Articles by former recruiting officer of the Legion (chief ajudant Charles Støeng)
Once you come to Aubagne, the first test is of course the medical test,(if you are going to live among us we must be sure that you are in the medical condition needed to live in community). The doctor who sees you will decide if you are ok or not. Be fit, clean and without problems!! No eyes problems, no heart problems, no knee problems. No fucking problems at all. After all, it is the doctor who will decide, so dont complicate the work for him. If he is in a bad mood he might send you home because he doesen't like your face. And he has the right to do what ever he likes. He is the doctor and nobody argues with him,(this is not democratic at all!! it is the legion). We got plenty of candidates, so be fit and without problems. You must convince the doctor that you are in fighting condition and we do not have to spend thousands of dollars to fix you before starting you. If you have an medical problem, you are wasting everybody's time, yours and ours. Stay home.
Considering that you have passed the medical test, next stop is the running test. The final GO from the doctor might take up to one week (blood tests and x-rays must come back from the hospital before the final decision is made) meanwhile you will do different un-interesting/boring tasks inside the camp. No sports, because we have no medical clearance, so if you have a heart attack and die we are in deep shit. Finally one morning it will be the running test. This is the standard cooper test, you will run around an 400m track for twelve minutes. The score will be between 0 and 20 points which is the maximum possible score reached after 3200m. Once again do not create any fucking problems. Be ready, and do your best. No shoe problems, no leg problems,no cold or any fancy diseases early in the morning. These points ARE obtainable, so you want to make sure you can do this with no problem as it is an easy way to get 20 points. (prepare yourself for this before joining).
If you pass the cooper test the next stop will be the IQ test. (I almost forgot, the running test! If you are doing it with 20 russian ex officers and they all do 3600m. You with your 3200m and 20 points wont get very far, and you will be going home before the end of the day) So as you can see there is an certain luck needed to pass. Therfore it is very important to choose the right moment to join. Personnally I suggest to join in december (few candidates, so little competition).
The IQ test. Do not worry. I know plenty of idiots who have passed. It starts off easy and gets worse and worse until it gets impossible. Do not panic, and you will get the score that you deserve. There is no miracle solution juste use common sense and do your best. As always be awake and try to understand what is going on , do not **** up and look like an idiot before the test has started.
So finally you have a GO from the doctor and 3200m on the running test, with an normal IQ. You are ready for the security test. Basically this test has 3 differents meanings: First of all, create your security file that will follow you through your career. Second we want to know your whole life from day one to yesterday. And finally the NCO will have to decide if he thinks that you are an interesting candidate to the legion and if he believes that you will adapt to our system and way of life.
The most important thing to know about the legion's way of recruiting is that we do not work like the rest of the world. We do not give a **** about the candidates, there are plenty. You have no rights (you are free to leave whenever you like). The word why?? is forbidden(it is not your fucking business) just do it. We dont care how fit or good you are, but when we ask you to do something, be ready, do it, and do it good. How to be ready? that is your fucking problem. Just be ready and do not complicate things or create problems.
If you are ready to adapt our way of life, way of thinking, way of working, and ready to forget the past. With an complete devotion. You might be the right man.
Charles