EngageVolunteer_AUG52015
Donator
My Experience at Aubagne
First let me say that no two experiences are identical during preselection. The procedures change daily and nothing that you read can actually prepare you for the experience. Also, preparation is not indicative of your success. I will elaborate on my experience and hopefully assist future EV’s in one form or another.
BIO: 35 year old white male (turned 36 while blue, no cake) with no prior military service (Gov’t Contractor) and in peak physical conditioning.
Pre-Training: Followed Stoengs 3 month training plan, learned Legion Chants, history and memorized the Code of Honor prior walking through the gates.
The walk through the Gates:
On August 28th 2015 I took a taxi from Marseille to the front gates of Aubange. I exited the vehicle, grabbed my bags and was waved in by a tall dark skinned Corporal who was guarding the gate. He looked at my passport and smiled while saying “American ha ha, walk in there†as he pointed towards an open door. I approached the door and stuck my head in as I knocked. The Corporal Chef who was smoking on a cigarette glanced at my passport then waved around the corner and said in broken Anglais “sit next to the other.†I walked around the corner and saw a few guys sitting on this little red bench. I sat down next to them. It soon became clear that waiting would be a major part of preselection. As I sat on the bench clearly overdressed in black jeans a black shirt and combat boots, the sun slowly crept a little higher by the hour. After about two hours a Corporal Chef exited the door and called me into a little room. My bags were inventoried, my money was counted and my undesirable possessions were tossed out. Lucky for me I came relatively light and the only thing tossed was a first aid kit. Contrary to what I thought prior to entering. Cell phones are inventoried and placed with your other belongings. I happened to send mine back to the US with my Laptop and Driver’s License that very morning (I regretted this later). Once I signed off on the inventory I sat back outside on the little red bench where I continued to wait with about half a dozen other gentlemen most of whom were speaking Spanish. We waited silently for several hours cooking in the sun as I started to question my clothing choice with sweat pooling in every crevasse possible. Finally the Corporal Chef walked out with his bag and or files and told us to debout.
My heart started to race as we walked deeper up a hill and into the installation. I was thinking to myself “yes, all of the preparation and planning has paid off, I am finally here.†I was extremely happy and confident with my decision. This was day one or so I thought. As we approached a building we were told to wait by the entrance. I was very happy not to be sitting on that little red bench and the adrenaline was pumping. I hardly noticed standing in the sun for 30 min in silence just awaiting our next orders. We were then waved into the building and told “silence†or Silance as it was pronounced by the Corporal Chef. We were led into a room some of us more fortunate than the others by receiving reasonably comfortable chairs while others were handed little metal stools. One by one we were briefly interviewed and asked family questions. Each person sat for about 30 minutes with the Corporal Chef as we were given our new identities. Yet again, some of us were more lucky than the others, it just so happens that I was given the precious name of Michal which might be Mike in Russian but by all other accounts it sounds like Michelle when pronounced by any other of my Corporal Chefs. (Just so you future EV’s understand you will more than likely be answering to a Corporal / Corporal Chef. My experience during Aubange was almost solely dealing with Corporal Chefs. It is in your best interest to learn how to read the ranks and how to address them before walking through the gates) Once I was given my name which you will have no control over unless you are a combat veteran who has earned a couple of medals than if they like you they might let you pick your own name. Regardless don’t count on it. You are who they say you are. I was “Michal†and proud of it. Once you are given a name you are then sent outside into for lack of better words the “prison yard†this is the case if you came straight to Aubange, the “Prison Yard†is not occupied by those who are from Paris or already completed their sport and medical somewhere else.
The “Prision Yard†is perhaps the first test for those who have come directly to Aubange. It is an easy but grueling experience and I believe that it may be designed as such. Basically you have four things which must be completed before you make the transition from Civil to an actual EV. The name change, the medical, the sport test and the contract signing. You would hope to knock all of these out in a day or two but during my experience it was one per day. How long do these things take?
