My try this Wednesday Aubagne.

[dusaboss]

Which test exactly get you to try after a month if you fail it? it's a little ambiguous. Pardon my ignorance, what is the first basic test? Surely you do not mean pull-ups? Is there something after that?

Here they think on basic IQ test which is done on the first day you arrive, right after pull-ups and before any medical exam. As I understand it's a really basic short IQ test to see whether you're an idiot or no (no offence to anyone who failed that test. Some guys get really nervous and under pressure they give wrong answers). Later, in the selection process, you have another IQ which that is more serious, as well as the general knowledge test which you do in your native language (correct me if I'm wrong).

Have a really good question about the first basic test ? How many mistakes could be done ?

Vita, how many questions did you had on that test?

 

[keegan mactavish]

Thanks for the info, boy I haven't done any exam in Arabic language in the last five years. I forgot all the Arabic grammar haha.

 

[Le petit caporal]

Polish up on your Arabic, English and learn French... It's an advantage for sure.

 

[vytautelisss]

If I remember correctly it was 9 or 8, really small test 3 pages.
Stupid question about the pull ups. They should be done with arms fully extended and then your chin up the bar and this is it. Other things doesn't make any difference.

 

[Le petit caporal]

If I remember correctly it was 9 or 8, really small test 3 pages. (...)

Was it the 4 boxes type A-B-C-D?

 

[keegan mactavish]

Polish up on your Arabic, English and learn French... It's an advantage for sure.

I have started a French course in the French embassy. Today was my 2nd lesson. I studied French for 6 years and extensively for one year but I forgot everything. It shouldn't be hard to remember what you have already learned.

 

[vytautelisss]

Was it the 4 boxes type A-B-C-D?

Yes.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

I have started a French course in the French embassy. Today was my 2nd lesson. I studied French for 6 years and extensively for one year but I forgot everything. It shouldn't be hard to remember what you have already learned.

Keegan, good idea, in fact great idea. Try and get a certificate from the embassy saying that you studied on their ground. It may not be a big deal, but it will show that you have been background checked enough to be allowed on the premises. And don't just leave it there, study in your own time too.

 

[DCLXVI]

Which test exactly get you to try after a month if you fail it? it's a little ambiguous. Pardon my ignorance, what is the first basic test? Surely you do not mean pull-ups? Is there something after that?

He failed the most basic and simple IQ test there is. Does this answer make it a little clearer now? All the pull-ups in the world won't make you smarter... And why they told him to come back in a month, IF, they really did is beyond me. If you cant pass the first basic and NOT REAL IQ test, what makes the Legion think he will pass the REAL one... So, my conclusion is... he won't. Facts of life.

 

[keegan mactavish]

He failed the most basic and simple IQ test there is. Does this answer make it a little clearer now? All the pull-ups in the world won't make you smarter... And why they told him to come back in a month, IF, they really did is beyond me. If you cant pass the first basic and NOT REAL IQ test, what makes the Legion think he will pass the REAL one... So, my conclusion is... he won't. Facts of life.

Aha I see, I didn't know there was more than one IQ test I thought it was only the famous psycho-tech one only.
Joseph, I actually have visited France in 2017 got a Schengen and stayed there for 5 days then got back to Egypt without having any sort of trouble at all, so that's one more background check also.

 

[Rapace]

Aha I see, I didn't know there was more than one IQ test I thought it was only the famous psycho-tech one only. (...)

You and all who are considering joining the Legion need to understand that the selection process has two steps. First is preselection (done either at Fort de Nogent or Aubagne), where the candidate is required to do 7 pull-ups (new minimum), takes a short IQ test and goes through a cursory medical and dental check. If the candidate makes ‘the first cut’, he's sent to Aubagne for the ‘real’ selection process or, if he joined at Aubagne, he goes from the preselection center to the selection center (in French Centre de Sélection et d'Incorporation). There, the candidate takes the full series of selection tests (physical, medical, psycho-technical and personality tests) and has the motivation and security interviews. If he makes this ‘second cut’, that is after passing all the tests and being chosen by the final Selection Committee, the candidate is given a 5-year contract with the Legion and sent to Castelnaudary for basic training.

 

[Etoiles_mortant]

(...) where the candidate is required to do 7 pull-ups (new minimum) (...)

Weee, there goes my chance of making it .

 

[Chas]

never give up

“Ne pas subir”. Stage commando pour les Commandos Marine, l'élite des forces spéciales.
The same applies for all FFL aspirants. It must be determination and mind over matter.

As I said before, at Suez the FFL were considered to be the most battle hardened troops in the world. RM officers were attached and RM Cdos embussed on Legion tanks, debussed and used the fork (bayonet) to get rid of those enemy still in situ. It is of course now a case of Autres temps, autres moeurs.

One RM officer who retired as a Maj. General, with a DSO won in the Falklands for a magnificent night attack via a cleared routed minefield, over open ground and captured 300 enemy POWs' for the loss of a dozen men killed or wounded. He said that, when attached the FFL discipline was strict but very different in application. He said the Legion believed that the men were as important as the mission. Their wellbeing was paramount. When there was a food riot the French officer instructed a sniper to shoot the ring leader and without due warning. The RM officer remonstrated with him very politely, since he was a very junior subaltern. He was informed quite simply “It was necessary otherwise there would have been more deaths.”

I joined in 1956 prior to Suez and it was stories about the FFL from friends who had met them that inspired my interest.

 

[Le petit caporal]

Ne pas subir used to be the division motto of the 4ème RE and 1er REC.

 

[Theuglyfriend]

Weee, there goes my chance of making it .

Me too. I’m in Marseille now.

 

[Papillon]

It has to be said that, in our days, you were literally going into the unknown. Perhaps not the unknown, more the little known. I personally did not know if they were still in North Africa or not. I'd read Beau Geste and Legionnaire by Simon Murray and saw the cartoon strips in the papers of beau peep all took place in the desert.

Then one day going back to my commando unit in Arbroath, Scotland after leave after another 4 months in Norway, I said F- it, I'll go and join the FFL. Managed to put up with it for seventeen and a half years without knowing what I was letting myself in for.

Just a foot note, when you signed your contract in those days it was in French. And you did not get a copy of what you just signed.

Went to Arbroath to watch a rangers play in the very early 70s think the tide came in was the pitch next to the sea? Or is my memory playing tricks Arbroath Smokes!!!!
Told you I had a plan all I thought was that if you were daft enough to go and I presumed fit I had done the French commando course no 7 in Trier with my old jock unit so had seen the Legion instructors they made a big impression and as a binge drinker in between I kept myself in shape and fit problem with a hidden disorder of addictions it can be anything but for many years the drink would take over!

 

[Le petit caporal]

Abroath smokes are doss

 

[Nickfury]

Me too. I’m in Marseille now.

Good luck! 3rd (4th??) time's the charm.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Me too. I’m in Marseille now.

All the best. Keep a low profile and do your utmost. I hope that the next time we hear from you will be when you get your kepi and you can drop us a line. You are about to begin something that will change your life.
Boy do I wish it was me again. I'd show 'em !

 

[Chas]

Of passing interest reference my previous post. Operation Musketeer (Suez). November the 6th,1956, 45 Cdo RM made the first ever helicopter assault in history. 650 men being deployed from ships.