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Racing snakes are better than muscle bound gym and weight addicts. Years ago I belonged to the' mean, lean, green fighting machine'. Large men are excellent for long yomps and carrying heavy loads. When it comes to exercises, rope climbing, assault courses and action they are less agile. Under fire they move with increased alacrity. Thank goodness I was a wiry little squirt and agile with it.

Just noted that my old unit has set a world record on 21/10/2017 . Marathon speed march in full combats and (40 lbs) excluding (weapon- weight ?) with an eight man section crossing the line together. Time just over 4 hours. Previous holders were the Gunner Commandos who held the record for 19 years. Distance 42.195 Kms or 26 Miles 385yards.

I venture to suggest that Rambo or Arnie in their youth would be too muscle bound to do so.

Chas trained by former WW2 Cdos.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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I posted some links earlier. 2/3rd s of the links talking about the food being cut during selection were from here. I also talked to some vets on facebook when I still had my account. They said much the same.

So, the information is inaccurate? If so I'll certainly stop saying it, if it is misinformation, I apologise. It's simply what I've read and what I've been told. 'You will be cold, hungry and tired'. The calorie count isn't printed on the plate, I'm sure, but I was told straight up it was a famine diet. If that's wrong, it's wrong, and I'm wrong and I'm sorry for believing anything written on the internet.

The western diamond back was indeed quoting Napoleon, an army marches on its belly. It's an enormously simple statement packed with a great deal of truth. It's my understanding he had mentioned it as a complaint (ie, how do I logistically feed all these hungry mouths) but again, I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time certainly won't be the last.

If I make it in, I will have something worth while to say, in the mean time I suppose anything I say will be wrong, till its right, until it's wrong again. That said, I'll just bite my tongue.

I haven't physically been there, I do not actually know. All of the information I've gleaned from every resource available has formed an opinion in my mind.

Only one way to find out. Wheels are up on my flight in a few days. Maybe I'll get to see the farm and eat some tripe.

Sorry for derailing the thread, again, I'd caution folk to be ready to be deprived of sleep and to be hungry.

MeatShank, I see you are from Texas. When you get chance to eat your first beef steak in Castel you will think that you're are being starved. Of course everyone thinks that their rations have been cut especially at the farm. You will be cold, tired and hungry, no-one is saying any different. But thinking that the legion is depriving you of food is absurd. What good would it do anyone to have the ambition of training young legionnaires to become professional soldiers at the same time reducing their calories intake? The French rations or MRE or RICR contain 3500. Why, because the French headsheds feel that that is what an average soldier needs to keep going.

Have you ever skipped a lunch or an evening meal? Once you have been running and then doing combat exercises out doors you will not skip one single meal. The farm is not Auschwitz, the idea is to keep everyone healthy.

You will be dreaming of a thick pizza with extra toppings or a whopper big Mac with double fries or your favorite dish, Kentucky bucket take away. And then you find that it is fried liver with watery mashed potatoes. The first thing you will do after you get your kepi and have quartier libre is to get some restaurant food down your neck.

But don't say the food was reduced at the farm.

On the subject of Napoleon, I believe he made the famous statement when the mobile soup kitchens added wild laurel leaves to the horse stew. This was during the retreat from Russia where they could not buy any food from locals so they were pillaging and ate the fallen horses. The wild laurel gave all the soldiers diarrhea and held up the march for 24 hours.

But maybe that is folklore.
 

dusaboss

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Joe I also think that few guys told us the food is reduced for some sort period of time like a week. Or they were just hungry because they burned many calories and they are accustomed on big fat meals back home. Don't know. till you for sure when I come back.

6'1", 215lb. 28.4k/m. I'm in the green, but only just. (...)
Yes ,you need to lose couple kg at least 5 (or 2 couple lb :))

I can't do pm's yet, my apologies.
I don't get this?

Joe I also think that few guys told us the food is reduced for some sort period of time like a week. Or they were just hungry because they burned many calories and they are accustomed on big fat meals back home. Don't know. till you for sure when I come back.
Finleythefox is here, he was recently in the Legion, so he might be to answer that for us. Finley: are rations reduced during some period of time in farm?
 