Day 1 - Name change: 2 hours
Day 2 - Medical: 5 hours
Day 3 - Sport Test: 15 mins
Day 4 - Contract Signing: 2 Mins
Now you ask well what the hell do I do with the rest of my day while I’m waiting to become an EV. The answer is tres simple. YOU WAIT! Basically your day will go like this. 5:00am wake up then wait, 6:00am eat then wait, 8:00am Test (either medical or sport) then wait. 12:00 Lunch then wait 6:00pm Dinner then wait 10:00pm shower then sleep.
It may sound easy enough but it is truly the first test of the Legion. Are you content with sitting without being able to do any sport and just sit and wait for 18 hours a day in uncomfortable conditions? Also I deceive you when I say breakfast, lunch and dinner. You may eat but unless you are a squirrel it is not even close to enough especially if you are a larger muscular person. You will starve and grow weaker by the day. It is all part of their process. I came in doing 25 pull-ups and left struggling to do half as many. Your body starts deteriorating and burning muscle the second you walk through the gates.
So you are waiting for 18+ hours a day for 4 days some for more and a few get lucky and get away with 3. You can optimize your chances by coming in on a Monday morning or a Sunday evening. If you come in late in the week then you will be spending your weekend doing corvee before you even get to do your medical. The best part of the waiting game is that you immediately begin building strong relationships with your comrades. By the end of day 4 I had developed relationships that will last a lifetime. These unfriendly conditions leave you picking each other up when your mind starts playing tricks on you and believe me everyone there at one point or another asks themselves, what the hell am I doing here. Every day is like a rollercoaster. You have your good moments and then you have your moments of doubt. They usually come when your stomach is in knots and you are sitting there contemplating chewing sticks and rocks.
The Medical: I was a bit terrified of the medical as those who have mentored me on here over the last several months know I had injured my ankle, torn ligaments and the whole nine. I wouldn’t of been able to go through those gates a day earlier than I did I mean I really pushed my luck. That being said I did successfully pass MEPS (US MILITARY MEDICAL) two years prior but I was very concerned about failing because it’s not like you think. That goes for the entire Legion. It is not necessarily performance based. If someone doesn’t like you, they will fail you. I witnessed this during the medical. The Doctor who is a very hands on type gentleman and also a high ranking officer holds your key to the Legion. I saw two slightly chunky guys go in and one got sent home because he was too fat. The funny thing is he was skinnier than the other guy who made it in. You have to be respectful and keep your mouth shut “silance†when you are sitting there bored as hell for hours staring at the wall. SHUT THE HELL UP. I can’t stress this enough. It could cost you everything! The medical is pretty nerve racking. The day after I went 14 guys went to get there medical and only four passed. It’s common that if the doctor hears a pop or crack or just suspects there is a problem then you will get a paper and you are out until you return with that paper and another medical professional’s opinion. The good news is I saw 6 people leave with papers and come back either the same or the next day. It’s not the end of the world if you get one just get it checked out at the hospital and come back.
The Sport Test: Ok so I must have been reading some old documentation because I over trained like a mofo. I was climbing rope and running 2800 meters in like 12 minutes trying to prepare for the test. What I should have been doing is the beep test and a couple of lousy pull-ups. As for me though I sort of dropped the ball on the beep test. My sport test was the first time I ever ran a beep test. Let me touch on a couple of things about the Legion Sport Test. Depending on your Corporal Chef in charge of the test is going to determine how well your group does. For instance, the Corporal Chef in charge of my groups test made us run both feet past the line. My group made levels 8 and 9. However the next day’s group had a different Corporal Chef and they only had to put one foot past the line. This is about 2 to 3 meters shorter than the way we did it and their group all made 9 to 10 levels. The same thing with the pull-ups, some Corporal Chefs let you kip a bit and others are exceptionally strict. This I think is a big issue that they should sort out because their controls aren’t the same so their results are flawed IMO. Other than that the test was ridiculously easy. I regret not practicing the beep test prior, I feel that better technique could have resulted in a bump up in levels. Be sure to practice. You do the pull-ups immediately following the beep test so practice as such.
