Harshest military training in the world?

M

mike_mck2

Joined
May 19, 2005
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301
It would seem that the French Foreign Legion inflicts some of the absolute harshest training on recruits, bar none.

A current series on the Legion, on the Military channel, is documenting a month of training for a group of volunteers.
Having watches basically the same about the Navy SEALS, class 234, the Legion is a whole different ballgame in terms of harshness.

One recruit took off his shirt during a run in the Sahara desert, and then next day he had to wear every piece of clothing he had for the entire day. He ended up needing an IV at the end of the day, but he did not quit.

2 guys get caught stealing 2 pieces of fish off of the NCO's table and they have to dig their own graves and then they are buried up to the neck for an hour in the desert heat.

Repeatedly climbing 430' sand dunes, running all over the desert.


When they quit, they spend 24 hours in the jail, mandatory. Everyone that's left gets punished for them quitting.

It's pretty bizarre really, and they have some former Legionaries talking about their experiences as well.
 
Some years ago I saw something very similar. It was a "60 minutes" show on the french Foreign Legion, and the brutal training was shocking. Maybe thats why they can parachute into Chad and come out with 30 missionarys in a fighting retreat for a couple hundred miles and loose one person.

For most, the Legion is the last stop. In the special I saw on TV they verified it was true a recruit did not have to tell his real name, or what he was wanted for. BUT, if that same recruit later had the chance to become an officer, he had to come clean with the Legion and tell them his real name and crime. It would be held in the strictest confidence, but they just want to know.

Ther're quite a bunch!
 
Read Legion of the Lost by Jaime Salazar for a really interesting insider's look at the Legion.

The deprivation and brutality, along with the esprit de corps, are stunning.

Highly recommended! :thumbup: :cool:
 
I guess the legion is reasonably tough, but the rest of france is the exact opposite?

Punishments don't make you tough. That sort of stuff is commonplace in many military units. When some of my friends stole food, they were forced to eat all the garbage in the camp. Needless to say, they ended up in hospital.
 
SYK said:
When some of my friends stole food, they were forced to eat all the garbage in the camp. Needless to say, they ended up in hospital.
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Those unwashed kopi luwak beans will do that to ya.....:D



.
 
Met/drank with a couple of Legion/Ex-Legion guys when I was living in Germany. Pretty serious whackos- glad that they liked me.
 
When I was with spending time with the 13th RDP in Val de hon ( or whatever, France) two legionnaires spent the night with the unit, in the camp bar trouble started between the legionnaire and my favorite French NCO, a very tough guy about 5'4", being my Texan self I jumped in to take on the larger legionnaire, it was stopped, but I did earn great credential's from the French LRRPs. Sadly I will never know how the fight would have gone.
 
The FFL no longer takes those on the run. There is a thing called Interpol now which is used to verify your personal information.
 
pisign2.jpg
 
Pish and Tosh. When I was in the military, the first thing they would do on arrival at basic training was to cut our 'eads off. Those that were able to find their 'eads and put 'em back on was then issued uniforms.
 
mwerner said:
Pish and Tosh. When I was in the military, the first thing they would do on arrival at basic training was to cut our 'eads off. Those that were able to find their 'eads and put 'em back on was then issued uniforms.
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The Monty Python "You were lucky" skit.

Ahh.. Very passable, this, very passable.

Nothing like a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier wine, eh Josiah?

You're right there, Obadiah.

Who'd a thought thirty years ago we'd all be sitting here drinking Chateau de Chassilier wine?

In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

A cup o' COLD tea.

Without milk or sugar.

OR tea!

In a filthy, cracked cup.

We never used to have a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

The best WE could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

Aye. BECAUSE we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness."

'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.

House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!

You were lucky to have a ROOM! We used to have to live in a corridor!

Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.

Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpaulin, but it was a house to US.

We were evicted from our hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!

You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

Cardboard box?

Aye.

You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!

Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.

Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, AND pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."

But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe yer.

No, no

maximus otter
 
The Yorshiremen Skit. A classic indeed- in its entirety as well- what a treat!
A virtual pint coming your way sir!
 
If they were as good as the U.S. Marines, we'd copy them. They ain't.
And Legionaires aren't very clean, either. They work for the French, remember?
 
'Monty Python' still kicks ass! :D

In my line of work, I have met and spent time with a lot of celebrities and stars, but one of the most treasured moments in my miserable life was an hour spent with John Howard Davies (he and John Cleese created MP) in his office at the BBC in London. I was taken to meet him by a mutual Aussie friend I used to write for. After his secretary served us tea, JHD told us some nifty anecdotes about Cleese and the Pythons. What I remember vividly, is his way of telling a story: he'd talk about something in this very precise, serious tone for at least five minutes or so - and then he'd suddenly throw in a line that was so funny it would have us rolling on the floor! A great memory. :)
 
If they were as good as the U.S. Marines, we'd copy them. They ain't.
And Legionaires aren't very clean, either. They work for the French, remember?"

It doesn't hurt to celebrate Camerone day on April 30. (1863)
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SYK said:
I guess the legion is reasonably tough, but the rest of france is the exact opposite?

Punishments don't make you tough. That sort of stuff is commonplace in many military units. When some of my friends stole food, they were forced to eat all the garbage in the camp. Needless to say, they ended up in hospital.
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NCO's slapping non-existent mosquitos , digging 6X6X6's under the barracks with a board...your rifle spending the night in the urinal trough if you failed rifle inspection....the inspector flipping your rifle & letting the barrel get plugged with dirt....

Gimmi'e a break . It DID exist in the U S army.

Uncle Alan
 
I'll bet the SAS / SASR are pretty tough too.
People die during selection... lets think about that for a moment.
 
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