24. Chapter – A new face and the first platoon’s preparation

I had a particular eye on me in the company during the next few days. I haven’t even passed 2 weeks there but everyone knew my name. Fantastic.

At the beginning, I went out each weekend to Avignon or to Marseille because I didn’t feel good in St. Christol and I wanted to make the best of my free time.

On Sunday night when I arrived back from Marseille, I found my locker wide open.

The lights were on and someone was eating at the table. The chief of the room finished his training in Castelnaudary.

He was a 33 years old man and an ex-member of the Polish Army. He directly ordered me to start doing push-ups and explained me the rules in the chamber.

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Fortunately, he was satisfied with the arrangement of my uniforms and the cleanliness of the room. Naturally because I passed hours arranging and cleaning everything on Friday before leaving.

30 minutes of stories, warnings and 200 push-ups later

he left me to take a shower and go to sleep. He didn’t make me to like him…

My days in the regiment were mostly calm, sometimes boring back in this time. There were not too much things to do.

An average day we started with sport and continued with short instructions. We were also preparing the equipment for the upcoming activities or doing service.

Not a single “Rambo moment” like in the videos that you can find on YouTube if you write the French Foreign Legion words in the search engine.

The only interesting thing was that the 1^st Platoon was in his final preparation period for a mission in French Guiana. A team from my platoon and me played the role of the enemy.

Our mission was to sabotage the actions of the different squads

We had to try to steal their equipment during the night and harass them during they were checking a zone. We played other different scenarios you can meet while you are patrolling and looking for gold miners in the Amazonian Jungle.

On Wednesday afternoon the platoon sergeant called the new ones to the assembly area and told us that we are going to have a week off next week.

Good news but I didn’t have any plan or idea what to do with this short time. The next morning I got a message from the unit’s office that my identity papers came back from Aubagne and I can pick them up at the “military police” (PLE).

It resolved all of my problems. Even if I didn’t have any official authorization, I knew I’m going back home. 

A goof advice for those who want to join the Legion

If you go back home without any autorisation, you can get up to 20 days of “prison”. It’s nothing special, because most of the Legionnaires pass some days collecting leaves and trash in the regiment, but it’s not good for your career. With 20 days, you aren’t gonna be the first priority to get into higher rank in your company.
The other thing, which might be important for guys coming from outside of Schengen, is that your apply for French citizenship may be denied or adjourned at first.
So here is my advice: think before you do something. Even if you go home, be sure that you don’t have a boarding ticket on your backpack or an addition in your pocket, because the “PLE” may check your belongings.