The French Foreign Legion 2REP with Joel Struthers, Ep. 42

hey Joel it's the GCP was like a recce like yep hey everybody welcome to the team house on David Park with my co-host Jack Murphy sorry ah yes ants yeah jazz hands well today we're here with Joel Struthers who wrote book a pal Joel spent six years in the French Foreign Legion actually in in a very specialized you know kind of like the two top-tier unit of the French Foreign Legion right though the GCP which is you know the it's about not necessarily above to wrap the parachute regiment but certainly more selective so welcome Joel we really appreciate you being here well thank you it's the opportunity yeah nice to meet you guys yeah you too Joe um so why don't we just kind of start with sort of your origin story like how you were in the French Foreign Legion how did that happen who were you and when did that happen so my mum and dad had me complicated details my dad my dad was militaries in the family so my father was a fighter pilot in the K Air Force my dad my mom met on a Canadian Forces Base as I think they're in grade 9 together I should know this but my dad's dad was artillery and my mum's dad was mechanized tanks and they're on the base together met and so my childhood was spent a good chunk of it on the Canadian Forces bases in Germany where my dad for the Starfighter the Widowmaker below four and then finished off in cold lake which is the big base for the Canadians in Alberta northern Canada and he flew he was the CEO of the four for one tackle Fighter Squadron which was f-18s and that's why I grew up around the military and played hockey as most Canadians do as young individuals and that kind of came to an end at around the age of 18 and I think I was at a loss of direction I always kind of had this plan to be a professional hockey player but it's it's tough I don't think I had the the size and the chin for it but and yeah so I was interested in joining the army I think I mentioned on another thing I my first VHS tape that ever bought was hamburger hill and I watched I watched that VHS tape until it was useless you know I mean so I had this yeah this interest obviously when we were in Europe on the basis the Canadian airborne regiment was there so I would see the airborne around so you can jumping and that kind of stuff so I was enamored with the idea of being infantry airborne but unfortunately at that time there wasn't a huge amount of opportunity for Canadians looking to get into the Reg Forest military there was no year was this strong this would be 93 92 93 so yeah it was kind of you know loss of direction maybe getting into some trouble hanging up around people immature I guess would probably the word trying to impress the wrong people went to the recruiter and they said you know there's no reg force positions available right now but what you can do is join the Canadian reserves which was the militia and the way the key military was set up at the time as a third I believe of the effective numbers of the military was militia and you would support the different and the idea is if you get in do your part once positions came available for reg force you would be top of the line oh I've looked into that I actually called the American recruiter the Army and the Marine Corps because the reserves didn't really I just wanted to do so real yeah yeah but at the time I was told that it would take you couldn't as a Canadian I had no family in the States it would take a couple years even to go through the paperwork process if anything so I joined the reserves I did join a regiment that was attached to the Canadian PBS CLI which is there and we were jumped asked so I did my basic I did my battle school and the next course would have been my jump course and unfortunately things were changing in the canoe military and they were looking to stop the jumped asking for the regiment and I was in battle I was in waiting right during my battle school and one of the NCOs mentioned that another NCO in a course had just come back from the wreck in the NCO would what's the wreck he said it's the airborne regimen in the French Foreign Legion so like most people I was like what the French Foreign Legion like that actually still exists yeah yeah so I was young patient I looked into it and this is pre-internet really so there wasn't a lot of information on the Legion and there's a couple books out there notably Legionnaire by Simon Murray and I read that and it basically depicts his time in the rep during the Franco Algerian war so the 60s 6260 and I was just blown away by the it's well-written it's an excellent story if anyone's not read it you should for many reasons but um there's the pooch goes on where the Ghul decides to give Algeria independence the military in France notably the the interval regiments of the Legion they're part of it decide that they're not going to have it based on some history from Indochina they're gonna jump on Paris and take over the a way it's just it's a very cool part of history but it was like an almost coup that had happened that's what exactly in the word was push which is a german word for coup but because of that the influence of the german that's the word that stuck yeah so we gave anyway so i am i looked for more information encyclopedias they had the old pictures of the the rep was actually the bap jumpin in Indochina in ddmm Phu so I read up on that and that was obviously the the end of the French and Indochina and then that became obviously the us's issue following that's we can we take a second you talk about that because you you know we've had a couple people I think well we've had we discussed Vietnam before you know French Indochina bit but I don't know that we are regarding the history of you know that's not I said how the u.s. became involved but the French is like the French participation and prior to that because the Legion it's very important it's a very important piece of allegiances and when we went into Vietnam we failed to learn the lessons that we should have from the French occupation and that's history repeating itself that's I think that that happens to this day right yeah well yeah Jimin who is a valley and the idea was the French were gonna draw out general giap and the and the idea was to bring them into a pitch battle and take care of the business but unfortunately the French didn't give them full credit for their abilities and the Viet men surrounded it's quite a it's actually it's a large valley and they surrounded the air it's an old Japanese action actually airport from that's what the origination of the game that who was Airport from the Japanese during the war but the French had the airports and they had built these compounds these strong points around around me at the airport and then the valley itself the Viet Minh came in and they dug in their artillery and basically just started you know bombarding the shadow of the French and the rep jumped in low level to try to assist things there's a request for volunteer jumpers the Legion and in they went and I believe the Americans provided some of the aircraft and the they actually provided the parachutes and they jumped in and in the end the French capitulated and a lot of them we'll all of them were marched prisoners and yeah mr. Bhalla rate was yeah not great but it was a huge a huge moment in French history a loss in a hard on the French military certainly extremely I mean our my old regim the rebbe they were decimated there and we were the red share on our uniform which is the honor that regiment was given for that and if you read the book my grandfather was actually flew in to the mmm fou about ten to two weeks later and he was there as a - I see he was a Canadian Jonathan time and he was the - I see for the League of Nations or the precursor to the UN and they had flown in to see the gradual which are all in French and allowing the Communist Viet Minh to take over Ho Chi Minh to take over so they were there just to make sure that the withdrawal phases were done properly so he flew into Yemen Phu I didn't know this I had no no idea until after my time in the military oh wow I was blown away by that fact because and that's you know I mentioned that the other book is that here is something I was drawn to the whole ummm food jumping in to your your your comrades assistance low level and you know that it's probably not going to be a good ending for you but you know I'm not super honorable and the fact that my grandfather had been there I just thought it was an interesting you know coincidence anyway so that was back to your the question that was my I thought you know what I can't serve my own country the idea of going over and serving in a foreign military and be able to jump for them just seemed like a neat idea and you know I've been grown up being I spent a lot of time in France um you know during the winters they had an exchange program where the the K military we'd my dad was help we'd go down and they would ski with French Mirage pilots and we'd go to valve is air which is a well-known ski resort and they had a military skiing school there so every winter we'd be in the Alps and I would be taught by French military skis are you french-canadian Joel you speak French French Canadian but in the Canadian military system all the schools like the schools in Germany on the bases they were all French immersion so I started taking you know coming one so I had when I joined I had a good level of French it surely came back and they beat it into you but any advice to anyone thank you but have a good level of friend so yeah that was in short that was the the interest in the rep you know you're young pressure Mille I just wanted to do something different the options were limited so I was like you know what excuse my French [ __ ] it I'm going and off I went and yeah joined in 1994 so um before we get into your experience your recruitment and selection and training and everything just before we move on from the historical aspects can you tell us a little bit about why the French Foreign Legion came into existence why does this thing exist in France why does it still exist to this day like how did that come about because it's kind of been I mean there's a history of mercenary anism in Europe throughout European medieval history but the Legion is something that endures to this day it's very unique in that regard and the word soldier and a mercenary very similar it's it's actually a double translate I change of translation but King Louie initially created the Legion to allow foreigners to do their their dirty work and so what they typically do is allow foreign soldiers or perhaps even people that were given prison time the option to serve and they would be shipped they would never be on mainland France they would be overseas in their different colonies and that was the idea so you'd have French officers from st. Cyr typically overseeing Legionnaires which would be typically foreigners serving in the ranks and off you go and it would be a tough existence now into Indochina Algeria and then those Indochina out jury comes to an end and now the Legion is basically brought back to mainland France presently and when I was in it is an actual it's a part of the French military regulations pay grades courses it does keep its own distinct history and discipline and traditions but at the end of the day you are a part of the French military so same thing all the officer are you know typically say your graduates and a lot of the upper epsilon officers that graduate from subsea Eric will go to the Legion regiments it's considered an honor that is slowly changing because they have other regiments than our a little more you know switched on but also like how we how would I say that your livelihood being the ability to be with your families is a little more comfortable outside of it because it's very stringent Allegiant it's very still very old school but um yeah so basically you are in the French military so now that connection with the Legion there's this idea criminals and people on the run from the from their respective you know countries and how it wasn't a pseudonym when you join the Legion was that true at one point I mean is it true now we'll definitely you know back in the back in the day certainly there were some you know questionable characters that would would join and the Legion is always really a good indicator of the geopolitics going on you know what's happening so for example post-world war ii the ranks were full of XV remar and german soldiers it during my time it was when the the wall came down so there's a lot of former Soviet countries coming down to this day it's a mixed match depending on you you get a lot of Haitians and stuff but yes your typical person that would join back in the day was questionable type characters when I joined for example they would take there's one in 12 that they would select now though you've been doing this for a long time and they have the ability to pick and choose and they're effective but what they do and they know what they're looking for so when you come in there's a variety of medical tests there's a an IQ done there's a psychological exam done and then there's a robust background check with Interpol to ensure that you're not wanted for any type of crimes or what-have-you that they find is you know not acceptable in their in their system so they have the ability to pick and choose who they want what exactly they look for I don't know is prior military sort of something they it depends you I don't know but yeah if you're wanted for something you know so that has changed now they you know with its with its part of the you know being a modern-day army they basically choose the young man that's thing there's you know there's no a few minutes officer he the young man that's there who wants to soldier he's there for the right reasons he has the right attributes he's you know physically fit and capable and they can rule them into the type of soldier they want because obviously the French do the least and do their things differently but yeah if you show up with that with those odds one in 1215 if you show up you know other shape and you wandered for a questionable character type error in your past you're you're sent back interesting yeah so you say you were considering the Legion and then so then what happened so I was yeah so I was doing the reserve thing I was checking bags at the airport into the bottom of aircraft and just you know in a shitty mood all the time because you're young and you want to get get on here on get doing so my dad was actually flying for a charter at the time and I jumped into the is pre 9/11 so I I got jumped into the jump seat in the cockpit and flew into uh Dusseldorf Germany that's where they're flying and said our goodbyes and you shook my hand and said you know call us what he can and you don't take a day by day yeah it's uh it was an interesting you know moment I've never actually talked to my Agha should talk to my dad about that day we've never anyway so I took a train down to Strasbourg and that's where I joined cuz the Legion has their different recruitment Depot's through France and that was the one that I was going I did the same thing as I reached out they sent me a little packet with where you can go and yeah I knocked on the door I actually walked up to the door so it was an old you know the French military buildings and some of their concerns and stuff are like World War two and earlier right it looked a bit dated from what I was used to and wasn't a lot of stuff going on and I got to the gore and I was like ah and I walked across the street and there's a church if I remember that steps her and I sat there for a little bit of time more than an hour but just kind of contemplating you know Here I am I didn't really have a lot of options but I was like you know this is quite the scenario I got myself into a finally I just said you know enough enough screwing around and I went over and wait wait what was kind of stopping you at that point in time was it the five-year commitment was it like with the things you had read in the books what was something your parents said I mean were they you know what kind of what was on your mind you'd be honest with my parent my parents didn't say much they said are you sure I think they knew that I wasn't happy with what was going on and wanted you something so I think they let it go in fact my grandfather the one that had gone into the mmm through and dealt with he it's interesting was in the book I mentioned we his ID on the Legion changes he had a preconceived idea of what the Legion was and he said to me are you sure you want to do this and I said yeah you know yeah so he said well if that's what you want to just represent your country well and go do it so then we discussed things later on and I actually would write them from kind of tying kind of explaining what I was doing what was transpiring and he learned with me what you know the present modern-day Legion was like well for that period but I think sitting across the way from the door it was more just like Here I am and I said I was gonna do this and there's the door but you know it's reality kicks you in there I have to do it now so there's no turning back right yeah so it was just one of those yeah yeah so yes I went and and enjoyed so what happened I mean you knock on the door they open it up the door and they say there's like some crusty sergeant major stand in there like what do you want no it was it yeah I knock in the it opened the way there was a corporal chef which is like a master corporal I think he was he was French big old big old guy you know the simple big man but he said come in nationality as a Canadian passport sure my passport and you said what he wants I want jointly and they take you into a room and you know it was this room with chairs a table an old TV and a VHS player and about you know 20 different cassettes and one for each different language so he threw in the cassette and it was basically uh you know just kind of a gives you a brief on the the légion you know in english and in legion you'll fight the train you know it was it was pretty dated but the only thing I really remember is that you know they showed the rep jumping and you know for me it was at that point anyway it was too late I had no choice you know um but yeah and once that was done they asked him you know are you still are you still interested in in doing this and I said yep so then you go into another office I think was a sergeant sitting behind an old you know typewriter from the Verdun days and he asked me the typical questions you know country and mother's name date of birth all kind of stuff why do you want to join and then you sign a preliminary contract and then you stay in that concern for I think a week and