it. How does that roll over into like deployment life? Because

if you have your own little clicks and everything, you guys perform as a unit, you live in these tiny little rooms, but in country, like when there's nothing else, yeah, you just got each other. There's still shit that happens, bro. Bro, like, my fucking, when we were in Iraq, my platoon leader tried fucking with this guy, the armor, he was the armor, if we worked in the armor, but he was with us on mission. And like we were doing some PT. And like my platoon, there's a huge piece of shit, bro, but we were like on a mission, like doing PT, my fucking, my platoon leader hit him, like just smacked him in the leg, like kicked him, kicked the, it was a corporal kick the corporal leg, like kind of like just yelled at him.

And my, the fucking guy lost it, smash him right in the face on mission. And like the sergeant like broke it up, you know, the sergeant broke it up and like nothing got, like nothing got, nothing happened out of that because the platoon leader hit him first, you know what I mean? But yeah, being like, it's huge. I can tell you numerous stories of instances like that on, on missions, or the guys killing themselves on mission, drug overdoses on missions and stuff like that. It's, I mean, there's a lot of fucking, yeah. You think if that happens, they want, you know, drug tests more often. Like, yeah, I don't, drug testing costs money. And we ain't got money. That makes sense. Yeah. If they drug tested, dude, if they did like a company,

a random bro, like half the company would get, would be positive, like at all levels, officer, NCO, you know, everyone, like legitimately, for sure. So it sounds like to me, because like we're going through like the exact fucking opposite in the American military. I mean, you're like, others bro, like alcohol briefing every Friday, like don't drink and drive. Motherfuckers leave the regiment drunk as fuck, bro. That's what I was about to say. Like, it sounds like we're like, you know, like course correction where it's like the US military is like, we need to talk about feelings and we need no shark attack. Fucking luck, bro. And then the legions like, do whatever you want. We're all hard motherfuckers.

Okay, that guy's got like, it sounds like the answer to a good military is somewhere in the middle. And it's like, nobody wants to recognize that, like, you know, we still have to be effective and care about our soldiers. But maybe let's not beat the shit out of them and force them into cocaine over. Bro, my, my, my first sergeant, like the equivalent of a first sergeant, like, told us at our, like, assembly, like a company assembly, whatever. He's like, he's literally said that he's like, you guys are all a number to me. Like, if you guys fuck, if you guys die, someone will always be there to take your place. I don't give a fuck about you. Like, yeah. And I laughed because I was like, well, he's right. Welcome to the foreign legion. Like, shit. So I don't know if

you want to pivot over to like, everyone talks about the Georgian legion, the Ukrainian foreign legion. How does, because you, you know, guys over there, I don't know anyone in the Ukrainian legion. How is the comparison between the two? Because it seems like it's a hodgepodge on apparently both sides. So the Ukrainian legion, I really don't, I really don't know about that. You know, I have Western friends who left legionnaires, like who deserted the legion to fight. Even like Ukrainian, like I had a Ukrainian friend in my, in my, in my section in my platoon. He left, you know, he, he, he, he's like, yeah, I got to go fight for my country. You know what I mean? And I respect that, you know, they're in different organizations. As far as the training

goes, man, I really couldn't tell you. I know that there's a lot of Westerners dude with different backgrounds over there. I do know that. I know some guys joined the Azov, some legionnaires that I know joined the Azov battalion. I have, I've had a Ukrainian friend personal, like in, in my regiment who died. He left the legion. He died over there, got hit by artillery. But as far as the, the command is set up or like how it operates, I really don't know. I don't pay attention to, as far as the Ukrainian legion, but it is funny how they did make their own foreign legion over there. Like, you know what I mean? That's, that's, now it's called like the Ukrainian foreign legion. There's no, there's no longer a French foreign legion. And I'm pretty sure that

that's a big hit for the French foreign legion. I don't know the numbers, but you know, there's not a lot of missions going on in France for legion. So I'm pretty sure it takes away from a lot of guys going into the French foreign legion and to the, you know, especially after those operations in West Africa started to dry up and the pivot out of there in the Middle East, like, there's not nothing going on now. Yeah. There's nothing really going on legion-wise anymore. A lot of like a rotation in South America to like French Guinea. Is that what it's called? French Guiana? Guinea?

Yeah, Guinea. There's an actual legion-era regiment there. So like, there's guys from different regiments in France that will do like a four-month rotation over there to train. But there's an actual dedicated regiment there. And those guys, you know, if they're, if they're doing a mission, it's looking for illegal gold miners. They'll go out and catch illegal gold miners. That's the mission, basically, of it. It's pretty fun. I guess it's not as fun as Count of Narco, but... I mean, if they, they'll find drugs sometimes, but it's not on a big scale of, of, of the things. It's more, it's more gold, gold-related. You know what I mean? Yeah. Interesting.

