So what kept you guys going?

[Aaaa!]

For all of you non-French that have been there:

What kept you going when you were deployed somewhere hot? I'm guessing here, but the foreign policy objectives of France probably didn't matter much to you. So why did you risk everything for a country not your own? What was your motivation? Are the bonds between soldiers in the Legion that strong?

Serious question.

[Beau-Sheep]

Yes! What keeps a guy going??? Thoughts of PLD, thoughts of home, thoughts of a life after the Legion...

Everyone had their own private dream, mine was a yacht trip around the world (no I still aint done it)

[Eagle eye]

As a non-francophone, there was no political motivation just attracted by the composite identity and international environment. When in it, the bonds are in order of rifle section and platoon. You meet others, try to get along or be stroppy 'à la tête du client', complete you contract and move on: veni, vidi, partit. My home country had too many soldiers.

What kept me going ?: it varies from individual perception of sober reflection to loud and less sober behaviour. My bond and word + signature given kept me going to the end irrespective of hardship and difficulty.

When in hot weather: stay cool in the shade of a palm tree and say "c'est la vie de chateau sous le cocotier - pourvu que cela dure/life's a rollercoaster ride so long as it lasts'; in cold weather: jump up and down and say/scream:'il fait chaud/it's hot'. Besides that I took the FFL a day at a time: I was in no hurry about the following day.... :)