then what did you say when he asked you why you wanted to join I just I want a soldier that was my that was my go-to answer yeah and yes we sign and there wasn't a lot of back and forth you know touchy-feely discussion it was more like you know you know humorous but day it was just yesterday matter of fact sign and then I got sent up to a holding area which is like a barrack area but it was very you know simple at school and there was a handful of other people there Rumanians a couple of French guys check that kind of stuff and then they would wait until we had a certain amount of people and then we were it lasted about a week and then we were put on a bus and sent to another regular french army camp where we were given medical exam and they went through the whole whole gamut looking in our teeth bones all that kind of stuff and from that they're able to cut the people that they felt weren't physically didn't have the attributes or the that prior injuries bad teeth was a big one and there we cut and then once we had a certain amount of number we were thrown on a train and we went down to obeying which is in southern France just outside of Marseille and that's where the regiment's are the oldest Regiment the premier is and that's their their main headquarters they know buying and once you get there you join all the other recruits from all the different recruiting points in France and they gather you there they give you you know you take all your civvies and you spend typically about a month there and they go through the same thing that's where you start all the different type of medical examinations the IQ tests psychological evaluations they do the the Interpol background checks so you're either doing that during the day or they got you cleaning the the camp they got ya they just you know run you and then from there they picked their their candidates and as I said that lasted about a month and then those that are picked and chosen about every week or two weeks a group goes to Castel which is their training regiment by Toulouse in France they catch my mirror and that's the the training school and you go there and basic training as four months in so during this whole process of kind of is this funnel no when when did you learn what Appel was when did that first look as I said luckily I had a decent level of French so I was able to understand what was happening around me so Appel is taught right away they got the whistle that's the very lesion the thing everything started with they blow the whistle and then they yell the command so it'd be Appel and then everyone runs outside and gathers up so initially when it's at that point where they're doing their recruiting or whatever you want you know they have corporals their master corporals that are kind of showing you the way and then the onus is on about a third of the people that are trying to get in the Legion are actually French so they they put a lot of onus on them to try to help out and then you'll get your little your little clicks you know all the English speakers will be hanging out you'll get all the the slabs and the you know what I mean they'll start to hang out and but you figure it out pretty early one of colors and so a palette do a head count right or you count off please drink so it's a way to get the you know the section together and count the effect of make sure that everyone's President accounted for and in the very beginning you know there are mad our guy is showing up who do not know any French they don't know the number so what happens during that count how do they have you how do the NCOs respond to them when they don't know their number you know well at that point nothing I mean discipline hasn't really as you've mentioned the book hasn't really we haven't seen the legion discipline yet okay so yeah those Koreans era there's obviously Russians there I mean French is not something that they rarely pick up on so there's a lot of confusion but it's you know it's you you follow the group and you can figure out what's happening it's when you get to Castel when you start doing your basic that's like you're not picking up the French you know it's gonna make things tough and I mentioned the book is that we have a tall Brit who was X signals SS he said reserve regiment anyway we get there and there it was our first Appel and the Corporal would come down the line and the idea was you you'd number off 1 2 3 in French all the way down and the idea was to always go to the same position so that you could just remember one number back when the Corporal got to got to him he didn't know the number so the Corporal just gave him an open hand his slap right across it was like I don't see the Brit was like but I don't speak French and I remember just kind of chuckling to myself was like yeah but it is the French Foreign Legion that should have been expected but yeah it's tough not knowing the language I was lucky that I did it made my my journey so much easier and yeah that's why I mentioned before and you know anybody someone's gonna go join the French would have a good level of French peace it's just a nightmare if you don't and if you don't you don't pick it up quick enough you'll fall behind and it's gonna be tough yeah so what was Costello like and how long was that process it was that was basically boot camp or basic training for us that's your basic training which a duration of four months it kind of has that typical training camp facility no it's got the big parade square and the company buildings around it and then the headquarters and but initially in the the Legion training phase for the first you go to an installation which they refer to as a farm so each company has a training farm and typically that's what it is it's an old farm house and the out in the outskirts in the farmlands and they they refurbish it and set it up and it's your training facility so you're there for your first month learning the the légion discipline and how they go about doing things so that's your that's your kind of your your test so there you're introduced to obviously appel what's required the traditions French lessons god forbid seeing the singing starts and then it's and then at night marching and then they're just you know excuse my French here they start [ __ ] with you right there it is it is basically done to show whether or not you want to be here right right he is this for you is it not and that's what you'll start to see your first desertions people running off and it's it's kind of somewhat expected they don't really care at the end of the day they're doing themselves and the deserters doing themselves a favor but it's it's the yeah it's the pressures on to see whether or not you're here for the right reasons and that's you know it's been done that way for a long time and for a good reason you know that some people are there for you know the nationality perhaps for for food or for the money but in this day and age if you're out you know you're there to be a soldier do you want the guy beside you there yep that's your that's your first game and then once you're completed the the the month at the farm you do your March at the end and you you receive your kepi so that's after a month at the farm you do the march kepi and then you go to some chosen area a lot of times it's a shot or something in the area and you're presented you're your kepi and then you are now a second-class Legionnaire and then as a group typically it's about fifty of you in the in the group you march in back to castel through the gates as you have pretty strong feelings about the singing can you can you tell us about that why it's important what what it what it you know you know really what it is yeah well I mean two things obviously you know I'd done my basically my battle school in the Canadian military you know our military system is based off the British system it's very similar and how they go about soldiering the French way was extremely different and a big onus in the Legion especially the beginning is this singing so the French story the Legion march at a slow pace it's 88 pace steps a minute so it's it's it's it's it's different sounds easy but it's actually hard to get it together but a part of that is they have a song book actually but they have songs that you learn and a lot of all those songs are historical significantly historical based on the legions past you know Indochina Algeria and you have to learn together as a unit how to march in time in tune singing these songs you know you start off with one you start off with two and you'll be in the classroom actually initially learning marking time and singing and then we had we had sergeant Schmidt who was this big German monster and he wards you know if you didn't pick he would stand right beside you when you're singing and if he could tell that you weren't you didn't know the words you would actually stand there like this with his hand in the air watching you maybe I mean even if he knew the words just the you know you would you would screw up and you slow motion and then oh you know across the the family so I found that frustrating in that I didn't expect that or know that of the Legion I was kind of thinking you know we be out on the range learning how to the soldier but in retrospect and once we got it marching together as unit in tune it was goes actually it brought to you together it's a way of building cohesiveness and it has that part in its history and it's effective in it when you're actually get it it's actually it's yeah it's kind of a neat thing but I just got yeah whatever I just I respect it but it just wasn't my thing but when we had you know in 14th I've done 14th of July in Paris on one occasion with the rep where we march down and yeah it's you're proud you know it's there's the history and I have nothing bad to say about it but I wasn't won about I wasn't won singing songs on my own yeah well are you expected to be jumping out of airplanes and shooting right yes yeah but you got you got to get there and the legion has this way of doing things who am i de but yeah it was definitely a challenge but it brings you guys together and if you're not picking up on the songs you get beasted right and like all basics they find their ways of making you work together and drag along the weakest link yeah so and then you go back so after the month you go back to Castel and you finish your your three months and that's where it kind of starts you start going to the ranges you start doing the more physical aspect of stuff the the training continues on French history the singing singing never goes away but it's more soldier oriented and the idea is to prepare each Legionnaire to go off to the differing regiments and when they get to the regiment's they have the basic skills and knowledge to continue training depending on their units specialty what is Joel what is the legions mission I mean are they just an infantry unit an infantry brigade or do they have a specific mission set what's the expectation well they all support different battalions of the French military so for example I went off and joined the the rep so they are the legions airborne regiment but they're part of the French airborne battalion so there's okay they're regular French airborne regiments the Legion F is you know an engineer regiment they have a mechanized they have an infantry and then they had they have a regiment over in French Guiana back in the day they're no longer there but they had one in Djibouti though they all support the different battalions within the French now you keep calling it the rep but it's actually the second rubber to wrap right okay well it's just uh it's the Newseum as you move it cause a polished route east so to rep back in the day there was a first rep they were disbanded after the pooch for their involvement in that but today and then there was a third rep in in Algeria too but now there's only the two rep that survived the history and then it's just an agonist rep first short you know pretty okay yeah so bait and the way it works for basic training is based on how you finish you can pick and choose which regiment you want to go to so early on in your in your training you will go in front of the captain there they'll ask you what regiment are you volunteer for and then based on your you're finished within the class you can pick and choose and go and then obviously the lower down you you finished they'll start sending you to where they need to fill the gaps so yeah the onus is on to perform well and get to where you want to go or they'll send you and then yeah from there you go off to your regiments and so you think so you finish the cast off so you form a basic training program essentially Greg and you said that once people finish that they actually had the option to leave right yeah exactly yes so after basic training you're giving a chance to call their quits and go back to the city world after that you're stuck for the five I think within our group we had you know there's a hat doesn't that decided it wasn't for them for a multitude of reasons some people just you know mentally it was it wasn't for them physically a lot of people suffer physically the French are big on unrunnable adjusting support like some military so a lot of stuff is with your your feet they're big on the obstacle course cord and stuff so depending on the type of person that shows up some people suffered with the the physical side of things or injuries other people it just wasn't what they thought it was going to be or a lot just didn't pick up on that you know the discipline the discipline was tough it has changed since but no it's old school if you're not towing the line you know you'll get a good knee to the gut or you'll get a good you know you up off a corporal or you're you've really you know pissed them off you'll he'll give you a good some people can can take that other others can't and again you know it has it has its place but that being said there's the odd individual that took it to the to the next level and they went above and beyond and abuse their powers and yeah I finished and they wanted we had what they had in the in the training regimen was a they're called foot foot so it was a training corporal but they're actually not they were just given that rank so typically it was someone that had finished basic training they had the abilities in the language and they would keep them at the training school to be acting corporals and they would I think two or three courses and then they would go off and do their corporal course in most Legion regiments during my time it was you wouldn't you wouldn't get your corporals course or your rank let's completed around minimum three years service typically five years service though really you know Scouten the system but some of them would take advantage of that ok Villa D and they would abuse it and they wanted me to stay as a foot foot and when they when I was told that I you know I was like the only reason I joined the Legion was to go to the rep and luckily my training NCO he could see that I was you know and they found a solution and I got oh but can you know the whole foot thing I think that I think that bears a little explanation simply because Jack and I both come from Ranger Regiment where there's there's this people don't like not like but we have what are called imports which are NCOs who come in they didn't grow up in battalion they came in as an NCO from another place and so then they have kind of have to earn their way a little bit more and fulfill it it's sort of the same thing what does foot foot mean where does the word come from with the term come home and how they treated it's an all Arabic term from other it is it was a turnkey I think uh a Turkish slang name that was so it's basically someone that's you know not they have the power but they don't deserve it and yeah so you know these corporals they wouldn't actually wear the copa rank they would have a sleeve on their their combats with the corporal rank so you knew that they were a foot foot they weren't her an actual corporal and they were disliked for a reason and as you said they hadn't earned the rank they're no better than you know four months at Castel and there they were dishing out you know disciplined some of the guys I never had any dealings with my foot foot who was a I think he was Lithuanian or maybe Romanians because the Romanians because they come from a Latin language background they pick up the French extremely extremely well that's very similar so a lot of the you know they always have a language but I've never any problems because I think he knew that I would knock him on his asked me good what a lot of a lot of guys did and I certainly remember the face of my foot slipped from our section to this day and I always said to my you know in my years when I was in if I ever ran into him again he was in he was in trouble and when actually when you get to the rep your training corporal meets you at the gate they were before you knew you're he's gonna be your training corporal for the jump course and he'll go down the line asking if you're not just a first-class because I showed up a little later with more rank you would go down he'll ask you or your foots are once they get out to the world out to the unit at large yeah they're not really given that much respect you know I think most of them to be honest most of them I think stay at the training they'll go through that you know they'll get the corpus fast they'll get their sergeants fast those they'll stay in the training world or if they're wise they won't abuse their their powers and then if they do get sent to a you know an actual regiment they don't have any but yeah that was something I had zero interest in doing and luckily I got through it joined the rep let me get to a couple questions because actually that came up in one of them so Alex thank you refrigeration I'll stay in to rot verse jtf2 Oh they're two completely yeah to rep would be more like a range of battalion or or yeah exactly um and it's hard to I play that I don't I don't really I try not to play that game but I would think soldier to soldier the type of person that you the base of the the soldier in the rep and then the JTF dinner they were all humans and we're given the opportunities and the training and the access to different courses of stuff it's going to come from the same mold different objective the only thing with the rep and that's something that you know I try to bring up and it's a lot more mentally tough you don't go home on weekends you're not going home for Christmas it's it's full on you know so you don't have that that release or and you're you're in a controlled environment for a long periods of time and it that can have its effects on on on people so it's tough to compare for those for those