So what's the structure like? So I know like, I don't know if I got his name right here, Joel Struthers. He's a, he's an author and a former legionaire like yourself, but he was in two rep. So what is the structure of you guys? Are you guys like mechanized? Do you have like four mechanized paratroopers? Airborne, mechanized infantry, your engineers, mountain, engineers, mountain regiment, and then like your, your vehicle, like tanks, we have tanks as well. Because of the late infantry. Because of everything.

And, and then you'll have specialized units. And then like my, you have anti-tank, like we'll have, like, you'll have weapons platoon, like zero, three, 31. So machine guns and the machine gun platoon and anti-tank platoon is one. So like you have machine gunners and tow missiles, basically. And then we have the MMP, which is France's version of the javelin, but it's called MMP. Okay. Similar, very similar system. And then we have tow as well, like a portable tow missile. You have mortars, the sappers, and then you'll have recon and then snipers. You'll have your snipers as well. And yeah, that's it. Have you done any of those? What's that? Have you done any of them? Or are you just? So I'm zero, three, 31.

Anti-tank machine gun. Yeah. When I was, I'm a team leader, but when I was younger, I was a machine gunner. I'm a big guy. And before that, you know, I was, I mean, you start out as infantry and then like you can, you're either specialized, you'll specialize you or they'll be like, okay, I want, I want this guy here or you'll like make a selection sometimes or something like that and get into like one of the more advanced sections or like whatever. Very traditional structure. Yeah. I do have a question on that though. Has there been a call from Paris yet to round up one machine gun purple tune and kick them over to Ukraine yet? No. Oh, that's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, no, I know there's a

lot of ex-legionnaires and legionnaires that deserted fighting in Ukraine. I do know that. So what? Oh yeah, you can go ahead. So we were talking about this before. There's just so much to the legion that people don't understand. Like, even I just learned that there's fucking tanks in the foreign legion or the French foreign legion. And so like, I know there's like, we were talking about like French Guinea or Gwana or stuff like there's permanent bases in like East Africa, like Djibouti, you guys have France as well than Guinea. It's like, there's a lot more than just getting like, I mean, obviously you're going to get haze the first month and then you're going to go through hazing, but there's just like all these different avenues.

And so like, which you said advanced, right? Like, so is there like advanced guys that really aren't advanced? Like, what's the most prestigious unit you can be in in the French foreign legion? The most prestigious is GCM, which is the Mountain Commandos. And then GCP, which is the parachuted airborne commandos. And GCP is at Dusim Rep. And GCM is at Dusim Gini or the Mountain Regiment. Okay. And that's the most advanced. They train with French SF, they'll go to most of the commandos schools. They'll do the best schools you'll go to in the legion is with the French military. The legion schools are shit, bro. They're just not, it's just not a, it's night and day really. The French are way more disciplined. And like the French military

isn't even like compared to the US military is not that good. But I really know some based French soldiers like French soldiers and like, I know some good French military regiments. I know some good guys, you know what I mean? Like some really hardcore guys. But anything, any good school you're going to go to as a legionnaire is going to be a French, like their instructors are going to be French military. They're not going to be legionnaires. You said that the French officers that come over to like train or essentially run the legion kind of look down as you as second class citizens. Is that like with the regular Joes and the line companies at these academies? As far as the French army goes, I think some of them just kind of make fun of us like because

our French is shit. Yeah. I mean, like, so we don't speak French well. And that's a big thing that's hyped. You know, speak French, you speak good French, speak good French. And it's funny like if you talk to a French civilian, they're like, Oh, your French is good. And then like, and the legion like you're speaking French like your French is shit, you need to study it. It's funny. I think the French guys like they were cool with us legionnaires as this is I'm talking about the French military. Yeah, they were cool for the most part, like since I've been in like they've been cool. It's mostly mainly the French officers in the legion that are just like dicks or like, you know, treat you differently. You know what I mean? Like some French officers don't

like Americans. So it's just weird how it's set up. But you know, like we help save their ass in two wars. So I always bring this up with French, you know, like French people in the legion. You know, I always fuck with them because, you know, being American, you can. I mean, we helped you in revolution. Like you guys didn't help. We would have still won anyway. You know, I mean, like you guys fucking gave up two weeks when Nazi Germany and maybe what are you talking about? We fucking liberated your asses. So, you know, like we have this like we have this, you know, we talk amongst ourselves. And I mean, as far as as other nationalities go, some nationalities get a lot worse. Like me being American is not bad. Like,

