Overseas Recruitment and 30% Increase in Recruits in the Legion

[IFUGAO]

The FFL is upping recruitment by 30% up to 2019 and is now recruiting locally in French Polynesia.

http://www.ladepeche.pf/bureau-de-recrutement-de-legion-etrangere/

 

[Rapace]

Interesting. What the article says is that pre-selection will now be done in Tahiti (like in Fort de Nogent, near Paris, for example) and the Legion will pay a plane ticket to Aubagne to the candidates that passed (like they pay a train ticket from FdN to Aubagne).
The Lt-Col interviewed says the Legion considers the Polynesians can make good legionnaires because of their physical potential and because they generally like operational first line type of soldiering.
I guess the Troupes de Marine may not be too happy to see new ‘competition’ tapping into the same ‘reservoir’...

 

[IFUGAO]

Interesting. What the article says is that pre-selection will now be done in Tahiti (like in Fort de Nogent, near Paris, for example) and the Legion will pay a plane ticket to Aubagne to the candidates that passed (like they pay a train ticket from FdN to Aubagne).
The Lt-Col interviewed says the Legion considers the Polynesians can make good legionnaires because of their physical potential and because they generally like operational first line type of soldiering.
I guess the Troupes de Marine may not be too happy to see new ‘competition’ tapping into the same ‘reservoir’...

Aye, Rapace. Do you think it's possible for foreigners to just fly to Tahiti and do preselection there instead of, say, Paris or is the preselection just for the local boys?

 

[Rapace]

Aye, Rapace. Do you think it's possible for foreigners to just fly to Tahiti and do preselection there instead of, say, Paris or is the preselection just for the local boys?

I don't know. Why not ? But I don't really see the interest for you, since you'll need a visa to enter Tahiti, so that they can then send you to mainland France if you pass the pre-selection tests.

 

[loustic]

The FFL is upping recruitment by 30% up to 2019 and is now recruiting locally in French Polynesia.

http://www.ladepeche.pf/bureau-de-recrutement-de-legion-etrangere/

Strange : French Polynesians are ... French citizens, so why pushing them to go to the Legion ?

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Strange : French Polynesians are ... French citizens, so why pushing them to go to the Legion ?

Alain, good question, even when the compulsive military servce stopped in France they still had volunteer service on the islands. In the service general (Alain do you not what that is?) we had three of them working with us. They wore beret verts and did all the rest that the legionnaires did.

 

[Rapace]

Strange : French Polynesians are ... French citizens, so why pushing them to go to the Legion ?

Well... This is well explained in the article (and you speak French, as far as I know). They are seen as good candidates.
What is not clearly explicited (but I alluded to it in a previous post) is that, the Legion not having any representation office in the territory – since the 5e RE in Mururoa atoll was disbanded –Polynesians who are interested in a military career are almost all joining the Troupes de Marine, in particular the RIMaP (Régiment d'infanterie de marine du Pacifique), based in Fa'a, near Papeete, the heir of the Bataillon du Pacifique which fought in the Free French Forces during WW2.
Long story short, the Legion is going to ‘hunt’ on the ‘Marsouins’ territory.

 

[voltigeur]

Alain, good question, even when the compulsive military servce stopped in France they still had volunteer service on the islands. In the service general (Alain do you not what that is?) we had three of them working with us. They wore beret verts and did all the rest that the legionnaires did.

It was the same with the Harkis in Algeria, they could not wear a Kepi.

 

[176607Mick]

Strange : French Polynesians are ... French citizens, so why pushing them to go to the Legion ?

You should know the answer to your own question?

 

[Peter Lyderik]

Vidéo - Le bureau de la Légion étrangère à Tahiti est ouvert
https://www.tntv.pf/Video-Le-bureau-de-la-Legion-etrangere-a-Tahiti-est-ouvert_a23587.html

 

[keegan mactavish]

https://cervens.net/forum/index.php?threads/current-selection-process.22142/ Did you check this thread? According to DCLXVI, recruitment is back to normal again.
"when I was in the DSPLE doing my biometric stuff for my passport, diagraphs and projections for 2018 showing recruitment is going way down. They have filled the void essentially. The rush for anyone to get in doesn't exist anymore."