reasons you know if you can go on to the range and go or go training or go on an exercise for a couple weeks slug it out it's tough but you know that you're you're gonna go home and see your girlfriend or your wife or your hangul your friends and have a have a night on the town you know and then get a week off whatever the rep you're in the you're gonna you're humping the hills you're getting be stood on but you're your corporal polish corporal was about six foot five and he's mean and he doesn't like yeah and you're just coming back to more service probably guard and then more more [ __ ] right so it that has its that's effect so it's I'd yeah comparisons when I rather be in the JTF in the rep sure and it sounds a lot more well and that's I mean in your book it seems like almost every day and the rep is like boot camp you know yeah I mean no but yeah I mean initially the key is to get get to your section soldier well like any any I mean human racing brings the same thing is those you show up you pull your weight and you're not causing problems you're not the weakest link you kind of get left alone and then he's done your abilities you'll start to find the way that's best for you you'll get into units or different specialties that suits you as a person and then life is easier and you're doing what you enjoy and it's but if you're not toying the line here you are the weakest link be a [ __ ] nightmare the rep and that's and they will the onus will be even more so to give you a hard time because they don't want you to come back right that's when you'll get the desertions or you get your people won't come back because it's just not for them and that does everyone a favor right so though they'll see the weak link and they'll put the pressure on for that reason because at the end of the day they don't want to get sent over an operation with a guy that they don't feel yeah they'll put you in a legion jail like they'll put you in jail for any number of things I was gonna ask Joe if you'd never done any big time because that's just like a rite of passage in the legion isn't it no I did get I didn't I was we were actually came home on leave when I was in the GCP and two of my friends came with us and there was an alert and they tried to get ahold of me and they had they forgot to dial a zero so they kept on getting a wrong number so then they're like ah Struthers lied to us and we got back to France in the book and we missed the alert so we got back to Calvi we had to pass in front of the captain and then in front of the well my section captain and then the company captain for basically being AWOL and the alert in the end was stood down I think it was a test alert but we were given I think I was giving 10 days but it had caught out a lot of people so the jail was full so I was house room arrest so I got to stay in my room and watch friends in French yeah I paid the price I did buy it oh yeah in the rap if you're here late for a pail in the morning or for whatever reason the the regimen has it as a gel so they still they shave your head would a zero was the one for it and you spend your do it you do an eight kilometer run every morning with your rucksack and then they're basically doing the grounds keep for the the regimen there are painting rocks and doing whatever they have to do and yeah you'd I would see the same faces water what are you doing why would you why would you come all this way just to be yesterday is yellow you also you had if you went out on on the weekend or whatever you it wasn't until you'd been in for five years you could where cities right you had to wear a uniform and if you got caught out of it you're good they put you in jail no yeah in garrison as a Legionnaire you're not entitled to wear civilian clothes for five years now if you're given long-duration leave once a year you got two or three weeks you could go you couldn't leave France unless you went through the the proper procedures to get authorization leave France then you can wear civvies but garrison you couldn't and we had the the teeth of permission so if you wanted to gloat let's say it was Friday night you wanted to go up in the morning they got this little piece of paper that you have to fill out with all the different information you have to use a ruler if it's not straight they'll just rip it up your face that goes to your corporal and if you likes you just sign it if he doesn't he'll say you know screw you know rip it up as long as you you know you don't piss him off in the day it goes to the sergeant he'll sign it then it goes to your section lieutenant he's happy with the he'll sign it then it goes to the company captain and he just obviously signs it if the lieutenant has signed it but so at the end of the day let's say it's it's 4:30 now and it's you can leave the regimen you go to your company duty office and there'll be a corporal error and a duty sergeant he will check your teeth premier she'll give it to you and then he'll check the uniform and if it's not right say see ya so you get through that then you go to the main gate of the regiment and there'll be the duty sergeant there that's on duty he'll do the same thing he'll check your teeth the premiere show and you'll check your uniform and make sure there's no stains and your kepi everything's right and then he'll let you out same thing if he's not happy with it he'll [ __ ] you off and then when you're in town you got the are the MPs that are driving around and if your uniforms other sort so you had a couple too many whiskey cokes and you look like you're a bit tired that's it you're getting a you're getting a free drive back to the regiment and you're in jail so sometimes you're really think about do I want to go that's amazing yeah that being said in Corsica Calvi worry based it's in the summertime it's a destination of your your holiday goers and Andrew thank you very much how many Legionnaires wind up going to the e/m ia emia that's the question I'm not and ER if you couldn't clear Phi that what the yeah I'm not sure I don't know that acronym and then he also has and what the hell is up with corporal chief chef [ __ ] chefs corporal chefs to premier class how do they compare to us NCOs and they said what is a foot foot what's their deal but we answered that but can kind of go over the ranks a little bit so Eugene what you come under the farm you're second-class Legionnaire and then after basic you get your first-class Legionnaire I might I might have screwed that up a bit but it's that's your basic level private type of stuff you'll go to your regiments based on your abilities and how long in you at a certain point they'll send you in your corpus course so I said typically three to five years then you'll be a corporal you'll come back as corporal you do that after a certain amount of time they will decide whether or not or ask you if you're interested on the NCO troops or they might feel that you're not really suitable for the NCO route and then you go more so the Corporal chef route or you as an individual might be happier with just being a corporal chef so a corporal chef kind of has the same doesn't necessarily have the same authority but they're there they're similar to a sergeant so they're given the respect their own mess the pay is increased and it's a little more of a kosher right but they're not good they're gonna finish their career as a corporal chef but if you go the sergeant route then it's you go off and do your sergeants course in back to Castel the training and it's four months and then it would be a sergeant sergeant chef adds an edge in chef and then the top of the tier is much more major so after corporal it kind of branches you can either go corporal chef and is that more like a technical expert in your field not kind of leader because or like what did how does that differ than if you go sergeant low it's it's it's similar it but it stops there so if you're go in the corporate chef route you'll you know you'll be given the authority for certain things like duty office that type of stuff within the combat section you definitely you know given the respect but you're not gonna climb the ranks you're not gonna become a senior NCO that is for some individuals the NCO root NCO roots not for them but also there's certain individuals where they don't really maybe have the attributes that are what the legion is looking for in an NCO they're more corporal chef Heather they're capable but they're just more of that personality where they're just happy being a you know sure no I it makes sense because I think one of the problem to u.s. military has with it's up or out type of mentality is you get somebody who is a genius with a machine gun or a mortar or a radio they're they're great at their job and then they get promoted to a leadership position which they suck and they look like they're not a good soldier because you know but they they were good soldier no you're right leadership is not going yeah yeah that's that's a valid point and yeah as you said the officers they watch and see if so will be based on your sections captain and they they can see over the years what your strong points are and where you fit in their system and yet they'll kind of point you towards so when you up at the rep and then the next step for you was the airborne course yeah so they need you yeah exactly short with the rep and you do they call it a promo and it's typically lasts about three weeks so you do I think we need seven jumps with two night jumps so you're just going through the you're given a small this small building on the regimen that's there for the promo yeah you get your jumps in you learn kind of the you learn the rep song of course it's the first thing you do and yeah they show you around you learn the the traditions and the rules and regulations of the camp itself of the do's and don'ts and once you're done your promo you're introduced here the comment company they're going to and typically everyone from the promo goes to the same company so we were all going to the first company yeah we did our jumps join the first company and then you get split up into your different little sections and that is really where your your life begins as a Legionnaire now you're a you know a new Legionnaire in a combat company section and now you got to start all over and improve yourself and yeah now can you talk a minute about the companies because there are eight companies right it was that correct though there's five I think those five you know is there yeah so in the rep there's the first company which is the that I joined so that's their specialties is urban combat and nights there's the second company which is the mountain company there's the third company which is in Phineas and then there's the fourth company which was sniper explosive and another and then there's the say aura which has had mortars it had a recce it had it was twenty years ago and then the GCP which I would get into later they were attached this seiwa and there might be something else the SRR anyway that was kind of a support combat company that had it's different specialities and then there was the fifth company which was kind of the service battalion so they would be there to support a lot of the you know transit if you were the transmitter for the co you'd be fifth company if you were you know there as a specialty type person that was the fifth company I think since then they've added this company which is I think desert desert might happen though you get assigned to the first one which is urban urban that's correct yeah so first company first section I get introduced my corporal is a X parrot guy that rake good guy any basically when I show up you got to show up with a case of Cronenberg beer that is rule number one I think actually the Legion owns parts taking Cronenberg so they're very smart in their business that's the rule so you show up with your beer if you don't they just kick it and then you got to go back and get your beer so but um you show up and you gotta give the sergeants of beer the lieutenant the corporals and then basically you're just you start washing toilets and [ __ ] around but I remember corporate just said to me shut up do your job and you'll do fine and that was the advice I was given by a a corporal from the rep was just you know toe the line and yeah with it don't stick out which is good advice I think yeah so I did I did ten months with first couple so we started doing we went off early on and we did I when they get a new influx of Legionnaires they go off and you do your your urban combat course so they do an internal one for the company to teach the new the newcomers the tools of the trade we went off and did a combat or our winter warfare ops command of course in France and yeah jumps we would jump every week typically and then there'd be exercise would be on the range lot it was it was good you know I enjoyed it it was nice to finally get there and start doing doing the job and learning and saying you know what I can I got this you know I'm I'm around some likely like-minded individuals I dig it we're soldiering and unfortunately there wasn't a lot of stuff going on but you're always up for going on different call it turn on I'm not sure English word but you do tours over overseas so in Africa typically when I was there the guys were just coming back from the but you're always heading over to either Chad central Africa where things are heating up nidia French influences you and you would be potentially going there but I was after about 10 months we were we were supposed to go to Gabon France earth Africa and I was doing a I was running I could run you know I think when I joined the Legion I was probably one hockey so I was you know it's kind of a heavier set kid maybe eight a couple of too many burgers and I lost a good 25 pounds so I could run you know I could run so I did all right running and they put me in these running things with some of the other NCOs and corporal and one day when we were done the race my sergeant said to me why don't you try out for the the GCP and I had steamed the GCP at do at the we're jumping and then showed up in this truck and they're all wearing jumpsuits and it was a mixed match of corporals Cobra chef sergeants and the officers but there they were freefall right so they're they're just more relaxed and I remember asking my corporal I was during the promo actually who you know who is that he said I was aware of who they were but I was not I was obviously focused on just not [ __ ] up and getting my job done it at the first company so I didn't really understand the dynamics behind who they are what they do and how do you get there and so I said what do you mean he said well you can just you can volunteer to do selection and if the lieutenant signs off on it you go you do selection if they they take you they take you know my past in front of my lieutenant and I asked I asked for selection and there was actually a in our company there was a an individual you saw that he's actually Rhodesian Graham color and he left the first section first company and gone to the the GCP and yeah he had a great great name in the company and I actually one of the actually I think this rake took me to see Pelham GCP Pelham was just finishing I think his 50-year and he was actually gonna go home he was done and he gave me some advice and he said you know what if you can get anywhere and come to the come to the GCP it's it's the place a lot more enjoyable so I took his advice and I went from the lieutenant and I asked for permission to do selection and then he approved I went to the company captain it was actually who had formerly been the the captain of the GCP he approved it I did selection and yeah I was fortunate enough to get through and at that point I had a year a year and ten months service though the minimum rank and the GCP so what the GC is the the group comando parities so what they are is each airborne regiment in the French military has a GC B team they actually might have two or three but it's a 10-man halo freefall team and they act in there either the the Pathfinders for the regiment or what they do is combine they form the GCP group so they can work together all the different tcp groups within the GC or GCP teams within the group and they support the cost which is the French Special Operations Command so second tier SF so you're either supporting your regiment or you're working with the group supporting the costs for whatever tasking they have set for you um so yeah and minimum rank is corporal so they sent me on my corpus course at that point and off I went back to Castel and I think I mentioned the book I contemplated throwing myself from the Train but it would it would have missed so yeah so what was the Corporal of course like when you went there was it was it different than the first time you were there uh yeah I mean I had asked some of the guys what to expect and one of them had said that there's the adjutant that runs one of the peloton's platoons and adjutant Madeira a Portuguese guy and he said he's an absolute lunatic if you don't get him you're good to go so I showed up and on the board I was under my dear IRAs peloton so the first thing you had to do was go into his office and present yourself so in the in the front and the légion system you you knock at the door and you ask for permission to enter they say enter you go in you take your kepi off and you present yourself so it's typically you know your your rank name when you join company section all that's kind of stuff there's a whole spiel anyway I totally [ __ ] mine up and yelled at me and said go out you know no do it again so I had to go out knock on the door penny showing the way enter I did it again I screwed it up again and he looked at the sergeant beside him and said look at his dossier does it say he's a [ __ ] no that's probably say these days he said it so it's not on me but I thought was the start to my my sergeant oh my corporals course anyways he was he was an absolute lunatic My dear IRA and all in all due respect he was good at what he did he was excellent at getting people to do things that they didn't want to do and smile while they're doing it but he had done the man house command of course in Brazil and I think it tweaked off some some some things in the upper epsilon of his brain and basically he was always in the jungles of man house in you talk about that a little bit your book that they went through a really heavy seer coarser or prisoner yeah it was known for its tough prisoner war phase where it broke law but yeah he obviously enjoyed the share of it but we were always yeah in some sort of man house command of course setting but he yeah he he run a ran a tight ship it was basically it was two months of you know range work and what they're doing basically