First let me say that no two experiences are identical during preselection. The procedures change daily and nothing that you read can actually prepare you for the experience. Also, preparation is not indicative of your success. I will elaborate on my experience and hopefully assist future EV’s in one form or another.
BIO: 35 year old white male (turned 36 while blue, no cake) with no prior military service (Gov’t Contractor) and in peak physical conditioning.
Pre-Training: Followed Stoengs 3 month training plan, learned Legion Chants, history and memorized the Code of Honor prior walking through the gates.
The walk through the Gates:
On August 28th 2015 I took a taxi from Marseille to the front gates of Aubange. I exited the vehicle, grabbed my bags and was waved in by a tall dark skinned Corporal who was guarding the gate. He looked at my passport and smiled while saying “American ha ha, walk in there†as he pointed towards an open door. I approached the door and stuck my head in as I knocked. The Corporal Chef who was smoking on a cigarette glanced at my passport then waved around the corner and said in broken Anglais “sit next to the other.†I walked around the corner and saw a few guys sitting on this little red bench. I sat down next to them. It soon became clear that waiting would be a major part of preselection. As I sat on the bench clearly overdressed in black jeans a black shirt and combat boots, the sun slowly crept a little higher by the hour. After about two hours a Corporal Chef exited the door and called me into a little room. My bags were inventoried, my money was counted and my undesirable possessions were tossed out. Lucky for me I came relatively light and the only thing tossed was a first aid kit. Contrary to what I thought prior to entering. Cell phones are inventoried and placed with your other belongings. I happened to send mine back to the US with my Laptop and Driver’s License that very morning (I regretted this later). Once I signed off on the inventory I sat back outside on the little red bench where I continued to wait with about half a dozen other gentlemen most of whom were speaking Spanish. We waited silently for several hours cooking in the sun as I started to question my clothing choice with sweat pooling in every crevasse possible. Finally the Corporal Chef walked out with his bag and or files and told us to debout.
My heart started to race as we walked deeper up a hill and into the installation. I was thinking to myself “yes, all of the preparation and planning has paid off, I am finally here.†I was extremely happy and confident with my decision. This was day one or so I thought. As we approached a building we were told to wait by the entrance. I was very happy not to be sitting on that little red bench and the adrenaline was pumping. I hardly noticed standing in the sun for 30 min in silence just awaiting our next orders. We were then waved into the building and told “silence†or Silance as it was pronounced by the Corporal Chef. We were led into a room some of us more fortunate than the others by receiving reasonably comfortable chairs while others were handed little metal stools. One by one we were briefly interviewed and asked family questions. Each person sat for about 30 minutes with the Corporal Chef as we were given our new identities. Yet again, some of us were more lucky than the others, it just so happens that I was given the precious name of Michal which might be Mike in Russian but by all other accounts it sounds like Michelle when pronounced by any other of my Corporal Chefs. (Just so you future EV’s understand you will more than likely be answering to a Corporal / Corporal Chef. My experience during Aubange was almost solely dealing with Corporal Chefs. It is in your best interest to learn how to read the ranks and how to address them before walking through the gates) Once I was given my name which you will have no control over unless you are a combat veteran who has earned a couple of medals than if they like you they might let you pick your own name. Regardless don’t count on it. You are who they say you are. I was “Michal†and proud of it. Once you are given a name you are then sent outside into for lack of better words the “prison yard†this is the case if you came straight to Aubange, the “Prison Yard†is not occupied by those who are from Paris or already completed their sport and medical somewhere else.
The “Prision Yard†is perhaps the first test for those who have come directly to Aubange. It is an easy but grueling experience and I believe that it may be designed as such. Basically you have four things which must be completed before you make the transition from Civil to an actual EV. The name change, the medical, the sport test and the contract signing. You would hope to knock all of these out in a day or two but during my experience it was one per day. How long do these things take?