dude, like the legion is racist, man. It's pretty racist, too. So, yeah, I mean, what's that? What is it that they mainly target, though? Like, if it wasn't for Russians, oh, dude, the Slavs are there. Slavs are racist. No, no. And, dude, you get discriminated for being American. I mean, the French won't really discriminate you for being American, but like a lot of higher ranking Slavs will. Like, or like, you know, I mean, like, oh, like America, like, like I had this Belarusian

equivalent of the E6, he hated like Americans, but it's a Belarusian Russian propaganda, you know, hate the West mentality. And they make some good points, you know, and like, you know, I understand America, like a lot of fucked up shit we did. And I'll talk about it between Americans. But like, if another nationality is going to talk shit about America, like, yeah, fuck you. Like, you guys are fucking jealous. America is number one. We have the fucking greatest country. We're like, your country's shit. Like, what the fuck is your country? Yeah, they hit you with a, then why are you here, pal? Like, what's going on? Good point. It's like, why am I here to be a fucking soldier? At least I'm not here for money,

like you are, because a lot of slums and a lot of different nationalities, they joined the Legion to for a paycheck, man. Yeah, they're pun, they're countries, they're come from dirt point countries, they're making 200, 300 bucks a month. And, and the Legion, your base pay is like 1400 now. So for them, that's outstanding. That's phenomenal. Yeah, I mean, so they're there for a paycheck, they're there for French nationality, because like, what can you do with a Russian passport? That's toilet paper, bro. So they're the ones that will like, not like, if something bad's happening, like corruption or like whatever, they're the ones that just turn their head and like, keep, keep working or like,

if someone's being racist against them, you know what I mean? Like, calm, like, smoke them, hazing them. They're not, they're just going to like, you know, keep on doing it. But like, yeah, bro, I have American passport, bro. I can leave if I want. Like, what are you going to do? Kick me out. You're going to kick me out of the Legion? Oh, I'll go back to America. Oh, whoop, you know, whoop, you fucking dude. So that's why Anglophones make the, like the Westerners make some of the best soldiers, because we're actually there to be a soldier. They're actually there to fight. They're not there for a paycheck, man. We don't care about the money. You know, like joining the Legion as a Westerner is a step down.

Joining the Legion as these other nationalities is a step up. You know what I mean? Like some of these, bro, like Madagascar, man, like they don't even have, they can't take shower. Like, they have to use a bucket, like water to wash. Yeah. Or they don't have eating utensils, bro. Like they eat with their bad hands. They might eat once a day, like no shit. And yeah, like, and so like they join the Legion and like, bro, like they're getting fed three, some two, three, three meals a day. They're gonna, they have a bed. They have shower, you know, like they're getting money, you know, so it's a huge, it's a different way, different mentality for a lot of different nationalities. You know what I mean? Yeah.

When talking about the American aspect of like, you're an American and you can go theoretical, you can go back to the States whenever you want. How does that work when you get back to the States? Does the FBI rope your ass up there? Like, where have you been? Yeah, I've had a friend that happened to him. I don't know why. I think one of the reasons that he was, you know, posting a lot of things about anti, it was anti government, anti state kind of guy. They stopped him at the airport. But that's it. Like, I haven't, I mean, I have never been stopped or like, never been looked at, like going through customs. Like, what do you do? Like, I just like, at one time, like the customs, like I'm in the French military. And like,

what do you do in the French military? I don't say legionnaire. I just don't French military. Like, whatever. And I don't want to be asked questions. And I'm like, I'm in the French military. And I was like, what do you do in the French military? I'm infantry. And like, you just let me go, you know, like, that's it. Like, I haven't been like, followed or not that I know of or like, I'm, I hope I'm not on any like red flag list or something, you know, but French Legion is part of NATO. It's, it's the lesion used to be like its own entity back in the day, but it's integrated with the French army. So like, you're a part of NATO, man. Like, you can't, you're not like against Americans interests or something like that for an interest. Like,

you know, you're fighting, we train with the US military. We train the Marines, the Marines come to the lesion basis and train us. How awkward is that? Like, I love meeting the Marines and like, they want to know about the Legion, but like, like my platoon leader, like when he, he got mad, like he was like, he almost got jealous. He's like, he even told me one time is like, don't talk to the Marines, don't speak English to the Marines, like leave them alone. You're not American, you're a legionnaire. Like, I'm like, dude, fuck you. Like, what is this guy like three times divorce, zero kids at level? Huge narcissist.

That's, that's something we've heard a lot of because like we were, we had the Brits on and it's kind of weird because like, I was an army captain and they're like, what the fuck. And I'm like, well, it's, and you know, it's different in the American military. Like we're expected as officers to like eat last, treat your men better. Like you suffer. Well, they do the great, like they do that shit. And it's like the complete opposite in the European military. They're like, holy shit. Do you, the, the pro bro, like let's, let's say like, we'll have a barbecue, for example, as like, dude, like a platoon barbecue, which is just so good. I mean, like mandatory fun, but it's just on another level over there. So like, who's in the, who makes the barbecue?