is they're teaching how to be a corporal in the combat company so they're basically treating you like the worst Legionnaires out there so they're your weapons are never cleaned your room is always a [ __ ] state you suck on the range you don't know how to do anything map and compass your drill is atrocious and you know so they're always just beasting you trying to and then getting you two to work together so it was actually I don't have I mean it sucked but I don't it was at the end of it we were proud of and I had the you know unfortunately I was able to finish first and like most courses in the Legion a lot of the points given for the final tally is based on physical ability so I had you know I was able to to run and do the core dog stuff so I was able to get maximum points because I'm sure I didn't do very well on the actual like written stuff but yeah I remember on mission of the book is the final parade the the top finish you you bring the section to attention you turn them and then you march them off the parade square in song and so I finished first and there's my driver there obviously the you know coming cabinets CEO in the regimen and the guests and stuff and I give the the drill command to turn right which should have been left so now everyone's turned the wrong way and I can see in my peripheral vision my dear IRA like puts his hand on this like this and then I'm all I'm all flustered so I get the guys going the right way half of them are laughing right and then we march off and I forget to make them sing and then I could just hear my right yellow from the background the [ __ ] song you know so it was you know and they did well and yeah it was it was it was it was good experience but they definitely beast you as they do now did they pin you at that point are you promotable or high were you all my ring so I was lucky when I get back to Calvi the the GCP Calvi is the the town that where the rep is is based named named actually after Christopher Columbus Calvin's middle name that's where he was but um the GCP is in Bunge center africa there's been a you know an uprising within the South Africa or the Central African army and the French are there and our team is there with a company from the rep and then the cost is there and so they when I get back to DeKalb II I'm given the message that I'm gonna be flying to join them in Bunge albeit I'm not GCP qualified yet in order to be qualified commando and the G speed you have to have your level 2 commando course and then your freefall course and then you're considered a qualified GCP team member so I had none of those I just obviously just done my so yeah I fly into Bunge and we spent three months there during that and that's I got my rank when I was when I was there so it was it was given to me a couple months later so tell us what to tell us about Bunge what was going on there it is uh it was yea within the Central African army there was a an uprising so it's very like most obvious very tribal and there was basically the the capital Bunge that had been split in half so the half of the South African army had kept one part of the city and then the pro-government forces consider the good guys and kept the other half and the French have a base there they they certainly have you know a commitment to assist the Central African I mean they have their independence but the French are just there to kind of help and obviously do what they do but they weren't involved per se they were there to maintain order within their own interests but also there's a large expat community in that in the city you're mining oil and gas that kind of stuff in the event of a major uprising they would be there to support or evacuate the expatriates be it French American British whatever and this is a former French territory I take it though those were we're heating up and one of the guys that the team was going off to do his course so I was just flown in to be a replacement so you flew in it was a DC dc9 and we landed and among the airport and the door opened up and it was my captain and I was the only one to get off the aircraft was going off to onto Chad everyone else in the plane was better chili was the only one to get off so I had my dress uniform and kepi my backpack and I go down the stairs and the airport was all black there's a which is their armored vehicle with 20 millimeter cannon drive and you know a loose circuit around the nine and you know there's tracers going off the distance and the odd mortar thump and then just the smell of rotten vegetation and garbage and the heat of Africa and that was my introduction to and I just remember all my senses were just no and yeah it was a neat it was a neat feeling it was it was exciting I remember that to this day it was just that Here I am I'm young soldier I've never been in a conflict area and just the atmosphere was very different but at the same time I do recall I was more anxious at the fact that I'm the new guy I'm joining a team that's been working together they're all obviously members and I'm the new guy I don't have the the courses so I gotta watch my back right so the captain basically so I get off the plane and there the guys are all there in the back of the van rah which is a truck this is kind of an open trunk and they're all in there they're the combat gear and there I am with my kepi and I just felt super out of place and anyway they take me back to dock to our camp and then the captain just basically pulled me aside said listen you know you're you're here it is where it is just watch and learn and yeah was the team I mean not only were you not qualify but you're also sort of a junior ranked guy at this time with not a lot of time in how did they treat you did they accept you did they kind of try to train you up did they guide you well part of selection I think selection was that for me lasted three weeks and it's typically a month reflect a selection phase and what they do in the GCP selection phase is once you've gone through all the physical tests the range tests all that kind of stuff they will throw you into the team in exercises training you'll go into the you know under the range with them you'll do house clearing you do some rappelling you'll do and they're trying to see whether or not you have also obviously the abilities but do you mix within the team do you have the personality your are you able to pick up what they're teaching you that was a big one so they're teaching you they're tools of the trade per se and are you able to drive with the the team you have the right so at that point a lot of the guys I knew from selection albeit short but they knew who I was so I think you know I don't know but I was obviously I made the team so I must have done something right so I was accepted and they knew I mean my personal I wasn't gobby I'm not a huge talker so I just kind of shut my mouth there was particularly there was two Anglophones there was a corporal Brook and corporal chef Maguire and they basically took me to the side and said hey you know you know this is what you got to do I got myself into [ __ ] right away with a French sergeant I didn't present myself as you're supposed to and it was a difference between the combat companying the GCP where you don't you don't talk to a sergeant in a combat company unless he approaches you and then you do but there I should have shown up and presented myself to all the NCOs and I didn't so I was right away I was in the [ __ ] so they kind of took greater than we say you know Strether's this we get it you know you don't this is the piece of the rules to sell you don't create movies and these are the guys you look out for and then they threw me they kind of put me with a corporal chef Laskowski and I mentioned here in the book Laskowski was the senator so is his father that's a Polish name so his father was a Polish Legionnaire in didn't know China and had met that would be his grandfather had met a Vietnamese lady and so he was in the rep French but look Vietnamese with a Polish name so he represented all the history of yeah and he was a good he was a good [ __ ] soldier let's go see a lot I still have a lot of time for him to this day and he did extremely well but he kind of became my be numb and be Nam is a word they use in the Legion it's you always work as two's and that was something that was drilled into us during basic - as they would a lot of times put a French speaker with a non French speaker or a stronger candidate with a less stronger candidate and you you would work together and try to tag along her drag along the less capable and you were responsible for them for meeting the grade so he was my B na min in Bunge and so when we would go out and do stuff I was just following him and watching and learning yeah basically and what we what were you what was your mission and Bunge what we primarily tasked with yeah so in this we were there just to be present and if there was a requirement we would evacuate the expatriate personnel or if any French interests were at risk the embassy Miller camp some some other stuff we would be there to support when I got there things were starting to heat up so we started looking at the requirements in order to get the people out so going out talking to people living in the different neighborhoods advising them that were there in the in the event they needed assistance and/or things got dire this is would be the SOPs to get them back to the airport and flown out so there was that set up there was a lot of you know wrecking and then we were training on the side so you know I think for my purposes we did we did some patrolling so that I could kind of get into the minds to the guys I was driving the vehicles to and then as it says in the book you know they started they started to have contacts with some of our the Legionnaires doing patrols and so we'd be called in supports and they started pillaging the authorities buildings that were on the pro-government side so no one officers or government officials that so at night didn't come and they would pillage their homes theft all that kind of stuff if there was we would be called and that was obviously that was I think my second night that's where we had the my first kind of introduction to do it initially it was just dealing with the unrest or we're losing you we're losing your audio a little bit I'm not sure if it's the mic oh sorry is that better yeah mhm my bad yeah sorry I pulled the cable where did you lose me when you said they were pillaging there there are their houses and then yeah so yeah so there are the they call them the mutex so the mutineers but basically the the non pro-government side of the military we're pillaging a lot of the promo pro-government officer sides or government officials their homes at night in the different neighborhoods and we would be called to deal with that if required and then obviously things started heated up and there's certain points there was a French delegation there in a staff car and they were sent to no man it's called pk0 so it's kind of the the line that broke up the city between the Pro and the the anti-government forces and there was a meeting between the French and the the anti government officials and when they were driving away in their staff car they opened up and killed one of the officers and seriously the French red dragon way the the guerillas opened up on them so at that point the French said that was it and then as you know today in the book we at two o'clock in the morning we start cleaning the non government side of the of the city so yeah so the three months there it had it's different phases from just you know standby and then obviously as things changed and it was on a a more aggressive in what so initially the French do you really want to engage the guerillas as you know this sort of direct action when they attacked the the French delegation it did then I mean did the French just say that the gloves are off and you guys go go do your thing I think you know I'm just a newcomer so the the politics the the stuff going in the background is you know beyond my paygrade by any means but you could sense it being there on the ground you could sense the the momentum of what was happening I think the French initially they you know they're they're they're neutral somewhat in that they're allowing the government to figure out their own their own problems right it's their kind of deal with it but obviously based on whatever's happening in the background as I said above my paygrade there may be assisting in certain areas or watching and then depending on what's occurring they're gonna start providing assistance with what makes sense to them but obviously when the French officer was killed for them that was enough and then with the costs we cleared the rest of the city yeah and that was this is my introduction to Africa I'm obviously never been you know a young man from from Canada this is all new to me is a huge learning curve obviously soldiering first kind of you know combat and just the whole environment so I'm watching and learning but even I could sense the change in the atmosphere of the city and what was what was transpiring so yeah there was what you say cleared the city what what do you guys start doing there and did you engage the enemy how how did that play out though initially before the incident where the staff guard was shot on the officer was killed I mentioned that pk0 which was no-man's land and the mutineers they would come up to pk0 sometimes cross over and they were you know there was some you know they're pillaging there was rape going on they were shooting their RPG sevens and some mortars trying to hit you know government forces but there would be obviously be off target and civilians were starting to pay the price unfortunately as they do in that part of the world a lot of times we would be set up opiez or would be on pk0 just waiting hoping that they would come and try to [ __ ] around and then deal with that so that was kind of my initial involvement and then we had an Opie and we had across pk0 there was a bridge upon Jackson and the manias had a bunker and a building that they were using so we were watching that and we had I think two a sniper that up and I hit an adjacent building and we were just basically watching and once the French military are being killed and they decided the French military that they were going to clear the rest of the city that was initially our objective so we took pawn Jackson and then we were going to push through to a certain point and stop so that was initially what transpired and then obviously once the French pushed on to that side a lot of them just turned and fled into the jungle and went back to their their origins their villages and stuff and we spent a little bit of time trying to source certain individuals that were known to and particularly the ones that were responsible for for killing the officers and but well on that note Jewell a a slight sidebar you know the United States back in the 1950s we had something called the lodge act that Henry Cabot Lodge passed where we brought in a lot a lot of foreigners directly into the United States Army people from hungry people who were German people who were in all these Eastern European countries Latvians Ukrainians and made them you know part of the American army and they served in US Special Forces they served in you know other capacities and it was something that was a huge boom for us from in an intelligence perspective that we had all this you know indigenous capability in the ranks I have to think that the French Foreign Legion provides a similar function for France that you have people in that unit from literally from Japan to Donna and that much that must give the French a huge leg up when you go into some of these parts of the world definitely and yes hundred percent but also just the way of doing business the Legion they're sent to an area you're given a task and it's it's done there's no you know there's no questioning orders whatever and the type of soldier and this setup is it you have minimum logistic requirements and it just it's easy right I know for example when the French win in new Molony of the Americans were very interested in in how it was done just based on the limited amount of logistics that was supporting the train behind it you know but a hundred percent having that the different nationalities within the alesis certainly helps especially with the language barrier anytime you run into any Cypress situation there's always someone in your section that speaks the language or knows you know any mean it's it's definitely a helpful trait yeah and I remember there was the we drove by the Canadian Consulate and when we initially we were doing you know just trying to let people know that we were out there if they needed assistance they could be they could reach us or if things got tired we would come and assist and I walked into the the Canadian Consulate with you know my full kit on and I remember the the consulate consular came out and the look on their face was just like I know I asked if I could apply for a Canadian passport yeah I didn't I didn't get one but I left I left our number and said you know if they needed assistance definitely help us out or we could do all I'm gonna get to a couple more questions and then I didn't actually want to ask you about your first firefight because I thought the sort of what you went through during that and sort of your internal process was very interesting but Andrew thank you very much what's up with the jungle training course yeah the actually I never did it but it's just it's just the French commando course run by typically the Legion tries it quasi ml are you down there and it's just uh I think it's just a tough go you know there's uh a lot to be learnt but there's not a lot of pampering and you go down there and you you get it done and you suffer and there you go you come out wiser man thank you very much Brendan did you ever go to the Pacific New Caledonia or French Polynesia and then he says great talent as usual did Jack get my email BG actual I'm negative for me I did not you did not go to the Pacific okay yeah I'm not sure about the email we'll look into that brennon hammer nails thank you very much for the donation Ian thank you how did you like the FMA fa mas the philosopher all thoughts yeah the FAMAS I mean yeah you know leaving the Canadian reserves we had the m4 I thought the FAMAS was initially it seemed it was weird looking to me but it's short so for house clearing for jumping it's definitely attaches to the side your your rig nicely it it's robust it doesn't you don't get a lot of stoppages it's five five six but yeah I know it seemed to be a trustworthy weapon i I came to respect it and yeah they've since moved on to the the HK but I think for the