Venter from South Africa

[Venter10]

Hello all,

Just a brief introduction.

Name: L Venter
Age: 23, 24 in November
Planning on leaving SA July 2018

I have read some of the posts for some information and was considering the Legion for a few months after deciding I want a military career.
Now that I have made a decision I am currently training and selling my possessions here ( in SA ) as part of my preparations.

Any advice or tips to someone from SA?
Any advice or tips from someone from SA?
There is a dodgy site for a "letter" with visa applications, anyone with experience about this?


Thank you to all the contributors on this forum for assisting with answers and generally helping out.

 

[Cernunnos]

Any advice or tips to someone from SA?
There is a dodgy site for a "letter" with visa applications, anyone with experience about this?

Welcome to the forum, Venter.
I strongly advise staying away from anyone offering Visas or Passports and stick to the official channels.
In the UK we have to apply online or go to a Post Offfice for an application letter.
I did a quick google search and this seems to be about Passports in South Africa.
http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/travel-documents2

For tips, though I am not a Legionnaire, I advise reading up Stoeng's training regime.
Even if you don't follow it to the letter, simply basing your training regime to look similar should prepare you.
Make sure you can do at least 4 pull ups, sounds silly but some people never do them so they can't do them when they need to.
Same goes for push ups.
Make sure you have your story straight about why you're joining.

Here is a link to the F.A.Q which you should have a read through.
https://cervens.net/legionbbs123/showthread.php?58-Read-Before-Asking-FAQ

 

[Venter10]

Welcome to the forum, Venter.
I strongly advise staying away from anyone offering Visas or Passports and stick to the official channels.
In the UK we have to apply online or go to a Post Offfice for an application letter.
I did a quick google search and this seems to be about Passports in South Africa.
http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/travel-documents2

For tips, though I am not a Legionnaire, I advise reading up Stoeng's training regime.
Even if you don't follow it to the letter, simply basing your training regime to look similar should prepare you.
Make sure you can do at least 4 pull ups, sounds silly but some people never do them so they can't do them when they need to.
Same goes for push ups.
Make sure you have your story straight about why you're joining.

Here is a link to the F.A.Q which you should have a read through.
https://cervens.net/legionbbs123/showthread.php?58-Read-Before-Asking-FAQ

Thank you very much Cernunnos for all the good advice, I have Stoeng's training regime on my mirror .
I also have a passport but the Visa is confusing as the below links indicate?

The plan is just a 2 week "vacation" in France but this "letter" has me confused? My gut tells me not to trust it.

https://za.ambafrance.org/How-to-enlist-in-the-French-Foreign-legion

http://legionpretoria.blogspot.co.za/

 

[SnafuSmite]

Hello all,

Just a brief introduction.

Name: L Venter
Age: 23, 24 in November
Planning on leaving SA July 2018

I have read some of the posts for some information and was considering the Legion for a few months after deciding I want a military career.
Now that I have made a decision I am currently training and selling my possessions here ( in SA ) as part of my preparations.

Any advice or tips to someone from SA?
Any advice or tips from someone from SA?
There is a dodgy site for a "letter" with visa applications, anyone with experience about this?


Thank you to all the contributors on this forum for assisting with answers and generally helping out.

Howzit Boet, just search South African in the search function and a multitude of threads will pop up.

Do not do the letter thing, go on a tourist visa. It is illegal for a South African citizen to join a foreign military under the anti mercenary act, much less hassles. Capago does the Schengen visa applications for ZA to France check out their website for a short stay visa.

 

[Venter10]

Welcome to the forum, Venter.
I strongly advise staying away from anyone offering Visas or Passports and stick to the official channels.
In the UK we have to apply online or go to a Post Offfice for an application letter.
I did a quick google search and this seems to be about Passports in South Africa.
http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/travel-documents2

For tips, though I am not a Legionnaire, I advise reading up Stoeng's training regime.
Even if you don't follow it to the letter, simply basing your training regime to look similar should prepare you.
Make sure you can do at least 4 pull ups, sounds silly but some people never do them so they can't do them when they need to.
Same goes for push ups.
Make sure you have your story straight about why you're joining.

Here is a link to the F.A.Q which you should have a read through.
https://cervens.net/legionbbs123/showthread.php?58-Read-Before-Asking-FAQ

Hi Cernunnos,

Thank you for your advise, I have Stoeng's training regime on my mirror - working on my fitness daily.

The letter and visa i'm referring to is from the site below, Its very confusing.
https://za.ambafrance.org/How-to-enlist-in-the-French-Foreign-legion
http://legionpretoria.blogspot.co.za/

 

[Venter10]

Howzit Boet, just search South African in the search function and a multitude of threads will pop up.

Do not do the letter thing, go on a tourist visa. It is illegal for a South African citizen to join a foreign military under the anti mercenary act, much less hassles. Capago does the Schengen visa applications for ZA to France check out their website for a short stay visa.

Goeie mirrag!
Thank you very much, the answer I was looking for.
Thank you for confirming, I will be going on a vacation!

If you don't mind me asking, are you in France at the moment?
I have heard they are Slightly more understanding to of SouthAfricans joining the legion over the SANDF, is this true?

 

[SnafuSmite]

Goeie mirrag!
Thank you very much, the answer I was looking for.
Thank you for confirming, I will be going on a vacation!

If you don't mind me asking, are you in France at the moment?
I have heard they are Slightly more understanding to of SouthAfricans joining the legion over the SANDF, is this true?