Obviously the fucking privates, right? Who eats left? That guy who knows how to make food. Like some, like South American or like Asian, like, oh, you know how to, you know how to cook or like, whatever, I don't know. And they're like a private. They'll cook it and like, who eats first? It's backwards. Yeah, we'll go get his plate and like, on top of that, it's as gay as you, like, one of the privates have to make a plate for him and give it to him. Like it's fucking gay. It's a hierarchy. So like the platoon leader gets his plate, then the, then like the E six, like the second in command, then like the sergeants and then the corpals. And it's so embarrassing for me. I'm just like, oh, dude, this is ridiculous. I almost want to go last. So I feel bad. It's just

like, I'm like, these guys, you think these guys respect the NCOs when they're eating last? Like, no, they don't know. So yeah, when I was going through my corporal course to be corporal, like, they had like, they had the cap, they had the officers and like the NCOs at a table, they made us stand at parade rest in the room and serve them food. I was so mad. Like, they're empty plate, like we had to get their plate, like they had like the metal containers, like the food inside it and like put food on a plate and like place it down. Like I was, I felt, I've never felt belittled in my life. I'm like, bro, I was so mad. I was furious. I was like, like, dude, what the fuck am I doing? Like, you know, I was, I was pretty mad about that,

not going to lie. But that's how it is. You're a legionnaire, but like that, that American declaration of independence is screaming in the background like, burn this motherfucker to the ground. All right, so I got a question. So talking about like, because I know that the French foreign legions old headquarters used to be in Algeria, that was like an actual French territory. And so in the American military, we always look back to like, well, Vietnam lessons learned, you know, that especially for like Marines and soldiers, you're like, we look at that, that's like the big no, no, that's the big way hearts like open wound. Is it like that for Algeria and the French foreign legion? Because that was a mess, one of the 20 years.

Yep. And it was President Charles de Gaulle who, Charles de Gaulle, I'm sorry, I'm not pronounced that right, but I don't like, I don't have a French accent. So don't call me on that. But it was him who pulled us all out and like, and he did a lot of things about like, he changed the French military a lot. And I think I'm pretty sure even our president was like, do you want to support all our soldiers out who died for France as well? I think he told the president of that. But funny, but yeah, so he pulled the legion out of Algeria. We didn't, you know, fighting for like 20 years. A lot of legionnaires die. A lot of French soldiers die too. And because of that, the legion tried to assassinate. You know, I don't know if you guys know about

that. Holy shit. No, I did not know that. So they wanted to take over. I had a coup d'etat and killed President Charles de Gaulle because they're like, sounds French. Yeah. We fought like and died in Algeria for nothing. Like, you know, who are you? The hero of World War II, man. It was the first rep at the time, the premier, the first rep, and it got changed into Duzan rep. That's why they're on that island. So like, they tried, they flew into Paris, you know, got arrested. They didn't assassinate the president, whatever. They got caught. But that changed a lot of things in the legion. That's why all the legion pages are in southern France. They're not close to Paris. Duzan rep now is on an island. It's literally a Corsica. It's

on an island. So like, you know, I mean, it's very isolated. We had planes at the time. We had a lot of tanks and like artillery. It took all that from us. And like, they put a lot of, I forget my English, but like, they put a lot of, they stopped a lot of things going on in the legion because of that, basically. You know what I mean? They were way more hardcore about like, who were they taking in? And like, they took out a lot of the leaders at the time, the officers, because obviously, you know, like, we don't want a coup d'etat. We don't want the legion taking over France. Like, all this kind of situation that happened because of the whole Algeria thing. So yeah. Was there a, was there a, like, step two to that plan? Was it just capture, capture all and we did

it? No, just gonna kill that motherfucker. They flew into Paris, man. You'll have to find this information out, man, because I forget it, but they flew into Paris. It was kind of like, they flew into Paris, like, on a plane. And like, the French police were like, waiting for them, basically. And so like, when they were, and then when they were getting arrested, they were like, singing that song, Je ne regrette rien. Oh, je ne regrette rien. I don't know if you guys know it. What's her name? Margaret Pala for whatever. But anyways, it's, I don't, I regret nothing. So that's the story, basically, of what happened. Damn. So that's, you look, you're looking back at these, right? Like, you're looking back at two contracts with the French foreign legion.