time that it was used and I had no issues with it as a as a left-handed shooter did you have issues with many of the weapon systems no that mean the FAMAS you can switch it back and forth the only I did my turret elite course which is kind of like there's two phases to the sniper course in the French so I did the first phase and you use the the frf to which is their sniper weapon and you can only shoot right is it a bolt-action that is yeah because I had to shoot but you know what I'm kind of one of those weird ones I'm left-handed but right ionamin okay oh god yeah exactly I don't usually admit that but so it you know once initially it felt odd but it didn't really bug me too much I wasn't the greatest shot really anyway but um yeah I got I got the job done Alejandro thank you very much does joel still drink Cronenberg did he do a rotation to Djibouti or do the CCAP or do do the CCAP course there you have no um I'll drink Kornberg for sure it's not my go-to but it's a good beer I didn't go to Djibouti they actually when I asked when I was getting out that was the offer that I would go down and be a training corporal on the course in Djibouti and I was actually considered it but ultimately I didn't I wanted to fly yeah yeah right you started the helicopter thank you Andrew were the board l military comp Campania still a thing when you were in yeah when we go to the bordelles yeah it's an interesting topic when we were in Schad there was the Rose Devon which I get into in the in the book and it was basically a little Bistro like a bar that was on the river outside of that camp but during the week Legionnaires could go there it was outside of the garrison but they could go there without a teacher Michelle and there was a bus that came back and forth I think at 2 o'clock the morning would shut down and there was local girls that would work there private contractors you know military nothing however for them to be in that bar they had to have a medical inspection from one of the French military doctors at the hospital I loved you France anybody doesn't know what that is we'll let you look it up so that we don't get a a channel strike who thinking was you got Legionnaires in Africa for a large point of time they're gonna find the extracurricular activities that they they want to find so be smart about it provide the auctions whether or not put at risk and they're not directly involved but they're just ensuring that their people are looked after yeah oh yeah and we we ended up being the the military police sir because some of the boys some of the guys were getting into a bit of trouble you know and I'll be honest with you I saw two of the ladies get into a fight over someone and I've never seen a harder fight they took their their their tasking extremely seriously but yeah that was my my the only time that was really you know thank you Alex do you think other nations like the US or UK should have and OH a Foreign Legion equivalent and what was your favorite meal you had in your travels like wherever you were if there was a particular one do I so the fullest question do I think other nations should have a similar setup as Allegiant well I mean the Spanish do I know the Americans were looking to buy the Legion when went into Erwin Algeria during the pooch when that was coming to an end and France gave Algeria its independence there was serious consideration of buying the Legion you know what I think this day and age that was things too for me like two parts of that answer is you know for France there's obviously the historical connection between Canada France so for me it wasn't sure I'm serving a foreign country but the end of the day it's we have a lot of similar connections beliefs and then today were helping humanity sound like we're out you know taking over a gold miner or something you know that's typical we're taking over Papua New Guinea um if you have I don't know I mean if you have young men that are men and women that that want a soldier and they don't have the opportunities to to do so where they come from and they're capable and willing why not I think it serves it serves a good good purpose I mean it's it's tough I mean I I think we run into that we see that this I mean we especially in the states um you guys have been at war a long time and it has its effects on people and some people don't necessarily want to go back anymore and they do and it's people that are willing and wanted why not give them that opportunity it definitely helps in terms of cultural understanding cultural relations when you have people you know from other throwing pictures Andrew thank you very much the Ambassador is a fascinating documentary filmed with hidden cameras in bangy Bank is a banking bank we monkey monkey about crooked diplomats smuggling blood diamonds L sent Foreign Legion vet isn't it oh I'm sure he was not involved native Blood Diamond smuggle and but that's our the rumors that Legionnaires just thank you very much and are the rumors that Legionnaires sustained high casualties but just do not disclose sure not know I think in this day and age I mean it's a last week two young Legionnaires were killed in Mali it's they're part of the French military that's put out there in the media it's yeah there's no there's no smoke and mirrors it's all you can't cover that stuff up in this day and age especially Western democracies like we can't do it so so you're in you're in bagi and you guys have taken on a more aggressive stance and this is really your first time seeing action can you tell us about your first firefight because I thought something interesting happened there so it was my second night there and work came over the radio that there was a available village by the mean you're so off we went and we got another vehicles short about a block short and I thought we had you know this is 96 so we had to actually decent night vision we had the the latest stuff that had been issued so it was the dual which wasn't bad you know most out of most point everyone had them the mono ones there so we had within the within the team we either had the FAMAS with passive laser or the mp5 and then I think I had this shotgun or the phone nice but whatever there's a shotgun the team for breaching and then there was one sniper that the FFRF to but I think he carried the mp5 in support until he was needed anyway we stopped short and then as we approached the building that was being pillaged the two lead guys in her team let's go and another individual they basically walked up we're coming up to the front of the building when one of the mutineers came out and he just basically you know went full auto with his a.k and went down the road and then let's go and the other Legionnaire returned fire and the you know just basically went into the building and then they opened up from the inside so we basically fire and then captain well basically said you'll form a former prettier it was a bit chaotic so that was that was my first kind of obviously firefight so my recollection was just me I initially returned fire but then it was it was confusing as in who's what and who's where and then at that point Raul the captain is yelling his orders and he's trying to to me sort of order and get us into a defensive circular position based on when we were positioned so then I'm just trying to figure out where he's telling me to go and what to do so I'm given my spot to go I find a spot that seems appropriate and then I'm giving my given my arc at that point part of the team went into the building and the I think it was four of them they had rushed out the back into the elephant grass behind the golden and the lights were turned on on the building so right now boom all the lights come on night vision obviously done your night vision naturally from your eyes are done but whatever I just remember my heart beatin coming out of my chest my ears from the fire fight and then just yeah he's trying to make sure I had my my wits about me on who was where and who is what and then so I'm basically sitting there things are kind of you know now it you know everything's kind of slow-motion nothing's kind of coming back to the normal time and I'm looking at my arc there's lots of chitchat going on yelling and then in the bushes I see movement I'm like you know typically right so I look and I'm watching and I'm trying they might obviously my eyesight's not great because of the whole night vision delight and stuff and I'm trying to focus and I changed my position and I take a bound and I find another point of cover but I'm a little closer and I could I think I can see someone beside the tree hunched over on his knees and I'm looking and then I'm trying to figure out whether or not is that one of my teammates yeah I'm trying to figure out how at that point that is my main concern so I get up and I'm you know my weapon at the ready I take three or four steps towards and then I can make out that it's a neikei in the guy's hand so it's it's definitely one of the commuters and I'm kind of at his 7 o'clock so I'm at his beer he can't see me and he's just basically hunched beside a tree not moving so I just basically walked up and I was about three feet back and Pablo just don't move and then I yell captain like what I was like chimera and he comes over and he just had a look of complete [ __ ] shock as like what and he basically just kicked the guy in the face as hard as he could and to the side and then I helped me hogtied we recovered his gear ock time we throw in the back of vehicle and then secured the area and what's all said and done we return that individual to the South African Police and they eventually I think he was shot they considered them just common criminals in that part of the world Africa exactly we didn't we weren't there to witness that but we basically they were considered criminals and that was the BSP we had to hand them or place the next day we returned and where the guys were they were found dead in the grass but after the when we got back to the camp the like a captain obviously pulled me to the side and we we discussed perhaps my choices and how I went about doing what I did you know I could have been maybe a little more aggressive but in retrospect well he's right but my concerns were valid and then my thinking after all you know thinking back is did I necessarily mean evil action I wasn't out to kill some that some why he joined the French Foreign Legion I just wanted a soldier exactly I had up on him he wasn't a risk to me or to anyone in the end the result was right but I could probably have gone better but I would have my opportunity to learn my trade and do better so it was a learning curve for me all right but you know it is what it is and that's that was my that was the second night we were there sauced which wasn't a bad thing because we were thrown into the mix and then already I had caught myself you know a guy a prisoner we're immune here so uh you know granted it might not have been the best technique know something you're taught but it got the job the the reason I like that story or you're telling of it is simply because I think for a lot of people have never been in combat they don't understand the uncertainty that accompanies combat sometimes just not only the fog of war and confusion but our own self doubts that kind of arise like am I seeing something that I'm not seeing something is this a good guy is just I mean troop identification it has come a long way but there's always still that kind of because if you make a wrong decision he might shoot you before you shoot him or if you make the wrong decision you might shoot an ally or an innocent person it's a very challenging situation so I like that you approach that in the book and talk about I appreciate a week ago I was in Castel getting you know beasted because my locker was in [ __ ] state albeit it was perfect and then now I'm in bunkie Central Africa looking at a guy holding his a K so you know it was a huge you know culture shock learning curve and yeah as you say you know the father and whatever lesson learnt but yeah the result was was right so then you guys had a larger objective I guess that was before things went to went to hell but then after things you guys had a larger objective one of the Reg well or guerrilla rebel Opie's yeah exactly Jackson so we had I mentioned every we had the that Opie kind of overlooking it and the rebel said there is basically just as pk0 so no-man's land and then an adjacent road that went old dirt road a small bridge and they had barricaded that with burnt-out vehicles and they had a home that they were using and then little bunkers that they had built as protective for that for the building and they were using that coming and going and when the French decided we were gonna clear that half of the city that was our objective so the costs were going to fly in with the Pumas and and take the the main power station that was actually on the the non-government side and basically our sign or our signal to go was going to be a Puma a cost Puma helicopter with a 20 millimeter cannon that was going to fly over and they start giving orbitting covering fire and that was our goal so we were given we were at this o P and the captain told us to get together and we had some aerial photographs that they had taken from with one of the Jaguars and he basically briefed us up on the on the task that night and what it was is that we had to bab armed vehicles or sorry one vapp armed vehicle and then to pay cuts which are you basically renault jeeps non armor just a typical mash but a little more you know cheap but a little more recent and we were basically going to clear point jackson and the idea was that the Bab would lead the way the pay cuts would follow right behind the VAT have a 50 Cal and the Bab would hit the bridge knocked the vehicles out of the way stop short of the building provide covering fire with a 50 Cal I was to drive the set the first peak at behind the fab I would break left and the guys in my vehicle we were gonna clear the building itself and then the second peak at would go left to but they would clear the bunker to which would be in our rear that was the idea so we were briefed up on the operation I guess they up and told to get our kit together and get squared away and stand by for the Puma and so we all got you know got our gear together and I was sitting in the pee cut and I had beside me ly D he was you know at that point probably had 12 years in in in the Legion been in the section for a chunk and he was Moroccan French and then I had tested any air behind me he was on I'm and he's French he's been in the in the team for quite some time decorated and so my thing was Here I am the junior guy to the team I don't know [ __ ] I ain't done [ __ ] and here we are we're getting this opportunity which doesn't happen here this is pretty now I love this doesn't happen very often that's exactly what ajan ly he said to me he said hey Joel like you know count your blessings buddy this doesn't happen all the time you know but my focus was on just doing my job and not not screwing up you know at that point still and I think as I mentioned book I heard that Puma way before anyone else I certainly think I did I could hear the [ __ ] [ __ ] in the distance and that was her and then yeah off we went the báb starts a diesel turbo you can just smell the and I just remembered the door it was like a bay door that would open up and nobody went rui hear the turbo going and just driving behind it as close as I could and then when we came to the the right turn for the straightaway to the bridge that's when captain marul he was on the fifty Cal he just opened up and the 50 guy you smell it and then it nailed obviously at speed we nailed the bridge and the the VAT hit the the vehicles and then I took a good hit to the the side of the PCAT and it was it really wanted to drag and I was able to drive and then stop short where I basically stopped where we had to stop and the next part of that task was I was going to dismount with an yd and on the FAMAS you could put an AC 58 anti-personnel grenades so basically goes on the rifle itself and it shoots rifle grenade and the idea was we were gonna put one each through the windows and then go and clear the clear the building so I had mine set up already and we also had a spare from us in the the front of the PCAT if anyone an issue and I got out and in the rest of everything grabbed the wrong one and but everything was in slow motion that I had enough time to realize [ __ ] this thing doesn't have an AC 58 on it grab the right one and I actually got my my 58 off you know maybe a second after ly DS and I was a bit short I could have probably taken in three or four bounds more to get maybe a little more on the target but it hit the corner of the window and it blew through it was just brick anyway and but it and then we cleared it but they they basically as soon as they saw that 50 Cal come and they they turn and they they ran right so we cleared it everything was fine and then I had taken I think I had I hit a part of one of the carcasses from the vehicles and it I had a flat tire and that's what that hit was and the drag so I was left behind with chucker line which was a we had a Romanian corporal chef who was our IT photographer guy went on later in his career to get the Legion of Honour but nice nice guys smart and he stayed back with me in the PCAT and gave protection I changed the wheel being the rookie and the rest of the team continued down the Avenue to clear further down we had a you know a stop point to go to and yeah so I changed the tire as the PM was flying around giving it you know give him some love with it's 20 mil and then yeah and then as I mentioned the book we started we drive back to join the team and we're coming right at a crossroads and as I'm passing the crossroads one of the French regular infantry marine vApp 20s on one of the other instructions in their zone that they had must have mistaken us for or miss disoriented us for being pretty mutants and that thing is the Central African army obviously has all French equipment right so they had similar vehicles and they they put 20 millimeter round right across her bow as we were driving through the intersection yeah yeah and I just react I looked at chuckling look the me and we both laughed but it was obviously just uh you know we sped through in it but it was yeah it was a close call but I think it was just a nervous laugh like what and yeah we stopped short and then yeah in the morning light the locals started coming out some of them that had suffered the you know the friendly fire stuff from the lost rounds or whatever and that was kind of obviously the adrenaline and I mentioned the book this is afterwards I have you know a pretty good adrenaline dump but