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A el chavo de Chile, quiero dicer... to the guy from Chile, I would like to say...

DON'T EVER STOP DRINKING WATER.

?Como puedes sudar sin agua? How can you sweat without water?

What could you possibly hope to accomplish by doing that? 70% of your body is made up of water; the same percentage covers the earths' surface. I drink well over 2 gallons (8 liters) per day, especially when I am training. You would laugh if you could see the pool of sweat I leave on the floor. Humans don't have horns or big teeth or lots of hair or loose skin or anything like that for defense. All we have is our brain and sweat as a natural defense. All we have is our endurance. Given a long enough distance, a human can out run a horse.

Have you ever heard of the Tarahumara native tribe ('tribe' is a special group of indigenous people) from Sonora, Mexico? When the Spanish arrived in the Americas 400-500 years ago many tribes chose to stand and fight. Against the technology of the time, the Spanish were superior. One tribe chose to run and hide far away in a canyon in the northern most part of Mexico, the Tarahumara. They run a hundred miles in a day easily. They do what we 'modern' humans have forgotten. Back in 1928, they were sent to the Olympics. In 1993 they were invited to run a very hard ultra-marathon in Leadville, Colorado; the town with the highest elevation in the USA. They were also hired by the shoe company Nike to make their shoes look good by running races in them... But they didn't like how the shoes felt on their feet. They went to a dumpster, found an old tire and something to cut it with, and made sandals. They ran the race in the sandals and then quickly slipped the shoes on after the race.

Remember this, the 'rules of 3'... 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. That is generally how long a human can survive without those three basic necessities...

Now go drink some water and don't ever stop that habit, its really important...
 
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MeatShank

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As stated and restated I was parroting what I'd heard. Hopefully I'm acceptable when I knock on the door. The clay in which my soul resides can be moulded. I stand ready for what the legion will bring me.

Sorry for muddying the thread with a misconception. Perhaps in the future someone will read these words and their misconception will be forced from their mind. I can only hope that this diversion from the topic will serve some purpose. Again, my apologies.

I knock on the doors at Fort De Nogent in but a few days, bonne chance?

Again, to perspective recruits I still say be prepared to be hungry and be prepared to be tired.

I'd like to thank the folks that took the time to correct the error of my thinking. I appreciate it.
 

Crisvb39

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A el chavo de Chile, quiero dicer... to the guy from Chile, I would like to say...

DON'T EVER STOP DRINKING WATER.

?Como puedes sudar sin agua? How can you sweat without water?

What could you possibly hope to accomplish by doing that? 70% of your body is made up of water; the same percentage covers the earths' surface. I drink well over 2 gallons (8 liters) per day, especially when I am training. You would laugh if you could see the pool of sweat I leave on the floor. Humans don't have horns or big teeth or lots of hair or loose skin or anything like that for defense. All we have is our brain and sweat as a natural defense. All we have is our endurance. Given a long enough distance, a human can out run a horse.

Have you ever heard of the Tarahumara native tribe ('tribe' is a special group of indigenous people) from Sonora, Mexico? When the Spanish arrived in the Americas 400 years ago many tribes chose to stand and fight. Against the technology of the time, the Spanish were superior. One tribe chose to run and hide far away in a canyon in the northern most part of Mexico, the Tarahumara. They run a hundred miles in a day easily. They do what we 'modern' humans have forgotten. Back in 1928, they were sent to the Olympics. In 1993 they were invited to run a very hard ultra-marathon in Leadville, Colorado; the town with the highest elevation in the USA. They were also hired by the shoe company Nike to make their shoes look good by running races in them... But they didn't like how the shoes felt on their feet. They went to a dumpster, found an old tire and something to cut it with, and made sandals. They ran the race in the sandals and then quickly slipped the shoes on after the race.

Remember this, the 'rules of 3'... 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. That is generally how long a human can survive without those three basic necessities...

