French Foreign Legion - Membership

Membership

The Foreign Legion is the only unit of the French Army open to people of any nationality. All members of the Foreign Legion are men; women are not permitted to join. Most legionnaires still come from European countries but a growing percentage comes from Latin America. Most of the Foreign Legion's commissioned officers are French with approximately 10% being former Legionnaires who have risen through the ranks.

Membership of the Foreign Legion is often a reflection of political shifts: specific national representations generally surge whenever a country has a political crisis and tend to subside once the crisis is over and the flow of recruits dries up. After the First World War, many (Tsarist) Russians joined. Immediately before the Second World War, Czechs, Poles and Jews from Eastern Europe fled to France and ended up enlisting in the Foreign Legion. Ironically, so did many German soldiers, former members of the Wehrmacht, after the end of the conflict. Following the break-up of Yugoslavia, there were many Croats. Also in the 1990s, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the changes in the former Warsaw Pact countries, led to an increase in recruitment from Poland and from the former republics of the USSR.

In addition to the fluctuating numbers of political refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants from a wide variety of nations, there has been, since the end of World War Two, a strong core from Germany and Britain and in some cases Ireland. The Foreign Legion appears to have become as much a part of these two nations' culture as a French institution, and a certain stability in recruitment levels has developed.

During the late 1980s, the Foreign Legion saw a large intake of trained soldiers from the UK. These men had left the British Army following its restructuring and the Foreign Legion's parachute unit was a popular destination. At one point, the famous 2eme REP had such a large number of British citizens amongst the ranks that it was a standing joke that the unit was really called '2eme PARA', a reference to the Second Battalion, the Parachute Regiment of the British Army.

The reasons and intentions of legionnaires joining the Foreign Legion, instead of the armed forces of their own countries, is unconfirmed. Possible reasons include the majority of the Foreign Legion's ranks being either transient souls in need of escape and a regular wage, or refugees from countries undergoing times of crisis. In recent years, the improved conditions and professionalism of the Foreign Legion have in turn attracted a new kind of 'vocational' recruit, from middle-class backgrounds in stable and prosperous countries, such as the US, Britain and France itself.

In the past, the Foreign Legion had a reputation for attracting criminals on the run and would-be mercenaries, but the admissions process is now severely restricted and background checks are performed on all applicants. Generally speaking, convicted felons are prohibited from joining the service.

Legionnaires were, in the past, forced to enlist under a pseudonym ("declared identity"). This disposition exists in order to allow people who want to start their lives over to enlist, and the French Foreign Legion held the belief that it was more fair to make all new recruits use declared identities. French citizens can enlist under a declared, fictitious, foreign citizenship (generally, a francophone one, often that of Belgium, Canada or Switzerland). As of 20 September 2010, new recruits may enlist under their real identities or under declared identities. Recruits who do enlist with declared identities may, after one year's service, regularise their situations under their true identities. After serving in the Foreign Legion for three years, a legionnaire may apply for French citizenship. He must be serving under his real name, must no longer have problems with the authorities, and must have served with “honour and fidelity”. Furthermore, a soldier who becomes injured during a battle for France can immediately apply for French citizenship under a provision known as “Français par le sang versé” ("French by spilled blood").

While the Foreign Legion does not accept women in its ranks, there has been one official female member, Briton Susan Travers who joined Free French Forces during the Second World War and became a member of the Foreign Legion after the war, serving in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. The Foreign Legion on occasion inducts honourary members into its ranks. During the siege of Dien Bien Phu this honour was granted to General Christian de Castries, Colonel Pierre Langlais, Geneviève de Galard ("The Angel of Dien Bien Phu") and Marcel Bigeard, the Officer in Command of the 6th BPC. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. is also an honorary member.

According to Neil Tweedie of The Daily Telegraph, by 2008 many recruits increasingly came from middle-class backgrounds due to improved conditions and an increased professionalism within the French Foreign Legion. Tweedie said "If some NCOs in the Legion are to be believed, the whole corps is becoming a bit soft and girly." A South African legionnaire, Corporal Buys Francois, said the legion was taking new recruits with university degrees and ex-husbands who were fleeing alimony and that "e call the new entrants Generation PlayStation because they’re so soft."