6. Chapter – 1 Week until the Kepi March

The one month long basic training at the farm had finished with the Kepi March. The week before leaving I had my first deep point during the instructions. Fortunately, the German sergent-chef told me previously that everybody going to have bad moments in the Legion. I only need to learn how to handle the depressive periods.

It happened one night that I got the first fraction of guard.

Once I finished I wanted to go back and sleep because I still had a bit more than 4 hours left. I’ve already been at the stairs when the Kazakh corporal called me and asked what I’m doing. I explained him in my new-got French knowledge that I’m just going up in the room and I’ll sleep.

Get ready for the
French Foreign Legion

IQ tests, Training plans,
french Vocabulary and more.

Download Legion Training for free!

He said it’s okay until the part that you go up, but you come straight back with your chemise and start to iron.

The hardest thing was to not push my elbow in his face and torture him with a lighter until he dies.

I was shocked but went back and ironed a chemise until 2PM.

It was perfect although I was tired as hell. He took and turned twice to check profoundly each lines and the next moment he put it in a bucket of water. Once he ruined my 2 hours hard work he pulled it out with a smile, gave it back to me and said:

“I never want to see a shitty job like that again. In a week you are going to be a legionnaire. So the next time you don’t come over and show me a wad like that. “

I’ve never ever been so angry when that moment. I was too tired to control my face so he made me to do fifty push-ups to be sure I’m not going to lose my new shape I got after 3 weeks and learn some discipline.

At the morning, after ironing the whole night, the daily routine did not change anything.

• Started with a long running in the countryside,
• technic lessons at the morning,
• 30 minutes crossfit before lunch,
• tactic during the whole afternoon
• crossfit before dinner
• singing, marching in formation and revision until around 11 PM
• guard/ironing/sleeping

The tactical training at the afternoon with our combat groups was harder than previously.

We were learning how to move and cover each other on an opened field. I was running in a line with my team mates and once we did our 25 meters forward we needed to cover the other team from the field. When I arrived on my chest, I put my cheek on my FAMAS and I felt directly asleep. A few seconds later, our chef de group, a French caporal-chef woke me up and asked what is going on.
– Are you tired or what?

I said no, caporal-chef, I’m not tired (it was the only sentence I was able to say correctly in French back then).

First I thought he is going to punish my whole group because of me but he said okay, let’s have a break. He took me apart, gave me a bar of chocolate and said that everybody has bad moments… But you are going to break trough this obstacle and become a legionnaire.

I was really thankful, because without his help it would have been much harder to go through that day.

Afterwards my moral was going up and up each day until the march!

During the first three weeks, 7 guys asked to leave the Legion and go back in civil life.

The military police of the Legion came over and took them back to Castel. We had 4 left for the Kepi March before next week.