Here’s the catch, none of them are French.
So, a socialist gov’t can take care of foreigners but not it’s own citizens. LOL
Pic looks like a call for extras for the show Vikings. LOL
That’s the pioneer detachment of the Legion.
Traditionally, these soldiers performed certain combat engineer functions, like clearing obstacles from in front of the marching column. Hence the traditional axes.
Being a pioneer was considered a fairly prestigious assignment for experienced troops. And as part of their esprit de corps, beards were mandatory.
I’m just going off the top of my head here, so if anyone has more detailed information on the Legion, by all means correct me.
The French Foreign Legion is about a quarter French.