at that point we're all keyed up and then it's stopped and then he can kind of feel your bodies go and then I saw the locals come out and then some of them had suffered obviously you know from from what was transpiring and I felt I remember feeling bad for them but the French to be honest we the French a great read they they're all dealt with they sent out French military ambulances with the the medical staff and looked after the locals and did what they could and we basically were sent back to the pond Jackson to clear the buildings a little more you know we found some weapons and stuff and yeah and then just stood by and that was it so that was my kind of first I guess fascinating so how much longer were you guys there what else transpired while you were yes so at that point we were probably two-thirds away where there are three months or I was there three months so that's about two months in and I remember I went back to the back to our camp we were given two days just you know chill out and that's where I wrote my grandfather you know and he had he had retired a three-star my mum's dad he had actually been awarded the DSO by Montgomery on the field for attention yeah and then not got the actual metal from King George at Buckingham Palace so he was yeah he was my it was a it was my childhood hero by by all means and a nice man you know an awesome grandfather so he was the one that I mentioned that had gone into mmm foo and did he understand the Legion so I wrote I didn't sleep that night obviously and I just you know I wrote a letter and kind of explained what was happening and at that point as we said they had alternate fled and gone into the jungle a lot of them and gone back to their to their villages points of origin I guess to wait it out to see what happens and then we were given certain tasks where we'd go to these villages and tried to track down some of the yep but so we'd said we you know we set up ambushes and some of the trails because a lot of more coming at night back to their villages to see their families we did go to one of their homes that but no avail they're always you know three it's their country their land nothing goes goes um and then at the end we had all this ammunition that needed to be spent because it's you know I it's dated so we went to the range and we're on the range just being dumb shooting the menus around as we can and then captain Raul showed up and called me and I ran over and he put me at attention and took my first class rank off and then put the Corporal rank on and then with a good punch right in the chest he goes on your uniform in the middle that's is you and ask and that's when I got my micro force rank so at the end of it the end of it very nice Julie you're trying to cut out a little bit you want to check your cable yep there you go not so much it might just be that when you start getting to you're speaking into the bottom of the microphone rather than the top is this better yeah yeah yeah okay yeah so that was I not sure who cut the last part but that's where at the end captain role gave me my my court was rank Kingsley who knows that was 1996 so at that point um two years in now you're a pretty young corporal at this point right uh like what in terms of service yeah I mean I was 21 22 when I when I joined so some guys had joined younger but yeah within the section I was yeah for for timing the Legion definitely I was I was low time to be a corporal and then to be in the intersection that was fortunately you know yeah right place right time I don't know but yeah things things worked out well for me I had a good go so then so then after that you is that when you went to the commando school so yeah so while I was there I knew that when we are done I would have to do my command of course so they the French run a command a course in more Louie which is southern France and then there's two parts to it there's a fort on the on the Mediterranean not far from Perpignan and then the second phase there's an old fort up in the Pyrenees Mountains Mon Louie which was one of the the forts built to keep the boys out the the Moors you know and that's where it's run so I knew that that's what I would be doing next so when I was in in bung or in Bunge one of the corporal's in the section was fairly new to the team he'd come over from his friend she'd come over from a regular French pear regiment to join the Legion and got into into the sections eels so we would go for runs often around the the perimeter basin he kind of gave me a brief on what to expect because I obviously wanted to know what you know what to expect for my command of course so we got back to France got back to Calvi and everyone went on leave and myself and two other individuals that had done selection with me I think I didn't last three went and did our men of course and that course you would do we would be the only Legionnaires so the other our course mates would be other GCP regular French there would be the Air Force for controllers traffic we're cooler there was the commando marine which is the French kind of equivalent to the US Marines they have divers basically it's the the French equivalent to the Navy SEAL program but obviously on a much smaller scale and then the Geo gen which is the French entity all their new members would do the same command of course that was my first introduction and it's uh things about the month-long course and I was it's introduction to kind of regular French troops and the kind of the Legion terror you know what I mean which was interesting because a lot of them that would been their first time dealing with Allegiant Air obviously and it was kind of you know they probably had their misconceptions or ideas and then just getting in a course with them and yeah becoming friendly and interesting experience how did they treat you how do they respond to you initially because you kind of hooked up with a a crew in the beginning and yeah right I mean we were busy so like they throw you into it right away I think at first they're a bit standoffish because they you know they probably think we're rapists and murderers as most people do that join the French for you know but at the same time we're all where we are TCP you know so whatever I think they're just trying to figure us out like you do in most courses you kind of give everyone there's some but sniffing that goes on and once we got into it you know everything finds its place so yeah it was fine they're there they were good and our instructors were all it was interesting to see them the same thing I think there are some movement in the first experience you know training of who and what we are it was more the free fall course where I had more time to kind of hang out with the other guy oh that's right okay that's right socialist cider and hang out you know but you know the camp command of course was uh was a good experience was actually tough which I I enjoyed at the end of it our NCO we're doing the final exercise and we're we're on this road running at night with a rucksacks and we're all you know knackered and I could see the lights of a truck at the end we get there and it's a French army truck and the NCO is like it's over and I was like are you sure he's like yeah I'm [ __ ] sure I'm telling it's over relax you know but it was the first it was the first course was actually you know I could feel my myself push to the limit which was neat I was what was interesting that one of the interesting things about the command of course the way you write about it is there there is a waterborne of course and you guys do a lot of obstacle courses like you don't do an optional course as an obstacle course it didn't seem like it seemed like like running off course from party or training you they're all they're all old chateaus and built into the walls and the mouth the the the moats everything are the obstacle courses so what they do is they time you from the get-go and you need to improve throughout the course even though you're becoming fatigued injured if you reduce and time you lose points so the theory is learning what they're teaching you but being effective and technique which will equal endurance and longevity not just going about it like an idiot and hurting yourself right so they're pushing you on those fronts but also you know monitoring how you do throughout but they definitely add to the fatigue and then they'll add the you know the explosive component I think you know in the book we mentioned the second night we're in the one of the old you know fort rooms and they're giving us a lesson on Range Safety and they got the heat cranked and the instructors got the bucket of water at the front of the class and you know the idea is to just screw with you so at the end of the class everyone's standing or they've you know put their head in the water a couple of times and you know they're mentions they gave us they there's two teams of the course and you have these old people you know indochina your radios that are massive you know and they were calling we had a color and they're calling you and say you know blue be at this spot in five minutes and you had to rush off in there they'd have you either do it an obstacle course or there'd be a lesson at knott's which you'd forget after about two minutes or for explosive calculations I don't know math isn't my strong point by any means but at least I had some teammates that I could cheat and watch but someone told me to go make a breach charge it would be it would be risky but um yeah they're definitely trying to to fatigue you and something I think I mentioned the book obviously I noticed I had Legion issued gear which came out of the Indochina warehouse you know and this year Jen who say you know they're the French anti-terrorist team he had all the the Gucci top among civilian stuff and because we'd sleep outside in the moat line you know what it was cold in the period in the base you know it was a and he would have a great sleep and we'd be all cursing the hell the French you talk about one of your favorite drills swerve on my [ __ ] nerve yeah that's right yeah so we would the initial phase of the course is in Perpignan which is on the water so that's kind of the amphibious stuff so we would read get the mask in circles on and learn you know we got there snorkeling get into the swells cover the distance that we had to do and then at the end of where you'd come back we had the kayaks that we'd the two-minute clacks that we'd have to learn how to use our faces how to stop basically on the beach because we'd screw up the arrival in the waves but you'd get to the beach and they would say okay we're going for a run so you have to get your bags out of the back of the truck in the in their bags you have your runners and so you know I'll get into the back of this covered transport truck and they would close the tarp so it's black so there's about you know 15 of you in the back of this truck and they would say all right you need to be in your running gear and then off the truck would go and they would you know swerve for the rights for the left they would stop brake accelerate and we'd all just be you know bashing each other tempers root flare and that was the swerve on my [ __ ] nerves and you're you're trying to change you guys managed to navigate that and at that point I remembers that there they have on one of the obstacle courses that's called the what was it called but it's basically like a water pipe that goes up the side of the wall and there's a boat we must space in between the pipe and the wall to get your hand in and you use basically use as leverage and then with your feet you climb up and I would scrape the share of my knuckles on that thing and it's you know it's a fort wall so my knuckles so reaching down everything was always at the bottom of my rucksack right whatever I needed it's at the bottom so I've reached down and I would just be cursing life because my bare knuckles would be yeah it was a house a but we figured it out and the idea was half the guys would just push themselves against the tarp get out of the way the guys in the middle would try to figure it out it it was just them everywhere but so were there any other highlights of like the commando of course the that come to mind um no I thought the instructors were we're good you know as I said that was my first kind of introduction to rank force French guys and all the instructors were 1/3 commando qualified and they all came from a lot of the French SF some that size stuff so there are you know they whatever they were they're a good man they're all physically fit and switched on and they would start to you know during the course when they saw that you were you know putting in the effort they would talk to him they're a good [ __ ] I enjoyed it it was me I'm enamored with forts so we're doing a course in a fort in a castle it was like you know yeah ok much worse way I know it was it was a good was a good experience so how you said they were all a third command of qualified how how did the commando school is it it like three levels so the kind of basic if you go off and do a command of course that's level one level two is the monitor so the one we're doing but they were specifically designed for the SF community then you can be a training corporal on a commando course depending on what what their training can level is an instructor level so most of your NCOs in a team will go and do the third level and that gives them the ability to be an instructor but it's like anything like insurance the same the US community is you know draw NCOs from different spots to come in and be training cadre and so that said you you know that was me getting to talk and meet and see other and it was interesting to to see the difference between you know I mean regular you know French GCP before our controllers like their seals the commando Marines and then you know I didn't know but it was it actually I lied because on the command of course we didn't have the commando Marines that was on the freefall course they had their own course but the ghn that was for me very interesting because I was aware of what they were capable of and that was not far from when they stormed the Airbus in Marseille and huge it kind of became popular one where they this the the moveable stairs separated from the aircraft and one guy took a spill that's right and I actually did my freefall course with the second guy through the door so you know shed in the GN if you're a new guy to the team you were put with the most experience so he had just gotten to the team and then Marseille kicks off and they go down and he was at number two through the door yeah no they were we we got vision would we do some cost training where they would teach us some of their house clearing techniques because at that time there you know they were pretty adept at that skill and some of their shooting and stuff and yeah so I was familiar but it was interesting to see either the person that was you know from you right right the time prayer I guess for people who don't know the GGN would they be equivalent to like Delta or the FBI hurt yeah Jean Dharma's like is police so it's like RCMP for us so every I guess it would be like you're you're FBI I guess would be the closest equivalent and then it would be their anti-terrorist team so but in the French system that is the go-to anti-terrorist team and then and then what is the unit that's like colloquially known as the French SAS yeah so that's the the premier pema okay yeah developed based on the British SAS the same kind of they have the similar wing dagger logo and they are the prime regiment of the cusp so the attachment the Special Operations Command so you have the premier pema you have their commando Marines which is like us maybe seals but smaller and then you have the ghn so those are the three main parts of the cost and then you have the aviation side that's fairly new but the helicopter stuff and then the second tier was the the GCP group and then there's also there's like three different units and like they still call do they still call themselves eleven shock just because it's cool no after they sunk the the Rainbow Warrior they were they were eh you remember the yeah they change it changed names in fact one of our instructors was one was from the yeah the ones named shock another different they have a different name there yeah there's like three they're like experimental aviation units or something like that you know it was neat evening I'm a young man I want a soldier you're there it was it was there was some interesting stuff going on yeah yeah for sure so then after you finished the commandos school then then what's next for you so then I go to Poe which is the the French military's jump school in the Pyrenees Mountains just outside there not far from Toulouse where Airbus is based and that's a three month course so there same thing all your costs newcomers to the costs and GCP ghn they go there to do their freefall course so I show up with a another corporal Dimitri who had done selection with me and so we get there and yeah it was they they take us to our rooms which were NCO rooms so for me it was a you know coming from it was like you know is this and we were eating at the the officer or the NCOs mess it was just very different for me but yeah I met some of the commando marine guys they were there were switched on guys and basically just jump for for three months and then we had the weekends off they had broke it's interesting they actually broke down the course was broken into three phases and between phase 1 & 2 there was a week off and the matter of running the course agreed it didn't make sense that I go back to Cal because that's a two-day trip and to come back so so he he called my captain in Calvi and asked you know hey listen we could keep Struthers we'll just we'll just jump him and you know and so again you know hate to say it but your average legion experience is not I was very fortunate you know what I mean so it's kind of a biased portrayal but it is where is but yeah so they just jump the share to me from for the week go to the at that point you know I was new the first phase was basically we were jumping out of plateaus and just learning the basics of freefall and so I would just go to the jump the jump zone and the instructors were doing other courses but when there was a spot available on their jump says hey Joel you know so I get to go into Pumas and yeah just learn my trade a little more and relax and life was good admit it you know at this point I'm two years in I made that Mitri yeah well the first course I go I'm there as an extra I'm kind of jumping and there's the entry exams which one of them is a 30 kilometer run and to get into the GCP you have to do that minimum under three hours so full kit 30 kilometers