Now go drink some water and don't ever stop that habit, its really important...

What does the tribe have to do with water? I’m just a bit confused. And I keep hydrated but I mean during my training ( boxing) I avoid water. But then I drink afterwards as a reward.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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The clay in which my soul resides can be moulded. I stand ready for what the legion will bring me.

The clay in which my soul resides can be moulded? Heavens where did that come from? As for being hungry and tired, it's the same for everyone. You can cut down some of the physical tiredness by doing stamina training but sleep deprivation is all in the mind. When I did the All Arms Commando Course, you could leave anytime. And the time when most threw in the towel was when we would just have finished making camp and crawled into the green maggot (sleeping bags). Then we would be bugged out (on alert ready to move). The DS would shout anyone wanting to stay and sleep could. That way they were fresh and rested to hand their kit in before being RTU'd, returned to unit.

I suppose that that experience help to mould my clay.
 

dusaboss

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Joe, "All is in your head" that's 17 years of legion's influence on display. ;)

For sleeping I guess you are right if you get at least 2-3 hours a sleep per day, but try complete lack of sleep for 3 days and your mind and your body will start to failing you
 

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Joe, "All is in your head" that's 17 years of legion's influence on display. ;)

For sleeping I guess you are right if you get at least 2-3 hours a sleep per day, but try complete lack of sleep for 3 days and your mind and your body will start to failing you

Yeah, I did 2 days without sleep and I just didn't feel alive to be honest.
Don't want to imagine how horrible 3 whole days of no sleep would be.
 

dusaboss

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Yeah, I did 2 days without sleep and I just didn't feel alive to be honest.
Don't want to imagine how horrible 3 whole days of no sleep would be.

You would start seriously to hallucinate.
 

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Dusa the food isn’t really reduced significantly during the farm. I will say that everybody would always pray for kitchen duty to eat the scraps coming in. Or like myself dig through the trash bags during guard duty at night for some midnight snacks. I once hit the jackpot with 4 full loafs of crisp bread, I broke them into pieces and stuffed them into my gore Tex vest and saved them for the marches.

Don’t think into it, just muster up and get to the Gates is literally the EASIEST way to find out. Don’t break it down into a chemical equation
 

Crotalus Atrox

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Chemical equation.... Nice!

Finley 'the free spirit' Fox, at least you made it past Promo! And you didn't sling mud EVERYWHERE after, like a bad dog. Just a quiet, humbled, awakened individual. Hey, the service isn't for everyone! The FFL is no joke...

Got any more little nuggets of experience/wisdom worth sharing? Respectfully please...

To the others: I have challenged myself with sleep dep. You CAN do 72 hours with out... I have and you can... with a smile on your face... Hahaha... motivated/dedicated...
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Joe, "All is in your head" that's 17 years of legion's influence on display. ;)

For sleeping I guess you are right if you get at least 2-3 hours a sleep per day, but try complete lack of sleep for 3 days and your mind and your body will start to failing you

Dusa, during basic you will not be expected to spend 2 or 3 days without sleep. What I found the hardest was out on terrain. The section would be marching most of the day and then in the evening there would be corvée bois, or wood collecting for the fire. It would be alright if no legion section had ever camped out at that particular spot, but if they had, which was usually the case in Castel, then you had to go quite far to get enough wood to please the Cpl. Then it would be singing and then cleaning weapons.

But what I found the hardest, or more to the point the most frustrating, was when it was our group's turn for guard. Being on first guard or last guard were always the best. But the corporals in my section hated my binôme, a horrible spotty faced, whining Frenchman. Hell I hated him also. So we were always put on the grave yard shift. This meant as soon as you fell into a deep sleep dreaming about a Sunday roast you were woken for two hours of guard. Then you would have two hours before the guard was shouting wake up.
 
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Try 2 days of exercises with sleep deprivation. Then give a competent set of orders for a mission.

It can be done. Para and Cdo officers under training endure this. Simply mind over matter !
 
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