 

[SnafuSmite]

https://cervens.net/forum/index.php?threads/current-selection-process.22142/ Did you check this thread? According to DCLXVI, recruitment is back to normal again.
"when I was in the DSPLE doing my biometric stuff for my passport, diagraphs and projections for 2018 showing recruitment is going way down. They have filled the void essentially. The rush for anyone to get in doesn't exist anymore."

Its an older thread, so information has probably changed since then. However recruitment will be slighter higher than it used to, eg. expanded units=more men which in turn leads to more chaps being needed to replace the outgoings.

 

[keegan mactavish]

it's one-month-old anyhow I am not gonna be able to join until 2020 so unfortunately even if that's true won't really serve me well I read that piece of news before and I was really pissed of because I can't go before 2020

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Keegan, don't worry mate, the Legion will still be around in 2020 and will still be recruiting.

 

[Geneticcz]

i mean if its gonna increase recruiting by 30% cuz they opened a foreign recruiting center, then the ones that are hired through there will be the extra %, meaning that in france the number of people getting in will stay the same-ish. so for most people it doesnt really mean a higher chance to get in.

 

[Nickfury]

The surge was only for about a 2 year period. They always recruit about 800-1000 guys a year. It was boosted a bunch from that during the surge but now that it's over it's not like your chances are over, it's just back to normal. Like Snafu said, they have a larger force by like 2000 guys I think, so that means more turn over and so they will be taking a bit more than they did before the surge.

The foreign recruiting center isn't going to be decreasing guys chances in France very much. Previously guys in French Polynesia could choose from the Army, Navy, Air Force, police Gendarme etc in Tahiti and would have to travel to France on their own dime to try for the Legion. Now they have one more choice. But the problem for the legion in getting francophones is that there are generally a lot better options for French citizens in the regular forces, more specialties, less bullshit, chances for higher level technical skills that might transfer to civi life and the chance to go SPECOPS for guys who are hardcore. They will certainly get some guys every month but it won't be a huge amount.

 

[Le petit caporal]

It makes sense to me
1. French Polynesia spans the size of Europe
2. France has and owes a moral obligation in this region (nuclear testing and many other not talked about much ills, likes of corruption )
3. Is true they like fighting but not for the reasons explained by the link (they like them from the British isles... Once they have done the tour of their island they ask themselves what can I do now? Get drunk, get in a fight, get arresested and maybe go to jail.
4. There isn't much industry. Only tourism, a bit pearl culture, a bit of vanilla culture, and mostly the administration
5. Strategically speaking, it's well situated
6. Polynesians in general, do not have the complexices or attitudes that the rest of us have = due to their éloignement and insurality. Have known many and not one has ever bugged me

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

I'm sure that the Legion will put a percentage or other quota on how many Polynesians can join. And again opening a PRLE in Tahiti will mean other islanders can join, for example Samoa, Tonga, Wallis and Fortuna, New Zealand etc. I knew a prince in the REP from Wallis and Fortuna, who was on the same detachment as me for 5 RE. Of course being a prince on a few small islands isn't exactly on the same par as Prince Charles.

It will mean a lot less distance to travel, which may take out the 'determined to join at all cost' factor out of it. As Andy says, the Tahitians are great people until the week-ends when they hit the Hinano beer:



Hinano la bière qui rends idiot, donne-moi un kilo!

 

[Peter Lyderik]

La Polynésie, premier bureau outremer de la Légion étrangère

Article and video: https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/poly...-bureau-outremer-legion-etrangere-553753.html

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

That has to be the best posting that a Polynesian can hope for. I remember a Djiboutien legionnaire who was sent to Djibouti, only it was a disaster, he was late or drunk at least once a week. But there you go. Also I knew of (but never met) someone from Guadeloupe who was affected to 3 REI, apparently no problems.