Obsolete Legion faces uncertainty

Washington Times ^ | 11-1-06 | Slobodan Lekic

[JZelle]

AUBAGNE, France -- The Foreign Legion isn't what it used to be. Killers on the lam are no longer welcome, and unhappy recruits have a year to back out without being branded deserters. These days a bigger issue faces the 175-year-old force that made its name fighting France's overseas battles in jungle and desert. Its primary mission -- to be a crack professional force of non-French volunteers available for instant, no-questions-asked deployment in far-flung conflicts -- has all but evaporated.

[Jalapeno]

Hell, what about Sur-Seine-Denis? Deploy them there.

[Maceman]

[2banana]

In the 1960s, President Charles de Gaulle sought to disband the Legion after several regiments mutinied against his decision to end French rule in Algeria.

And they were RIGHT!

[Bonaparte]

ping

[ozzymandus]

Somebody's got to do France's fighting, don't they?

[SFC Chromey]

Might as well be the 'non-french'!

[KevinGray]

I know the 'lol France' group is popular, but the Legion are as hard as it gets. If the ENA cabal was more interested in protecting human rights than protecting their own pockets, it would have been a good foundation for a French peacekeeping force in the Middle East.

[antiRepublicrat]

That's sad. The Foreign Legion boasts military action that would make any military man in the world proud. Remember the Battle of Camarón, where over 2,000 Mexicans surrounded 62 soldiers and 3 officers. The Legionnaires died to the last two soldiers, but they fought so long and hard that they kept the Mexicans busy enough not to be able to intercept an important French convoy.

The most awesome bit is that the last three survivors, out of ammo, made a charge at the Mexicans. One died, and the other two (after having been stopped and beaten) demanded to be able to go free with their flag, weapons and the captain's body. The Mexican commander was so impressed that he acquiesced to their demands.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

"March or Die"

I read a book several years ago about the Legion fighting in Indochina. The majority of Legionaries were former German military (many SS).

[WildWeasel]

Seems to me there are thousands of yoots in France looking for something to burn, break and destroy. Why not draft 'em all into the Legion and ship them out of the country?

[wideawake]

Recruits tend to come in waves -- Germans in the 1940s, Hungarians in the 1950s, English speakers in the 1980s, and lately, East Europeans.

"English speakers in the 1980s"

LOL!

Translation: Rhodesians.

[Waverunner]

The FFL - yes only mercenaries working for the French would make their defeat by Mexicans a holy of holies. Not only did the French lose to Mexico, The ex French colony of Haiti is the site of the only succesful slave revolt in history. Viva La France. I glad that our Army doesn't celebrate the marvelous glory of Custer Day.

[wideawake]

I wish there were a good history of the OAS available.

It would be a fascinating read.

[dfwgator]

Figures that the French have to use non-Frenchmen to do their fighting for them.

[68skylark]

I agree with you. Many of us mock the French, but we don't mock the Foreign Legion.

[Nonstatist]

Maybe they can use the legion to hold Paris from the Muslim intifada

[Vinnie]

France just isn't utilizing them. Why not use them on the streets of Paris?

Send them to us. We will put them to good use.

[lentulusgracchus]

These days a bigger issue faces the 175-year-old force that made its name fighting France's overseas battles in jungle and desert. Its primary mission -- to be a crack professional force of non-French volunteers available for instant, no-questions-asked deployment in far-flung conflicts -- has all but evaporated.

Sounds like someone has turned loose a professional budget-cutter at the Washington Times, the kind of guy who never saw a battleship, an air force base, or an Army weapons-procurement program that he couldn't scuttle, close, or expunge for personal big jollies and jumbo bucks to switch to political slush-funding, pork-barrelling, and vote-buying.

On the other hand, I don't know any big countries like France that don't need a force like the Legion. And whaddayaknow, as soon as they abolish it, they'll need it very, very badly.

Come to think of it, do you think it's wildly possible that they might be coming up on a case of extreme need just around the corner?

[KevinGray]

Come to think of it, do you think it's wildly possible that they might be coming up on a case of extreme need just around the corner?

Deploying the Legion to deal with social unrest in France would be political suicide, it has a reputation for being heavy-handed for a reason. Plus, it's too small for labour-intensive policing work.

It's worth noting that about a third of the Legion are native French who pretend to be Belgian when recruited. Le Pen was a Legionnaire.