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Im going in at 1.11.2021

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Hello. I have one week before i try to get in The legion. Im 38years old diesel mechanick . I have read alot tips what to do before joining. Im going to Paris. Maybe i take a hotel where to get good sleep before knok that Door. Anu tips what to do on Paris?
 

Papillon

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Hello. I have one week before i try to get in The legion. Im 38years old diesel mechanick . I have read alot tips what to do before joining. Im going to Paris. Maybe i take a hotel where to get good sleep before knok that Door. Anu tips what to do on Paris?
Hi, Welcome where are you from? Don’t post any person stuff if I were you, read the form rules all the info is on the form really but if you have a pacific question and you can’t get an answer from looking over the form put it up someone might have the answer, you could always got direct south as you may end up in Paris for a few days but I hear the food it better your choice but you will go south eventually on your own speed or via true Legion if you pass the selection criteria at the Fort.
Good luck.
 
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Does anyone knows IS The new legion recruting point on central of Paris open? Or IT IS just somekind of office or something?
 
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Today IS The Day. Im at center of Paris and need to get some food and other stuff to buy . Whis me luck. Im telling you guys If im not selected and If i get in then i Will tell you guys later😁
All the best and 'Bonne Chance'.
Remember you will be at the bottom of the food chain.
Stay a 'Grey Man' and don't argue with anyone.
Think positive and you will succeed.
 

Gallowglass

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Good luck Finherkko83, hopefully you're there already. If not head to Fort de Nogent, Bd du 25 Août 1944, 94120 Fontenay-sous-Bois, France. It's east of central Paris. Take the red RER line east on the Metro to either Fontenay-Sous-Bois or Nogent-sur-Marne. Its about a 25 minute walk from the latter.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Hi Finherkko,

One wonders why you joined the forum ? It certainly wasn't to inform yourself. I could understand if there wasn't such a thing as internet or you just decided to join on a whim, but the fact that you are in Paris and wondering where to go from there, tells me that you haven't you have not prepared your journey.
This would be the ideal occasion to plug my YouTube Channel, namely the Playlist Job offer: French foreign legionnaire, but I won't :sneaky:. I won't even mention the playlist : Legion traditions:cautious: (which I'm going to start work on this morning - part 8 ;)).
I mean, I joined on a whim and there was no internet back in those days.
Of course I could mention that I had taken the time to make a list of whatever you may (or may not) need. But all that is water under the bridge, because hopefully you will be already be in there. Before I go any further, I'll just take a quick look at your posts, to see what questions you asked.
 

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I'm back,

One good thing is that I sent you the check list.
At 38, you will be finding that a lot of the younger candidates will be looking to you for guidance. I think it will be interesting that you send us your experience of selection. That being said, I think that anyone who is nearing the age limit, should make their way down directly to Aubagne, it really is a question of budget. Unless you stand out from the crowd i.e. you are an athlete and a genius you stand very little chance of being sent down to Aubagne from Paris.
I could give the example of the "G" man, but there is no point as the Private Messages that I received from him since he was rejected clearly shows that he had lost the plot or it was never there (the guy is off his rocker).

In a nut shell, you have more chance to prove your worth in Aubagne than you do in Paris, the reality is that you have left it too late in life.
That being said, I sincerely do hope that you prove me wrong and that they do send you down to Aubagne and that you form there you go to Castel.
 
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I belive you will be inside already today? Anyway good luck brother. I hope you make it!
 

Papillon

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Think what Joe said is really good advice, if I was mid thirties or a shade older I would head right down, some guy in Paris will probably make a decision based on shipping you about and cost not really looking at your qualities whatever they are! Well let’s wait for next chapter of your adventure if it’s a positive or negative outcome! Unfortunately I just think unless you have something up your sleeve that stands you out from the crowd it will be an experience of a Legion haircut! Worst things happen at sea.
 
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Today IS The Day. Im at center of Paris and need to get some food and other stuff to buy . Whis me luck. Im telling you guys If im not selected and If i get in then i Will tell you guys later😁
Moi, good luck boet, you will do fine. Keep up the Finnish spirit, sisu bro sisu.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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I did send him, not only the checklist, which can be downloaded, but the whole video, which is over 14 minutes long*. on the check list is logically Passport, I do mention that there is no point in sending it home and hoping to get with some other form of ID, the legion aren't stupid**. #2 on the checklist is that you should decide in advance whether you want to go to Aubagne or Paris, before heading out. I have insisted that on that particular video, I was going to way up the pros or the cons of joining one or the other. I did provide the reference to a video which does that.
On point #3 "Travel Route" I have told the future legionnaire how to get to F de N from the air port or from the train station:
1635987670085.png

I have again given the reference to a video which I have done previously. In fact I have even gone as far as to show how to compost your ticket -to avoid getting a fine.

*14 minutes of video, is about two days of solid graft. Do I think it's worth it? Yes, I do. I re-put myself in the shoes of someone who is going to join and cannot speak the lingo and doesn't have a clue where to go.
I did the same list in French, in the hope that those who are going to join would take an interest in learning the different articles in French and any Francophones who are going to join.
I also added a third language, Nepali, because they are by far the most frequent visitors to my channel.

** You can get a one year emergency passport from the consulate of your country. Which is why, in one of my videos, I recommend that you find the nearest consulate to wherever you are are posted. It will of course cancel out your old one, which is being held by the legion. For the US, there is a Consulate General in Marseille (opposite the prefecture). I know because I worked there for 6 years. ;)
A one year emergency passport allows you to travel anywhere for a year. So you go home on leave and re-apply for another one. Should it take too long, no bother, you still have another 11 months left.
Just make sure that you come back and honor your 5 year contract.
 

Le petit caporal

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Tell me more about the 1 year passeport...
Back in the day...i travelled with a 72 hr shopping card / visa / passeport...call it what you need)
1981...most on the forum were not even born...just saying
In 83, i applied for a one year passeport.....self déclaration at the post office...
Things have changed since, i think
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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You go to your consulate, not necessarily in Paris, and tell them that you need an emergency passport. You will have questions to answer to establish who you are, as you will have already been issued with one at some time and that is it!
In Marseille, they can do a passport for a US citizen in 2 hours flat.
Which is why most the 'clients' on a Friday afternoon would travel up from Spain as the consulat there close at 14:30.
That is by the by. For a commonwealth citizen, if your country is not represented in the country that you have difficulty in, then you can use any commonwealth country, which was the case of Australians who would use the Canadian Embassy in Mali. Kiwis would use the Brit, which was, for a long time in the same compound as the Canadian Embassy.
Any European country country whose country isn't represented in the country where they are having difficulty can call on any European country (as long as they are both in the European Union).
 

Papillon

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I joined with a old brown 1 Year passport from the post office it was nearly 6 years out of date when I eventually used it to come back home, so regardless I was going to get a pull as they used to check all your de boarding stuff on the boat to speed departure up, I was meet at the dock with a police escort which was no way a surprise, but think now you can only get a 10 year one as those brown cardboard passports were quite easy to forge and copy
 
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