I read this and I can tell you I see two very distinct signals that worry me:
1st, there is always that over bearing young NCO. a NCO that has never been trained properly and tempered by experienced Staff Non-commissioned Officers, in the Marine Corps, Staff Sergeant and Above are SNCOs, this young Corporal, as described, needed his Adjutant to get into his ass. It is one thing to insist your young Marines and Legionnaires are squared away; however, it crosses a line of being a true leader whom can motivate and guide young Legionnaires. I can recall a very similar instance in my Marine Corps career, there was a young Staff Sergeant who had just completed a tour of Duty as a Marine Corps Drill Instructor. Well, SSgt X had to get the Platoon ready for an inspection prior to deployment. The preparation began to aggravate him so he reverted back to being a Drill Instructor and he had all of the Marines in the Platoon do it by the numbers, that is to say he would give a command, "All entrenching tools in the air, all bayonets, ...Bag Them, meaning place them in the sea bag. The commanding officer, a Lieutenant Colonel got wind of this and he brought this young SSgt in for counseling. "SSgt, these are Marines, not recruits back in boot camp in your platoon. You will treat them accordingly. Sergeant Major (most Senior Enlisted in a Marine Battalion) correct your SNCO." The Sergeant Major taught the SSgt how to lead. Maybe in this case French Foreign Legion tradition is far different and this was the way in which the young Legionnaire Corporal handled the situation based on history and tradition; however, I would believe there were other Corporals that should have pulled him aside and talked to him about how to lead Legionnaires effectively.
2nd, the author, I have seen Marine whom bitched, complained, feigned illness, and so on. Believe me, EVERY MARINE SNCO OR NCO HAVE DEALT WITH A 4-YEAR LANCE CORPORAL! A 4-year LCpl is a Marine that never got with the program. A Marine that showed up looking like shit, un-ironed and dirty uniform, hands in his pockets, and so on. To them any attempt to get them to be Marines in the fullest sense was damned near impossible and futile for the NCO, SNCO, or Platoon Commander. Sooner or later (mostly sooner) these turd were shit out of the Marine Corps and we (ME I was a SNCO) made their lives hell. I refused to accept their bitching and whining they could never get promoted, their fat ass could not run, force march, they looked like shit in uniform, and they were just SHIT BIRDS, as we referred to them, and they never got promoted and every Corporal, Sergeant, or Staff Sergeant was "killing them or being MEAN to them. We would say "Suck it The F&^% Up, get hard or GET OUT!"
Just my humble perspective on what I read. I can see it both way here, which one has merit here? I don't know.
I defer to the true Legionnaires in this forum and their expert leadership to weigh in here.
Just a Marine Staff Non-commissioned Officer (Staff Sergeant) Retired