What's your takeaway from it? After all that time, all the shit you've been through, like, the Fucking learn not to trust people, man. Learning to keep my mouth shut, like, don't trust anyone. Like, oh, dude, like, it's, it's spent, I don't regret it. I don't regret it, but it is a fucked up place. I mean, I learned a second language. I mean, make some cool people, but the bad outweighs the good. So, I mean, I'm out. It's not, it's not professional. There's not much discipline. Like, you got to tell you what it is. It's the French foreign legion, you know, type thing. So I can't wait to get out. I'm over it. So yeah, I guess that's the thing that like, that's dying. Dude,

it's one of those things like, because like when I was in, we knew you guys were like in Syria, and you guys were roaming around Africa. And every, every time, like the Intel shop would talk about them, like to the operations, like, hey, what's the foreign, what's the French he's doing over there? And they're like, don't, don't worry about it. And now it makes sense, because I was thinking like, you guys were out there doing like chaotic shit and basically putting the enemy through the meat grinder. But what it really was like, was like a mongrel horde going through the fucking desert. Shit. Like drugs. Oh, and well, I mean, we did some, we did some good things in math.

I'm not, yeah, you did good work. But I'm saying like, you don't want the American military like, hey, guys, what's going on? Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's just, it's Syria. I see you're just saying, which is true. It's very, it's not. I mean, we drink on our, on our training, like when we go out in the field, like after work, like we drink like they have beers and stuff like that's unheard of in the US military. They go out on terrain, bro, like out on your field training exercises and stuff. Yeah, we drink, bro. Like we party. Like it's ridiculous. What is the drink of choice for the Legionnaire? Is it a very nice Heineken?

It's Heineken. I don't know how many Heineken's I've had. Dude, it's not. God, how do you feel the next day? Because you feel, I feel like fucking shit, that malt liquor. I guess it really depends on how hydrated I was the day before, or like, if I've been drinking, going on a drinking binge, like, but yeah, man, I wait days, I feel like shit, and we wake up in the morning and go run. Yes. Y'all know. Yeah, still a little drunk. They're like, I can't feel my legs. Oh, I'm definitely still drunk. Talking about like, I guess politics and Charles Hill and all that.

So I know that the current French president is very not popular at the moment, but did say he wants to boost the budget for the military. So is a piece of that going to go to the FFL or that's funny because like when he first got elected, he like gave the new budget to like the generals and some of them reside. They're like, we can't do anything with this. But now they're trying to increase their budget spending because of what Ukraine or like, you know, NATO, NATO expansion or what have you. But Macron is not, he's not, he's not well liked, but it's funny, he got reelected, not by a lot, but he did get reelected. This Marine Le Pen was popular in the Legion, because I know she was very much like a hard

light. Her dad was an officer in the Legion. Really? Yeah. So you have Mary Le Pen, which is well liked for like as far as the conservative or like, you know what I mean? You don't really have anyone that central. Macron is, dude, Macron is just a globalist. Like he's just like an idiot, like everyone wants him there type thing. You know what I mean? But he got voted again. So some of the, like the French should deal with it because, you know, like they voted for him. That's how I feel kind of now. I know a lot of French people don't like him, especially in the military. No one really likes Macron. But you'd be surprised in the French cities, man. There's the French is very left liberal, man, especially in the big cities. But it's kind of like same

stuff here in the States, where in the big cities, it's liberal and the countryside, you know, it's more conservative. But their progressive policies are ruining France, man. Like these younger, these younger generation French people don't know what it's like. Like, oh, I don't, I don't have French identity. What's that? Like, what is being French? Like, oh, or like, oh, we colonize like half of Africa, we need to pay like reparations, like all this stuff. It's a mess, man. What's the, what's the perception on like, French Canada, because, you know, Kepaqua, there was that whole thing. I know they had their liberation front back in the 80s. There was their version of the IRA. I want to say there used to be like an FFL recruiting center up in

the capital of Quebec. So is there any cross pollination between those guys or? No, I haven't heard anything about that. That's interesting. But no, I've never heard any recruiting center in Canada. I know some Canadians who joined the Legion. But I don't, any, any correlation between Canadians and France, I think like French are okay with the Canadians. I think they're probably more okay with the Canadians than they are Americans now. That's just because they see like, but before it was Biden, when they saw American as like Trump, so like, oh, Donald Trump American, like, oh, fucking American type thing. You know what I mean? Yeah, just, you know, and what Western or French news media, like all they hear is like, these big media, it's nothing,

it's nothing correct. It just spends off whatever the US media is saying. So they don't know what's going on really. And then they talk to you and like, oh, like, oh, that's not that bad or like, you know what I mean? So it's just this whole misinformation thing going on, which continues to go on. It's actually really true that you're saying that because there's a, I'm not going to say his name, but there's an Instagram page who's from Germany who does Intel reports. And like, they put America on the same scale as like Belarus, Bolivia and Ukraine, like that's how dangerous we are. They're like, this Germans like, oh, yeah, like going to America is really fucking dangerous. I'm like, save as Belarus. What the fuck, bro? Like it's not that bad.