Im an aspiring wannabe but there are plenty of Safas in the legion, you cant even compare the legion to the SANDF, different ball park completely. I attempted to join the SANDF 3 times and was rejected the first 2 for "exceeding quotas" and the last for being too old. Unfortunately the brits dont want us anymore, the Legion is the only opportunity for those of us that want a military career.

 

[Venter10]

Im an aspiring wannabe but there are plenty of Safas in the legion, you cant even compare the legion to the SANDF, different ball park completely. I attempted to join the SANDF 3 times and was rejected the first 2 for "exceeding quotas" and the last for being too old. Unfortunately the brits dont want us anymore, the Legion is the only opportunity for those of us that want a military career.

I see, we have come to the same unfortunate conclusion.

Good to know there will be some "friends" from the Republic.

Hopelik Afrikaans ook.

 

[SnafuSmite]

I see, we have come to the same unfortunate conclusion.

Good to know there will be some "friends" from the Republic.

Hopelik Afrikaans ook.

I'm English speaking, maar ek kan die taal praat. Remember to work on your French as well as fitness.

 

[shadowhideyou808]

Plenty of South Africans in the Legion. I met a bunch who earned the Kepi with me, and met a few in 1ère reg and cav. Spoke with them during corvée.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Surfguy]

Perhaps not a good idea to post so much personal info on a any website especially advertising the fact your are going to become a soldier.

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

Perhaps not a good idea to post so much personal info on a any website especially advertising the fact your are going to become a soldier.

Sound advice from Surfguy. As long as you do not mention anything bad about your past there should be no worries concerning the legion. Although I wouldn't imagine the SA authorities going as far as to monitor legion websites, you never know.

As SnafuSmite says work on your French, you could us that as a 'cover' for visiting France; to perfection the language and learning the culture. Good luck.

 

[Venter10]

Perhaps not a good idea to post so much personal info on a any website especially advertising the fact your are going to become a soldier.

Good point, Thank you Surfguy.

I dont think anyone will find anything to be honest, but I should be more cautions.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

[Venter10]

Sound advice from Surfguy. As long as you do not mention anything bad about your past there should be no worries concerning the legion. Although I wouldn't imagine the SA authorities going as far as to monitor legion websites, you never know.

As SnafuSmite says work on your French, you could us that as a 'cover' for visiting France; to perfection the language and learning the culture. Good luck.

What do you mean anything bad from my past? Convictions?
Ive gone with the " vacation " option as my reason for travel, I have been brushing up on my French - je lutte encore!

Any advice on What to learn in French? I can almost count to 100 and I know the basic yes, No Salut etc...

 

[Joseph Cosgrove]

What do you mean anything bad from my past? Convictions?
Ive gone with the " vacation " option as my reason for travel, I have been brushing up on my French - je lutte encore!

Any advice on What to learn in French? I can almost count to 100 and I know the basic yes, No Salut etc...

Venter10, not necessarily convictions, there maybe other things, just be careful.

As for learning French, it's a pity Irishhermit isn't around at the moment, he's very keen on that. There are several sites to learn from, Duolingo, learn with Oliver etc.
Because you've got a while before going, you should get into the habit of writing out the date everyday. When I say date I mean Thursday twenty six of October.
The time - military (24 hour) and civil way. As for the numbers, it only gets 'hard' after 89. So if you are doing pull ups, and you should be doing pull ups, count them out from 90 on wards. You should get to at least quatre-vingt-dix-sept.

That is of course on top of learning the verbs 'to be' and 'to have'. As well as your daily language course from one of the sites.

 

[Sarajevo1992]

What do you mean anything bad from my past? Convictions?
Ive gone with the " vacation " option as my reason for travel, I have been brushing up on my French - je lutte encore!

Any advice on What to learn in French? I can almost count to 100 and I know the basic yes, No Salut etc...

You should know at least: oui caporal-chef, repos, ferme ta gueule, putain, merde, salope, corvée, bordel and of course pompe.

 

[Venter10]

That is good news, I'm glad i will have some countrymen to hear some Afrikaans.
Hopefully there will be some with me before we all become family.

 

[Venter10]

You should know at least: oui caporal-chef, repos, ferme ta gueule, putain, merde, salope, corvée, bordel and of course pompe.

I have read I will come to know "pompe" well! Thank you for the reply!

 

[SnafuSmite]

Venter10, not necessarily convictions, there maybe other things, just be careful.

As for learning French, it's a pity Irishhermit isn't around at the moment, he's very keen on that. There are several sites to learn from, Duolingo, learn with Oliver etc.
Because you've got a while before going, you should get into the habit of writing out the date everyday. When I say date I mean Thursday twenty six of October.
The time - military (24 hour) and civil way. As for the numbers, it only gets 'hard' after 89. So if you are doing pull ups, and you should be doing pull ups, count them out from 90 on wards. You should get to at least quatre-vingt-dix-sept.

That is of course on top of learning the verbs 'to be' and 'to have'. As well as your daily language course from one of the sites.

Irish put a whole list of websites and apps on a thread, can't seem to find it, he listed them according to your current knowledge of the language as well as how he rated them. Will keep on looking.

 

[SnafuSmite]

Righto found the thread where Irish posted his recommendations.

https://cervens.net/legionbbs123/sh...-in-the-Legion&p=210748&viewfull=1#post210748

Its post number 10 on the thread.