Day 1 - Name change: 2 hours
Day 2 - Medical: 5 hours
Day 3 - Sport Test: 15 mins
Day 4 - Contract Signing: 2 Mins
Now you ask well what the hell do I do with the rest of my day while I’m waiting to become an EV. The answer is tres simple. YOU WAIT! Basically your day will go like this. 5:00am wake up then wait, 6:00am eat then wait, 8:00am Test (either medical or sport) then wait. 12:00 Lunch then wait 6:00pm Dinner then wait 10:00pm shower then sleep.
It may sound easy enough but it is truly the first test of the Legion. Are you content with sitting without being able to do any sport and just sit and wait for 18 hours a day in uncomfortable conditions? Also I deceive you when I say breakfast, lunch and dinner. You may eat but unless you are a squirrel it is not even close to enough especially if you are a larger muscular person. You will starve and grow weaker by the day. It is all part of their process. I came in doing 25 pull-ups and left struggling to do half as many. Your body starts deteriorating and burning muscle the second you walk through the gates.
So you are waiting for 18+ hours a day for 4 days some for more and a few get lucky and get away with 3. You can optimize your chances by coming in on a Monday morning or a Sunday evening. If you come in late in the week then you will be spending your weekend doing corvee before you even get to do your medical. The best part of the waiting game is that you immediately begin building strong relationships with your comrades. By the end of day 4 I had developed relationships that will last a lifetime. These unfriendly conditions leave you picking each other up when your mind starts playing tricks on you and believe me everyone there at one point or another asks themselves, what the hell am I doing here. Every day is like a rollercoaster. You have your good moments and then you have your moments of doubt. They usually come when your stomach is in knots and you are sitting there contemplating chewing sticks and rocks.
The Medical: I was a bit terrified of the medical as those who have mentored me on here over the last several months know I had injured my ankle, torn ligaments and the whole nine. I wouldn’t of been able to go through those gates a day earlier than I did I mean I really pushed my luck. That being said I did successfully pass MEPS (US MILITARY MEDICAL) two years prior but I was very concerned about failing because it’s not like you think. That goes for the entire Legion. It is not necessarily performance based. If someone doesn’t like you, they will fail you. I witnessed this during the medical. The Doctor who is a very hands on type gentleman and also a high ranking officer holds your key to the Legion. I saw two slightly chunky guys go in and one got sent home because he was too fat. The funny thing is he was skinnier than the other guy who made it in. You have to be respectful and keep your mouth shut “silance†when you are sitting there bored as hell for hours staring at the wall. SHUT THE HELL UP. I can’t stress this enough. It could cost you everything! The medical is pretty nerve racking. The day after I went 14 guys went to get there medical and only four passed. It’s common that if the doctor hears a pop or crack or just suspects there is a problem then you will get a paper and you are out until you return with that paper and another medical professional’s opinion. The good news is I saw 6 people leave with papers and come back either the same or the next day. It’s not the end of the world if you get one just get it checked out at the hospital and come back.
The Sport Test: Ok so I must have been reading some old documentation because I over trained like a mofo. I was climbing rope and running 2800 meters in like 12 minutes trying to prepare for the test. What I should have been doing is the beep test and a couple of lousy pull-ups. As for me though I sort of dropped the ball on the beep test. My sport test was the first time I ever ran a beep test. Let me touch on a couple of things about the Legion Sport Test. Depending on your Corporal Chef in charge of the test is going to determine how well your group does. For instance, the Corporal Chef in charge of my groups test made us run both feet past the line. My group made levels 8 and 9. However the next day’s group had a different Corporal Chef and they only had to put one foot past the line. This is about 2 to 3 meters shorter than the way we did it and their group all made 9 to 10 levels. The same thing with the pull-ups, some Corporal Chefs let you kip a bit and others are exceptionally strict. This I think is a big issue that they should sort out because their controls aren’t the same so their results are flawed IMO. Other than that the test was ridiculously easy. I regret not practicing the beep test prior, I feel that better technique could have resulted in a bump up in levels. Be sure to practice. You do the pull-ups immediately following the beep test so practice as such.
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