Well, you know, I will say this, speaking of Belarus and like the East Slavic countries, they have a lot of problems. They have the criminal organizations, and then like the corrupt officials, huge corruption issue. However, you don't see any drug addicts like on the streets, like you see in the West. And like, you don't see any trash, like there's no trash in the cities. Like I haven't been to Belarus, I've been to Poland, I've been to Bulgaria. And yeah, the infrastructure isn't that great. But like, there's no trash. There's no like drug addicts. They have their homeless people too, but it's not like the West. Why do you think that is? I think it's how they run, like they run more

of with an iron fist. Drugs over there is really illegal, like in, in Belarus or I don't know the laws in Poland. I know they're a little bit more relaxed in Belarus. They're way more hard core on stuff like that. Like if they see homeless person like a drug addict, that's really frowned upon. Like in the West, it's like, oh, we got to, you know, it's a drug addict, we got to take care of them guys. Like he's a member of our society too, like free love. And we have to be peaceful with everyone like, no, that's not how it works. Sorry. So I mean, that's one of the reasons like the East, but if I had a choice, obviously, I would choose the West man, we have way more freedom of speech, we have our guns and things like that. But it is interesting to point out,

very interesting to point out, like, you don't see all these trash streets. Like you don't, like you don't see people blocking roads, dude. If you blocked right there, you would get your ass kicked by the policeman. We had a, there was a Polish green beret I knew who he was from the USSR, like he was born there, then he came to the United States. So he grew up, like he was a Soviet boy scout. And like his mentality was just off the fucking wall. He was a warrant officer. And when they were in Africa together, him and another warrant officer, he told the guy to shut the fuck up because they were having an argument. And he didn't shut the fuck up. So the Polish green beret stabbed the dude with a fucking belly knife. And it was funny because

like when I met them, they were senior warrant officers, they weren't like CW ones, they were like CW threes and fours. And so like he was joking with him. He's like, Hey, Dave, like, shut the fuck up. And he's like, Well, no, Lesniak, you don't know. And he just pulls out a fucking bowie knife and slams it on the table. He's like, I will do it again. Like, they don't have a sense of humor like we do. No, like, the sloths are so dry, man. So dry. Dude, if you were like the US military full of pranksters and like these stupid pranks that I didn't even really like either. But you know how they're like, listen, you're pranking people left and right and like dick pigs or like whatever. Dude, the sloths hate that. Actually, they will fight you, bro.

They will sloth like that. They would totally beat your ass. Yeah, they don't think that shit's funny, like farting and in public, like they don't do that. Like I fart like when I was in the Legion, like going through basic, like I farted in this fucking Moldovan, like grab the fucking big ass rock, like try smashing my head. That's it's like a huge disrespectful thing. If you fart, you go away from people, you like you go to the bathroom. Like here we fart, we laugh about it. Over there, it's disgusting. They want to beat you for doing it. And they don't eat pussy either. Sloths, a lot of sloths don't eat pussy. I think it's gross, like it's but that's true. Like they don't Jesus. Talk about culture shock.

Like mentality, man, they get really mad. Like, like if you fart, like they'll get really mad. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, right? Like, but you're in the Legion, right? So like all these fucking different cultures are blending together. So at what point does it like what is there like a Legion culture? Or is it just like all it's dude, it's like once you're in your platoon and everyone knows everyone, it's not that bad. It's not like they're not going to fight you. But like when drinking starts, or you know, first off, a lot of guys in the East, they're good fighters, they fight, they grew up boxing. It's not like the West, we have our guns. But in the East, they fight a lot of these guys doing MMA boxing, some type of stand up game. And then you have

America, mainly Jiu Jitsu, the East as Jiu Jitsu and like wrestling and Sambo and stuff like that. But those guys, they box man. Like they'll they'll like they don't they won't joke around with you man. Like you you do something they just boom. You know, it's it's real. So like I was I did judo and my coach was Georgian. And so I didn't do Georgia. Like I didn't do like American judo and BJJ. I did like Georgian wrestling and Georgian judo. And it's exactly like you said, it's kettlebells. It's strong mentality. It's it's harsh. It's not fun. It's not pulling guard and like, ah, let's do some technique. No, motherfucker, they will literally fuck your shit up, even though it's not a punching sport. They'll knee you, they'll put elbows and eye sockets and they will fuck

your day up just because and it's sportsmanship to them. And it's like how they define masculinity, like is you fight and like, and it's it's fucking wild. And so I guess add to that because you you're in this melting pot of cultures and whatnot. So everyone in the in the West, they look at and I'm going to hit that like, I guess nerve like stereotypes, like everyone I was jokes, like, oh, they're there for a reason. So if you just told me you're like the Russian guys are fucking mean, you're like, yeah, it's kind of a stereotype. But yeah, it checks out. So it's like, if you ever had like an eye open experience, like, wow, we got this way wrong in the West, or you're like, ah, it checks out.

