14. Chapter – The first days in 2REG

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french foreign legion 2nd REG flag

We had to wake up at 5AM, get shaved, dressed and put our stuffs in the bus. We went up the sous-officers (NCO) – who are living in town – to the regiment. The morning was cold and dark, but everyone was excited to see the place where we were going to pass our next years.

Therefore, the bus took the road, and we were watching the darkness outside through the window. 30 minutes later the bus started to slow down and we have already seen the silhouette of the first building.

We have arrived to 2° REG.

I only found out a few days later that we went through the village of St. Christol where the population is above 1000 people. The regiment’s location is in the middle of nothing, approximately at 900 meters in the French Pre-Alps.

The first town is 30 minutes away, but back in that moment I did not care about. I wanted to find out what is going to happen whit us in the next few hours.

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A 1st class legionnaire opened the gates and the bus entered the base.

We have arrived to the building of our new company. When I took off the bus I already felt that the weather was colder than down in Apt. We entered the building and the Latvian sergeant presented us to another sergeant. Him and a corporal were responsible for the company’s weekdays during a week.

The sergeant gave a small list to the corporal (I only found out the importance of this gest next morning). The Bulgarian corporal showed us our room and gave 5 minutes to get ready for the morning report. It was at 7.35 for us (and at 7.45 for the rest of the unit).

He explained us that during the whole day we are going to be with him and pass in each office of the regiment. It calls passe-partout in French. We had a conversation with the director of human resources of the regiment.

It was the most interesting part of the day

He told us what are going to be the next steps in the next months. He previewed us a 4 weeks long basic engineer training and 4 weeks of BSM (Brevet Skieur Militaire). The BSM is the winter module of the mountain trainings. I was satisfied with the news because previously I had no clue what is next. A bit more than 2 months of trainings again before we are going to be able to integrate a combat unit of the regiment.


We had lunch in the canteen and once we finished eating, we were free until 13.30. It was a very awkward moment.

Nobody was behind me. No one told me what to do, so I looked for a telephone cabin and called back home.

It was the first time in my life when I realized what it means to be free.


During the afternoon we took up our mountain equipment in the regiment’s store. We got an hour to arrange the equipment in our room and get ready to meet the captain of our new company (CCL / Compagnie de Commandement et de Logistique – Command and Logistic Company). He did not say anything special; he only told us that we are starting the engineer trainings after Christmas.


At the end of the afternoon, we met our new comrades.

They spent their whole day in a small room. Sometimes when a corporal came over they pretended to learn the song of the regiment, but none of them cared about it. The atmosphere was incomparable to Castel’s. We got the orders for the next day before dinner. Naturally, I was making part of the cleaning team, but I was happy and free from 6pm to 6am.

It was a Friday, so I had a bit less than 10 hours before the end of the week. In 2°REG we finish the day at 15.45 because the regiment is too far from any normal place. It leaves us enough time to arrive to the train station in Avignon.

I congratulated myself to the idea that I brought warmer civilian clothes from home. Not like a Polish guy who only had his short which was cool in July but less comfortable in December. These were my thought while I was heading to the “bureau de semaine” with a broom and a mop in my hand.

I presented myself to the corporal

He did not waste too much time to make us clean the whole building. A few minutes later, he came over with a sheet in his hand and asked my name. As quickly as I answered, he made me crawl on the floor, do pushups, burpees and sent me to clean the toilets on the first floor.

I was not alone; the other’s destiny was pretty much the same during that one little hour ‘till the morning report. So, this is how I found out the meaning of that famous little list made by our lovely sergeant.

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1 Comment

  1. Hi Aron, what happens if I have an allergic maybe for the weather or something like that, is that a serious problem?

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