you got two out of three hours and it's a good it's a good Trek and I get there and I run like a psycho and I the camera was it was like two two and a half hours I got but it's flattened post it wasn't as hard but the last guy that come in basically walked over line at hour five you know I mean but I was enough to get in so I was sent home because I was the extra so I come back I do i do my medics course in the rep I come back and I'm there for three months I meet the guys and Dmitry sets me up with his number that had been there in course and she sets me up with with her friend so I'm I'm jumping out of the Herc's trans Elle's Pumas at night I'm free I don't know cheap two pair Michelle I can go in civvies and do things that young you know young people do and life was good and it was yeah it was a shock to the system and at the end of the course the setting I had befriended some of the guys from commander of marine I Drive back to their base in too long which is the big Naval Yard for the French and that's where the new bear which is their prime kind of flag unit for the commando Marines that's where their base is and we get there and there was a they had their mini building and then a nice dock and there is a us clear caucus up there with and I guess a US SEAL team was was there cross-training and I didn't seem but that the sub was was moored there and they showed me other ribs and some of their underwater some of the kit they were using the kit room their their armory and I was you know I got to go back to Calvi first of all I need a haircut and went back to the old school Rep way of doing things so it was kind of hate the same it wasn't the beginning in the end but it was certainly the yeah because you sort of saw like how other people had it and you're like ah man Oh pianos like us fortune you know I sound good you know I'm whining but I'm still going back to the rep which is old you know old school it's very controlled so it's kind of it was a hard Justin but you get back if you get thrown into it and I had a lot to you at this point I'm just a junior guy to the team so I got all all that to learn and do but at least I had the courses I need to do so I go back and start my my storm my time is a team team teammate in the team well while you were at the hey low score at the skydiving school um military freefall that is that when you you learned about Legionnaire French is that was it there or was it the commander's it was kind of uh you know what I was lucky because yeah there's the French that the Legion teaches their new recruits is very kind of like prison French you know it's old school there's lots of German vernacular in the front and the Legion French because of the influence from the Germans but there's like for example when you go to the cook hall and you want eggs it's a dick una if you want to them it's Duke wheat which is basically two balls you know two testicles I guess would be but here if you're you know if you're a Czechoslovakian or Romanian or you know a Polish guy you don't know you don't know so you when you get your first little taste of or restaurant there's a nice lady as your server here yeah bowls but if you look like what see ya sue you learned um yeah I had a funny anecdote I kind of feel bad but it was funny at the time I had a German captain on my free full course and he was there dogs need to do his free fall training and he didn't speak any French so I was his his translator and we had a long weekend come up and he's excited that his family was gonna come down and they were gonna go to Paris and he wanted me to teach him how to to book a room like to ask for a hotel room and meant the week training and off he went to Paris and he he could say almost perfectly could I have a room please wench yeah you write about the guys the guys kind of giving you [ __ ] because like they've what is it or what did he mean or what did he say so yeah so the Murray got yeah so yeah my friend should be no it was I'm not French so we would we would enter talks and stuff sometimes my Legion slang and then my Anglophone accident would take over and a lot of times they'd say you know it would be four of us and then I'm talking to one and then he would just look to the other guy and say what's he saying and it would drive me [ __ ] nuts and then obviously as soon as I knew that it got to me I mean I was I became one of the team leaders for the jump so I'd have to brief all the guys the other break us up into two sticks whatever and our two teams and I'd have to brief pre jump and typically every freaking time at the end of it one of them would say what do you say it was just big give me a hard time but yeah as fascinating it's interesting though that because of their history and because everything else that Legion French is actually a thing yeah you know that it's it's almost a seven like language but you know I liked yeah dialect yeah the second the second company in the rep their marching song is a low voice which is a beer mark yeah the vernacular Achtung is that is there a lot of German words see puch we talked about that but yeah there's a lot of German influence so you finished that and and then you go back you show you now you're a full-fledged Volf like commando or GCP right yeah so I go back and then it's typically you know training exercises of jumping with the guys and just you know getting into it learning the team aspect of stuff and then you're new to the jumping so they're you know they're watching her giving you a hard time but we go off to chat at that point for a tour and yeah we're we're in Chad there's nothing really going on but it's just training so we would got the vehicles and we you know we'd head up and I was always interested in the Sahara so I was always bugging my boss about going up to a Bechet which was an area up in the northern part of Chad southern part of the Sahara Desert and it was known for there's an old French fort they're going back to you're like you're your Beau Geste days and in fact I think during the Libyan Chad war because the French were involved in that assisting the g8 yeah they they had shot down a hind and taken a couple Russian made rate you know ground radar type tracked vehicles and I think the Americans flew in your star lifters into a measure and flew some some of them out so it kind of makes sense that was when a general Haftarah was captured during that war and we brought him to the United States and he was set up in a nice place in Virginia and one could argue that perhaps he was a US intelligence asset and that we sent him back to Libya when the Civil War kicked off yeah so it had you know the name resonated and I'd heard about it before I had heard that the SS had been through there the old Desert Rats but I could never find that you were written down because I would have been the part of the you know well whatever so we finally we went up there and yeah we jumped we jumped on there's an airstrip by the old french legion fort and we was probably you know one of my memorable jumps as we the Herk we went out we secured the airstrip and then the hurt came in and did a like an operational landing in the no way when the French mortar teams rolled out their mortars in the back and there in the background was the French fort you know so I was just kind of waiting for the Beau Geste dead Legionnaires to be propped up on the side with the weapons you know but it was it was neat but we didn't there was no it was an operation that was just kind of training and there was stuff starting to heat up in the Congo and at one point we were called back to the the base and we were gonna either fly or jump into Brazzaville okay that was kind of you know that was that was interesting we all keyed up exactly today that's what we wanted to do we wanted an operation the last operational jump for the rep would have been called wasy inside here so we were stood down and yeah it was kind of a depressing moment time there but it is what it is and I enjoyed I enjoyed Chad I saw you know I mentioned the book is you know another view of Africa different from funky Central Africa it's a different terrain but I would see you know we did some pretty good navigation tours and we drive through villages where they they had nothing you know but they're happy oh not always six to me with to this day you know I get pissed off because my wife I I'll lose my [ __ ] my daughter looks at me my wife I slow and you know it was it was good for young man to kind of perspective to see the world for what it was and so I and so what is just are you planning your exit now or you are kind of making the decision that you're not gonna stay no not quite yet but I'm definitely as you do watching you know you want you you kind of see the you know you seen the NCOs you see the route that a career is gonna be right right all right and I can see the the similar momentum of the yearly happenings that's going on within an arrangement you know this there's the tours and there's the certain times when all the vehicles and equipment has to be clean and they accounted for there's garrison type stuff there's a courses I can look forward to or not look forward to the idea of going to Castel was something that always kind of you know but so I'm kind of watching and trying to figure out this point is this something long-term it's not until we go into Brazzaville Congo that I'm kind of but we're getting there yeah for sure yeah it's it's you know it's of course it's a it's a tough controlled environment you know and as you get older you know towards the end of my six years I'm 29 you kind of have to make that decision whether or not you need 15 years in the Legion to get to retirement and is that something I want to do for for my as a career or I'm still you know I can get out and start something new you know I'm not past my prime so yeah it's trying to decide whether or not and what were you like what were you thinking about what were you drawn to as that kind of time was approaching a lot of times I was thinking about girls so restricted all right yes I'm being facetious say but it's true you know you're young men and yeah it's again I was fortunate so you know we get to go out and have time but it's very controlled they need to have a girlfriend a serious relationship you're not you're not allowed to get married for the first five years and once you hit the five-year mark and you're an NCO I think you need to pass what you did at the time you have a past frontier captain and ask permission so yes so to have a you know a real life is and that hence the the high turnover and I know since my time they've obviously been busy Afghanistan and certainly mulling these days they're a little less stringent on on guys and things have lacks and the rules are not quite as as tight just for that the guys are doing it through they're doing it don't don't be too hard on them you know just to cut down on that on there well the turnover but yeah I'm kind of just looking around at this point enjoying it enjoying the experience but I'm hitting you know a little more mature a little more experienced trying to think hey what is this is this what I want to do as a career and then looking at my peers and thinking is that is that me and it's starting to go no I'm starting to think about yeah returning and that's think to is um you know I didn't leave Canada because I had an issue that I love you know I'm a proud Canadian I'm just there because I want a soldier so I have no interest in being a French citizen and I always feel like I'm a guest in someone else's army right I'm not and that's maybe others are different but yeah so I'm starting to think and then we go you know we're we go off we do our we're in the Alps doing our warfare course with the second company and in Brazzaville Congo it's the French ambassador's residence is the Casa de Gaulle which is the old residence of General de Gaulle and that was considered kind of his free france headquarters during the second world war and today it's the the ambassador's residence but it's considered a you know a French monument and one of his Jean Dom's because the civil war and we obviously I had mentioned Jill who was the guy that I'd run around with during the command of course but was he in brazzaville Congo and were ambushed by actually the Congolese army when they were bringing expats to the airport and she was killed in that context and so this is us going back because one of the during the Civil War the French ambassador stays in the country he's staying at his residence is Jean d'Armes and the costs are protecting part of his perimeter the embassy is Oh but you know anyway one of his jhand arms is killed one of the other Cobra names one of the paramilitaries there's two the Cobras and the ninjas and one of them's crept up to the wall and basically shot him point-blank and killed him and so the costs initially secure the ambassador's residence and then the GCB group is tasked with with that so we fly in in an armored trans al c-160 and we land and then we we drive to the the CAHSEE goal and I do two tours there three months each time and that's where I'm kind of starting to think you know this is interesting I'm enjoying it but unfortunately we're not really doing a ton and I need to make an exit and as I mentioned the book the local government or the government had hired to maybe 24 hind gunships that's supported their efforts and every but once a week the Russian pilots would fly over our the costigan low-level I think just kind of you know putting it out there again I don't know the politics between the French and stuff but whatever there's there's some issues there but then fly low level just to you know say hey you know and I would run out all the time and look at the the belly of the beast she was it was blue is that Russian blue you know and obviously we've been jumping in in the puma helicopters all the time and i was always watching the pilots it kind of enamored with the whole the whole thing you know i was like you know what maybe that's that's my next my next move helicopters and it was when those hinds flew over us like you know what copters so i I initiated I you know I reached out to a training school in Canada that's funny because I called we were back in Calvi and I had a phone an interview with the chief pilot of the training school which is BiH Vancouver Hanako Vancouver Island helicopters and I called him from the phone box on our parade square you can call me the rep and aide was his name he's like you know there's bit of a lag where you calling from Joel I'm like yeah I'm in the second airborne regimen the French Foreign Legion my there there's a noticeable pause like excuse me let me let me review your file anyway at that point that's when I was I was on my way out and I didn't I didn't say too much but once I was given a spot on the course that I knew and then at that point in my career you know Here I am I'm at five five years plus my captain is saying you know do you want to you know do you want to go to the NCO route but you need to spine on four additional year or three years and I you know I decline I said you know what no sir you know do you respect them I'm moving on I have you know I'm gonna go back to and do this which that was captain de motor you as my the captain the GCP when I left he went on to be the CEO of the the regiment and led them when they jumped in to go on Tim back to in Mali generally courtly and he wrote the foreword for Adele music enough to uh yeah you that but he respected that and then as I said I went for the company captain that's when they offered the you know I've made my I had made my my decision I was 29 there were certainly attractions to stay but the pull to carry on was was stronger and I thought I felt bad you know I felt to be honestly I felt in my teammates you know there's some some good guys man and that's a big reason why I wrote the book is the misconception of what a Legionnaire is annoys me and the reason for the book was there's a lack of education there and at the end of the day the young man the guys doing a job some pay the price and some are certainly more so this day so the effort was to to write a true positive account served reached you know the upper upper levels because unfortunate a lot of the information that is shared with the legion is typically deserters that couldn't hack it and they just share their own narrative which is full of [ __ ] well what did you say to a young man coming to you today saying hey I'm thinking about joining the Legion let's you know John I get actually I get a lot of DMS because obviously you know I did the jock oh that was kind of the the chocolate podcast which was an introduction to all this for me and as a result of that I've been getting quite a few and now that yeah and you know I mean they left 20 years ago the legions come a long way and Demetri the guy that I mentioned that we went off into the jump course together but he's actually now he made his way up all the way through the ranks he's not a lieutenant in charge of the recruitment in Obion so he's done well for himself obviously no surprise but now it's got a full circle and I just basically tell people if they're interested you know I'm not the person to give you advice by any means I mean it's 20 years ago but if it's something you want to do do it just make sure you're going for the right reasons then the only advice I would say is as I mentioned earlier know some French be in shape and know how to run you know your cardio has got to be up there but they have the leads it has a website it gives you all the information that you need go to them is there a process for commissioning for legionnaire's who are not French born to become an officer mm-hmm yeah you can if you if you're successful and you know climb the ranks and they feel that you have the aptitude and ability you know to be an officer within the the legion you write the exams I believe they might you know I'm talking above my pre grade at this point but they might send you to a military off to school but you certainly have to write the exams but you can only I believe not a born Frenchman you can only hit a certain rank okay is it true that they offer you French citizenship at some point they they used to definitely if you're injured in combat you were given your French citizenship when I was in it was a straight of process after five years I believe okay that's changed now I think it's I might be wrong but I think now it's eight and it's not a given but yeah it's not so when you were is planning your exit and planning on flying helicopters at any point and I don't know what the process is in the Canadian military or if there's a program in Legion but any point at any point were you looking at sort of a military helicopter pilot aspect or