Uh, like Western stereotypes. Oh, like anybody, I guess, like, because Americans look at the French like, oh, these guys are pussies. And then, like, yeah, like, I mean, there's a dude, they are full of stereotypes. I mean, I wouldn't mind love to say anything on here. Um, let's not. Okay, well, okay, let's put it this way. No, I probably shouldn't say that. But yeah, okay, all right, you need to say yes. Stereotypes in the Legion. Are you kidding me? Yes. There's so many. Every nationality has a stereotype. Um, Americans are like really loud and obnoxious and are like Anglophones in general.

And we like, you really like to drink and like have fun and we like to do drugs. Slavs are like, oh, like shut the fuck up that I don't do drugs. Like they don't drink like some Slavs will drink. A lot of Slavs don't do drugs. Like it's really frowned upon for Slav to do drugs like Slavic. Some Slavic do do drugs. But you know, stereotypically, they stay away from drugs. They're like more sportive. Like they kind of like keep to themselves. Like they don't laugh or like talk much, you know, stereotype like that. Or they, you know, they believe in communism. Like, you know, stuff like that. Uh, I mean, I could go on. But I mean, I probably shouldn't. But yeah, there's, there's, there's a stereotype for every nationality, bro. I mean, be creative.

They don't take a lot of Arabs or Muslims in the Legion. Really? No, not at all. That's the least nationality they would take for, I mean, just go ahead and think of why. Okay. So I'll just, I'll keep like that. You know what I mean? And then there's other nationalities that they don't take. You can just go ahead and take a wild guess. I mean, now it's, now it's, it's, it's not as bad as it was before, but before, you know, it was way worse. Um, so yeah, there's stereotype for every, every, the stereotypes definitely like feed into the recruitment process or like you, you're good. You will chat in the middle. Like, yeah, like something, dude, like, dude, you get discriminated

a lot being American in the Legion. Like I have some of its jealousy. Sometimes they have good points. Like they always talk about like, what are you guys always playing police for the world? Like the same stuff you'll hear in America, basically, like America did this, America did that. You mean like you guys are stabilizing, you know, the rest of the world, stuff like that you hear a lot. Like, why is America doing this? Like, why, why would America do that? You know, we'll hear about it all the time. If I fucking knew it, I had to say I'd be fucking rich and I wouldn't be here. I'd have Raytheon and Boeing stock, but I don't. So I'm in the fucking Legion. Fuck off. I just want to say, man, like, look, I'm here just like you. Yeah. Just leave me alone. Like I'm

here to fight. I can't fight and be a soldier. I think that's like the funniest thing, though, is like people think that like, even as like American soldiers or their military, it's like, oh, you guys believe in it. Like, bro, 95% of the American military, or at least the ones on the ground, like the Marines, the Air Force soft component, and like the Army combat arms units, like they're all rednecks from the Southeast or from trailer parks all over across America. None of us have any say in this fucking matter. Like, we're just trying to get away from the slums. I wanted free college. No, I wanted free college. I wanted to travel. I wanted to see the world type thing. Yeah, I wanted an adventure. I wanted to go on an adventure and stuff like that. Now,

I mean, I racked dying for someone else's oil. Fuck it. I'm out of oil, huh? Yeah, man. So you're an American military vet. You're a French vet. You've been around the world. You've deployed a couple of times as like a, like they call it soldiering. I've heard it as a term, right? Like the guy who is in the French for Legion, the other podcast, Joel Struthers, he talks about just learning good soldiering, being a good soldier. It's like a martial art type of deal, right? Like, how do you feel after this, right? Like you've done years in the foreign Legion. Do you think you're better at soldiering than most? Do you think you're blessed? Or did you just learn new techniques? Like you said you were a minimalist, right? Like in America, yeah.

Well, yeah. I mean, I could easily move from one place to the next and not even think about it, you know, and like barely anything. Like just like, okay, we're leaving. Like, okay, let's go type thing, you know, like, okay, like, I don't even need anything. I don't need much, you know, or something like that. I mean, yeah, dude, all kinds of techniques as far as living field craft or I don't know. But soldiering, yeah, like I've been a soldier for the majority of my life. So it's always going to be a part of me. And that's okay. It's a blessing and a curse, like with a lot of things. But I wouldn't I don't regret it. And I mean, I turned out it made me who I am. And a lot of things that you learn as well as, especially in the Legion, it's not what

to do, but it's like not what to do. So you're I mean, it's not the wrong way. It helps. Like, what should I do? Well, I sure as hell, no, I should not do it this way. You know what I mean? Yeah. So soldiering is going to be, yes, being part of my life is who I am. Shit. I mean, it just it strikes me as odd, because it's like, you know, going into this, a lot of people when they think about the French foreign legion, it's exactly like you said, it's a lot of toughness. And it's like minimalism. But then at the same time, like, those stereotypes that are associated with the foreign legion, like, are they good soldiers? Do they fight well? Good soldiers? Good. Not all of the Legion is the Legion is not all bad.

