It’s been a hot and humid month of July with unprecedented rainfall amounts. Where I live this is a recipe for bumper crops of mosquitoes and gnats. So there was plenty of time spent inside on the computer and here are some links I’ve gathered over the past month.
1. Bastille Day Parade. It’s not every day that two of my favorite things intersect but on the 14th of July President Trump was in Paris for the Bastille Day parade and reviewed the Foreign Legion as they marched their way down the Champs-Élysées. Not sure what the French President told him about the Legion but Trump looked pretty impressed. More videos can be found at Foreign Legion Info. (NOTE: I only voted for Trump because the alternative was far worse but I’m now happy that I did because despite his flaws he is doing a good job. …and also I love watching our left-wing loons get triggered just about every day).
2. 14 July Press Release. Here is the official press release for the parade. 14 July Dossier De Presse
3. A Canadian in the Legion. This is a series of three YouTube videos made by the “Littlest Viking” that describes his five months in the Foreign Legion. He apparently made selection, got through The Farm and landed at Castelnaudary (what he calls Castel) for basic training but in the end he left (more to follow on his departure in the fourth video which he has not posted yet). This was pretty informative. UPDATE: Part 4 is posted–well worth a look.
4. Légionnaire, mon frère. Another video–this one is an official documentary produced by the Journal of Defense media team.
5. Boutique de la Légion Etrangère. Here is the official commercial website of the Foreign Legion “old soldiers home” at Puyloubier. “The Legion never abandons its own, Neither in combat, nor in life.” I’ve always admired how this institution works. It is nice to see how the old legionnaires are involved in something other than staring at a wall. (There is a VA Hospital down the road from my house and it is a really sad affair–a miserable government run warehouse for our sick, old and mentally challenged veterans. I believe the VA exists for the benefit of the government employees and not the veteran.)
Mon Legionnaire 
Video #4 from Littlest Viking is up!
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Watching #2 he comments that the inspections are half-assed, this is quite a shock!
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Andy, thanks for the heads up on video 4. I updated the post with a link. I was surprised by many of his observations and found them pretty informative especially in the last video. I can understand where he is coming from without ever having been in the Legion. When I was in the Army I had issues with poorly behaved soldiers with bad attitudes who were dumber than rocks when I found myself tossed into the same squad and platoon with them for some my pretty demanding basic training and primary leadership courses. The more able soldiers always suffered for their problems and failures and it was frustrating. At those times I certainly questioned my being in the Army but when things got bad there was always some light at the end of the tunnel–graduation, promotion and/or reassignment. Our Canadian friend here most likely saw what he believed would be 5 years of continuous B.S. contrived mainly to keep the lower performers in line. Probably necessary in the Legion.
However, I do question people who start something and don’t finish. He probably would have been promoted rapidly if he could keep out of trouble but maybe knew that the potential for self-failure was high. Too bad. Many just like him could have been helped by the Legion and deciding on sticking in there and making personal changes. You would have to adapt and suspend any superior attitudes you bring. The Legion is NOT the U.S. Marines or the Princess Pat’s Light Infantry and the life of a Ranger or Recon Marine is probably much tougher than the Legion. I also noticed him smoking what looked like some weed in one of the videos. Also not a good sign of self discipline.
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