was it sort of like you just wanted to kind of pull pitch get out of the military all together and go the civilian wrong yeah yeah whatever sense someone had actually mentioned that you could get into the Canadian military and do selection for the the JTF and I had actually asked and looked into that but no you had to join reg force and then do so I wasn't interested in going back to you know basic training as a sure live it at thirty so yeah I went straight into flight school and I started flying up in northern Canada and you know it does kind of off topic but close I remember it's kind of a regret to be honest with you is I was driving fuel to one of our staging areas and that's when 9/11 happened and I remember pulling into one of the camps and everyone's in the in watching TV screens and yeah if I could go back I would have I would have gone said [ __ ] helicopters and joined again I didn't yeah is what it is you know everything happens for a reason but yeah I know I was kind of done with military I've been there done that yeah but I you know post I you know I obviously went and spent a couple years in Iraq and did a year in Afghanistan so I was able to kind of get some of those things and see what's happening out there afterwards albeit it wasn't obviously as a you know a soldier or a civilian contractor but yeah I it's something I feel like I never really tested or had the ultimate test as a soldier I had my small little experiences but I never certainly never did what a lot of young men women our experience in these days so but then again you know be careful what you wish for a lot of them suffer from it yeah sure I think that a lot of pre 9/11 soldiers especially Special Operations soldiers can identify you know with with that sort of idea that you know you wait you wait you wait and you train and you you know you're in a job for a reason and it's not that you're a cold-blooded killer but you you join this to test yourself or to traduce something and and the balloon never goes up and you never get a chance to do it on that I served with the enforcing when I was in Iraq early days cuz there for a couple years off and I hate to say it but there's a lot of people in that category that now were given the opportunity to work as private contractors and they just you know their behavior was yeah questionable just you know trying to prove things or given that you know right right you know they want to get some yeah exactly and then you know anyway but no regrets you know everything happens for a reason I'm happy with so you became a pilot you you went into contracting and then like where because you know you not only have you written this book but you have you have your your business Legionnaire I'm sorry engineering or engineered Legion yeah well that's oh yeah I get out I start flying helicopters right mostly in Canada and typically the winter times are slow for for helicopters obviously and if there's any flying it's going to the more experienced pilots so as a longtime pilot you're not making much money you're just flying to get experience and a lot of the guys in the team in particular one of my the roommate Ken that's in the book Schmidty he had gotten out and they were working for a British security firm firm called armored group oh yeah but they had contracts supporting Halliburton and KBR in Algeria natural gas efforts so I with the nice lady Caroline in in London and they were hiring guys to act as oil seas which is an operation liaison coordinator for Halliburton or KBR in Algeria so they had natural gas rigs in the Sahara obviously due to the Terrorism issue in Algeria the Algerian military or police would secure the the the rigs and the living quarters so they would hire typically ex Legionnaires English speakers to act as Ola see so you'd be the liaison between KBR the client and then the security forces providing security for the rigs and then manage the the road moves or what have you and that's actually where I put all my words for the book into a Word document was three months sitting on a rig in the middle of I do that to supplement my income and then the Iraq war and if you are obviously had the relationship or sorry armored grab UPS they had the relationship with KBR and they were given the logcat contract with the US military to build a lot of the camp's DFACS and in the fuel so I was flying and Caroline called me said do you want to go to Iraq and I was like [ __ ] yeah you know you'd be interesting to see you know something that I've heard so much about so we KBR had three floors in the at the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad not far after you know mr. Bush was on the aircraft carrier saying the war's over we were there fairly early on the idea was I was with we had two Regiment guys and there's a handful of us and the idea was they were gonna hire all these Iraqis and on clothes protection and the idea was when KBR executives came in he's doing stuff we would be there to do the the road moves to all the different installations so to provide security for them so I did that for the first and this not a lot was going on things were fairly quiet you know the IDS hadn't started suicide bombers hadn't started there was still a weapons in bar and all this kind of stuff so it was pretty it was pretty tame but it was pretty sorry it's just pretty early into 2003 then it's just kind of that's 2004 and okay I got it wrong in factually something every when I was on the Jocko podcast I got the dates wrong and I think I member said it was when he was in Ramadi and I said I said yeah we were there the same time not a lot was going on he gave me look like [ __ ] you talking about but I had the dates right it's my bad but anyway it was very early on and yeah so we did that but it was interesting to see for me it was an eye opener seeing the American war machine you know just the size of it and everything it was it was it was it need the experience and then I came back the next year and then we were doing different project we were doing armor again but it was low profile PSD and it kind of comes back to what I was saying earlier and we had a an installation right beside the Green Zone with four or five villas and for a lot of the clients that we were looking after a US aid Fleur so doing a lot of the the rebuilding and a lot of your you know your team's like your your hearts Blackheart I kind of stuff they they were they had a bad name for themselves and the bath mist of jihad is where you're going to call the time we're kind of going after them because they were shooting their uncles or your families that were out for Drive and didn't respect the distance you know I mean there was a lot of questionable I'm not saying I'm not putting that on names I just mentioned but PTSD or PSD teams and general had a bad a bad name so what we're doing is low profile so we'd have two vehicles soft-skinned that we bought locally aren't you know BMW Mercedes open whatever and it'll be to expats one each vehicle and then we had Iraqi nationalists that we had trained and we go and we just try to blend in to the traffic because Baghdad was obviously Chalker block at the time just a traffic jam and the idea is we blend in and not be the targets like the the armored our DoD badges and we think you have our we had unique Jack's classified because anytime a PSD team would roll up beside us you know we have those in the windows right away because if they look down and see an Iraqi with me candor Labatt's yeah yeah yeah but that was a challenge and a half I don't know how many times I told my driver to slow down and I got a 50 Cal from an American checkpoint right over top of our vehicle as a warning shot because were you know it was yeah it was it was a lot of work and I ended up actually punching out one of my Iraqis um and armored group decided to send me up to Tikrit but to be honest it was it was it was challenge or every once in a while you know Mohammed wouldn't come to work the next morning in the Americans would show up later with his DoD badge saying yeah we shot him yesterday in a an ambush you know I mean that damn yeah both sides right yeah it was again it was a learning experience it was neat to see the American military at work it was an eye-opener for me totally different from what I had experienced and then I was up in to create working with the Corps of Engineers and they were working just not far from Camp Buckmaster and they were cleaning up a lot of the old ordnance facilities there that you guys had bombed and so they would go in and try to clean up some of the stuff hadn't hadn't gone up and yeah good that for a while we go up up into Mosel looking for weapons of mass destruction was success and then that's why I would fly six months Durex that's kind of thing and then back I do that back and forth and then um armored group got the contract with the British Embassy for the Helmand in Afghanistan so seven Helmand was obviously the British responsibility and they had an advisor the foreign Commonwealth Office had an advisor to the Helmand governor so our group had the contract in Kabul and down in Lashkar Gah and though I asked me if I wanted to do that but I'd have to commit for a year and yeah I was know having ready obviously about Afghanistan and all the books and just watching it and again I wanted to go and see you know what was what was happening and yes I was down we were down in Lashkar Gah working week we were embedded with the initially error edge the brick para reg and then the commander Marines because they would do six months tours I it was interesting I enjoyed it Edda young suicide bomber take a run at us and then the mother sinai just after a year at that point it was a yeah I was a son my son was probably three I was kind of you know at that AI was like you know what this is interesting but yeah and so what are you what are you up to today Joel SOT up to now as a result of all that three partners and I got together and from the from the Legion we started Ravenhill risk control which is a Canadian Canadian security company and predominately we do domestic stuff and on the side obviously writing the book came up you know there's never i waited for years and nothing ever came out of what a Legionnaire represented and that's something you know it's something that I would actually avoid just in small talk you know how do you explain something as small right it was on me to uh to write a book cuz you know sorry so I had I put the time and effort in and yeah it came out last year and then it was more trying to figure out how to use that platform like it's not about me and the company the reason I mentioned the company Ravenhill is that is a name and the family that goes back to the Boer War and when I would sit and talk to my grandfather my grandmother when I was doing my flight course my grandmother mentioned me that there was a Victoria Cross in the family and I was blown away with that because I'm always enamored with you know and it was George Ravenhill which was her great-great great-great uncle and he had won the vc in the Boer War at the Battle of cleanse oh but he had been one of eight recipients that actually had the medal taken back by the Queen the UK government for Oh for what left of Steel so he had he done the Boer War he had gone then and served in France come back and one could only assume found himself in like a penal section for you know misbehavior drinking you know obviously uh one would assume post-traumatic stress you know effects you know First World War all kind of stuff and he felt that he wasn't being given his due wages and in order to feed his family he had gone and he was stealing steel out of the arts and Birmingham just enough to sell the pay for food and he was caught and for that they took the BC back why he he had the he sent he had four children he three of them were sent to orphanages to in the u.s. one in Canada and he died at my age forty eight you know Desert great you know I mean he had been shot through the arm battle cleanse o him if you read the the report he's obviously a brave master in this country and I was always respectful that so I used the name Ravenhill for the for the company but you know with the book and the platform trying to think you know how to use it in a positive way we created Legion engineered the idea was that the book all the proceeds that come to me as the author which you know a lot but that will go to support the Legion engineered effort which is basically just an apparel effort for PTSD awareness so I'm trying to learn more about it but you know how to respect any man or woman that wants to serve the country and off they go and they come back and they pay the price for whatever reason you know it's it's sad but you know it's honorable if I could help or learn we could do one one thing for one person so Legion engineered was an effort to take bringing all full circle and maybe I'll learn more about Bushmen Express in history and the effort that's so once again talking to Joel Struthers the book Appel you can get it on Amazon you can get it on Google right goo what are they all the so it's Amazon everywhere you can get Kindle Apple Google Play Kobo the audiobook will be out in July and the movie starts for now okay maybe soon the the links for Amazon is down below and I believe that the Kindle is on steel right or the Kindle book is on sale for right now for like three 99 or $4.99 or something I mean it's a steal guys definitely check it out and then Legion engineered is also linked below the video in in the box so you guys check that out check out what Jules doing also everybody thank you for joining us tonight if you haven't subscribed to channel please subscribe to the channel and hit that notification button if you want to join our patreon we have exclusive content each one of our guests generally does Joel's going to do something for us tonight one dollar a month another month we'll keep you keep you happy and the link to that is down in the description also yeah you know if you guys give this video the thumbs up you comment on it you share it with your friends all that helps us bump up in the algorithm and it gets Jules Joel's story out there and don't worried about his book out there so I mean please spread it far and wide tell your mom tell your kids tell your dog let them know it's I mean this is really fascinating because it's like you say don't like there is not a modern history of the French Foreign Legion out there you know hotter and take on it I think that there is still the impression that it's criminals you know it's people on the run who are joining and you know and then it's it's antiquated right that they're they're working with you know 50 you know 1950s gear and things like that but it's really a very modern force oh for sure yeah and huge because of Afghanistan and Mali they've come a long way it's impressive to see that the equipment and stuff ya know it's it's you know as I said if you're young man and you don't have the opportunities and you want to soldier it is a good test well even if they do have the opportunities there there's something very romantic about yeah there is you know there's something very romantic about the whole idea of joining the French Foreign Legion ideally if you could do both though it'd be nice you know if you serve your country you want to try something else or go and do the Legion come back and join your own you don't use the experience and knowledge that you gain that's something you know I wish I kind of maybe it's been a little more time and we've done something for my country but see I love you right yeah you know and it's not like you didn't try you know unfortunately you know Canada at the time as a peacetime country had smaller horses and they just didn't need the people we have a couple questions that we need to get to real quick here let's see here thank you very much in French and Canadian MREs or meals ready to eat I don't know what they call them in France or in Canada contrast and compare the French have come along initially they're pretty old-school I think they had a bottle of wine in there they can win a mini bottle of wine which is unfortunate yeah unfortunately I think those have stopped but they've yeah when the French went into Afghanistan they kind of saw how things are happening with the coalition and the other ways I do anything I think they've really upped their game since their time they kind of copied the American Emery tag thing you know had water but yeah the end of the day is anyone write home about their memories no when you were in the Canadian reserves do you ever have any of their MREs or their their rations yeah I would have to go see I don't I don't yeah it would have been probably still living the American yeah so probably probably nothing that you would find in the Michelin Guide no exact definitely not thank you very much James any experience working with the 13th airborne drew Dragoon regiment soft reconnaissance unit negative no and DJ think you're actually just said great episode guys and that's it for our questions tonight we really appreciate everybody joining us and Joe we really appreciate you joining us this oh thank you guys Aston ating story appreciate that know it so hopefully I came across um no I'm the vet at this game so it's a it's an another learning experience no this has been great there's been a huge eye-opener for me and I think anybody else is trying to research you know what the French Foreign Legion really is and what it isn't it's going to find itself oh yeah for sure yeah and again please check out please check out Jill's book great book great and I think one of things that a couple interesting things about the book is there's a great deal of history about the Legion about each of the locations you guys feel like it's not just it's not just Joel's history but it's also a really good take on the French Foreign Legion the history bringing up to the modern era at least the modern eras as you know Joel experienced it so that's it alright see you guys next week and hey just tease out the guest for next week oh that's right next week is August Cole and Peter singer they're the authors of burnin and ghost fleet also they're they write military thrillers like near future sort of techno thrillers and I'm halfway through this book right now it's about the integration it's about basically it's about how artificial intelligence is going to change the entire world so we'll have both of those guys on next episode well and thanks everybody we really appreciate it

Channel: The Team House

Views: 71,149

Rating: 4.8718328 out of 5

Keywords: French Foreign Legion, FFL, Africa, 2REP, GCP, France, Algeria, Vietnam

Id: OyHjs5mklFE

Length: 167min 37sec (10057 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020