But for me, it was the bad like, dude, I can't I mean, I was in use military, I kind of know how real military should operate. And dude, it's just not we're not it's not the same level. Like the lack of discipline and soldiering and experience and what have you, it's just not the same. Take it take it or leave it, you know, on a peer on peer conflict, the Legion, I'll buy itself a good fucking lot. You know, I mean, so I mean, take it how it is. Now there are good soldiers in the Legion. Yeah, there are good Legionnaires. There are good platoons. There are good companies. But it's just not on the same level, man. You know, it's just not how it is. Is there a force month? I don't know how much time you have left here. But the last question I have

is, like, what's the future have for the Legion? Because I know it's is it shrinking? Is it going to get bigger? Is there modernization? Good question. COVID kind of fucked up our numbers a lot. And then now this Legion, so like, I'll tell you this, the standards have dropped, which is another reason why I'm fucking done. Like, yeah, oh, dude, they dropped it. So like, like, just like the US military, man, they drop, they drop the fuck out of the state. So like, when I joined, it was minimum seven. And then like a few, few years later, it was like four pull ups. And then now I have a friend who works at the recruiting place. He's a he's like works in the medical. He's he's he's he was ex do some rep. He's in the medical. He's like,

you know, a Pogue now, but he did this time. Good guy. He was telling me like it's zero pull ups to get in. I didn't do a fuck like they'll like their their their excuses, they'll get strong in basic training. He even told me that they lowered the IQ standards as well. Jesus. This is the past year. So that means that they're hurting for people, man. And dude, people desert every week. And the Legion like you have like 10 people that will desert every week. She has because it's that shit. Like, I'm sorry. Yeah. Like either well, either the guy can adapt for whatever reason, or it's just really bad. Or like, it's not bad. Like, oh, like he's getting hit. Like, it's just like, bro, like there's nothing going on. I like this is just boring.

They're like, you know, I'm just I'm just cleaning. I'm not like learning how to be a soldier, like stuff like that happens a lot. And guys just leave me. Like, how do you how do you how do you fix that? How do you go from zero seven to zero back to seven? Talk about that. But that won't ever happen. The Legion won't ever be fixed. It has to be like completely like redone and like from the leadership's a huge problem. They don't care if they'll literally like tell you like if you guys are happy fucking dessert, like we don't want you. They'll tell you that it's like how do you how do you want to gain numbers when you're like, oh, the gate, the door is over there 100 meters, go fucking leave, you guys are happy fucking

leave. So, so if you complete your contracts, do you get like a basically like a certificate saying like, hey, I did it all. Fuck, I'm clean. Or you get your certificate with how many years you did, you know, Legion certificate, and then, you know, all your paperwork that goes with it, all your courses you did and all that stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, you definitely get on honorable discharge certificate. So it's worth staying if you want that. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, like, if you're going to desert do it like your first year, don't waste your time. They're like a, because I know in the US military, there's like an amnesty period where if you show up, you're at like, I don't know, month six, and you're like

failure to an app, get out, no harm, no foul. Yeah, so I think in your first year, you can ask to go it's called go civil, go civil. That's what it's called. So you can ask like, in your first year, you can ask like, I don't want it. I don't like this. And then like, no, they'll let you go. It's kind of hard to do. But if you like, talk to your chain of command, it gets mounted up. There, you are allowed to leave like, legally, allowed to leave. Damn. I'm on a holiday. So I don't want to take it up too long.

I appreciate it, man. Thanks for coming on. This has been really, really eye opening. And we know you got future endeavors in the world. So you'll definitely be back on to talk about all that cherry blossoms and vinegar. So Matt, anything else to say? Besides, everybody go to the fucking Patreon. It's a dollar a week. God damn it. It's a dollar a week. There's hours of content on the Patreon. There's a discord with all the news pages on there. You can talk to us anytime. I don't sleep. Okay. So anything outside of that? Oh, if you have a, if you see someone that you would like to be a guest, like a book author or like a veteran or something like that or something interesting, just, I guess,

send us your info through the kitbag Instagram or Twitter and just hit us up. And then just be like referral. Here's, you know, here's like, Hey, they're cool. Peter's in. He's a cool guy. Get in touch with him. John Mack, John Mack, if you hit him up. John, last words, yours, man. Anything? Blast trend. Workout. Pretty God. I don't know, man. That's it. Bye.