Do People Really Run Off to Join the French Foreign Legion?

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keep these guys around. We enjoyed it. Sure couldn't hurt, right, I don't think so unless Science Channel sends guys to your house for commenting on their Facebook they welcome that. Ye, all right, podcast time, let's do it, hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and the Ravels w Chuck Bryant, which makes this stuff. You should know the Lightning Quick edition. Is this Lightning Quick? Yes? Because of

the lightning. Oh yeah, we have a like tornadoes and stuff coming in, so it's like holding out of the Okay Corral as the storm rolls in. But well we'd also like to get out of the Okay Corral before the steward Let's get here, you know. That's the point. Yeah, you were saying, there's a tornado flipping cars on like seventy five up north apparently. And I know my dog Buckley is at home just waiting to pee all over the place when the thunderstarts. So if I can be

there and hold him, he's fine. The French Foreign Legion, chuck um. They are a fighting force, a military fighting force that one young man by the name of Jean Claude van Damme ran off and joined in the movies. I got you, It totally got me. I was like, I never knew. Can you imagine? No, he was? It was in the movies. He wasn't really a legionnaire. What movie was it? I think Legion was a movie called Legion Legion never heard of it. But yeah, he's a

he's a legionaire. Actually you can tell, well, you know, I don't know that there are that many like big fans, but I'll bet his big fans are like like big time John Claude van dam Um, like Steven Seagal's fans probably probably so just a hardcore you know, um. But you could tell that Jean Claude van dam was in this movie because he's wearing a hat with the little cape in the back. Yeah. Is that what it's called? Yeah,

spelled k e P. I pronounced KP. And they still wear those, and uh, you know it's a it's a tradition that is still true today. The little flat cap very stiff and rigid, and uh, they don't always have the capes, you know, when they're out where they need them, they will. Well, the reason that they would have them is because for the better part of two centuries, the

French Foreign Legion was stationed in Algeria. Yeah. Uh. And the reason they were station there is because that's where their headquarters were almost from the moment of inception of this um, this military group. Yeah. And the reason they were stationed there from inception was because they were a bunch of ne'er do well criminals in many cases, and so they're like, you know, you guys are great and you're super tough. Let's move you to Algeria to help

our colonization efforts and get you out of France. Do you want to talk about the history first? Yeah, well today, let's talk about today just for one second. Over there are seven thousand, two d and eighty six Legionnaires as of December of last year, and to the date, to the date the date, thirty thousand have died in battle over the years. I saw that, which is not that bad.

But it's a small group. You know that seven thousand isn't much, right, and there they are the fighting force in the world that have seen more continuous acts than any other. Yeah, they fight constantly, They've been fighting constantly. Well, and they're bad dudes like there, they even say in this article. And they're well known to be much tougher than the regular French army because they're not French. Well they're actually I don't know much that has to do

with it, but they're known for being tough dudes. Yeah, and they're also a special forces unit. Basically, Um, no women. When we say dudes, we can say dudes. Yeah, there's never been a Fridge Foreign legionnaire who is a woman. Uh, and um, they are. They've been in just about every conflict, um that the French have been in, yeah, since eighteen thirty. Um. And did you know that the French Foreign legion invaded Mexico in eighteen sixty one and stayed there until eighteen

sixty five when they're finally beaten back. Yeah. They tried to assassinate the president and installed in Austrian prince named Maximilian as the ruler of Mexico, has set it up as a French puppet state. I wonder if they had any influence on Culinarily speaking, I don't know. You don't much French stuff pop up in Mexico like you do in like Vietnam. During that Colognial period you know, or Indochina. Okay, So do you want to go to history? Should how

these guys start? Well? In uh eighteen thirty Josh, they tell you little story about a guy named King Louis Philippe. Uh. It's known as a July Revolution. He replaced King Charles ten and X X and H after the Bourbon mon archy fell and this was Parisian radicals were involved in this overthrow. So even though he was made king in large part because of these radicals and because of radicalism, these radicals were some tough guys and a lot of them were you know, it kind of brought in this

um criminal element in some cases. And you know, I don't want to say they were bad guys, but maybe they were bad guys. Well, the King Louis Philippe thought that they were a threat to the monarchy because you know, he had gotten to the throne by these radicals, and it had attracted radicals from all over Europe and a lot of them were very soldier like, and he was like or former soldiers um, and he said, welcome to France.

Let me figure out what to do with you. I can't legally make you a part of the French army. So how about I just make a foreign legion made up of foreign dissidence, foreign nationals, and UM send him elsewhere. And they for pretty happy with that plan. It was March of one he laid out his eight articles and pretty much that was what the foreign legion was from, who they were to be, where were there to train,

what were there to where? And a lot of the traditions were established in that very first set of articles UM. And then included in that, Chuck are, was one that said that you had to UM to check for a birth certificate, a certificate of good life manners, and a certificate from a military authority saying that this person is a good soldier. And you had to have all that if you're going to accept the recruit that or um

it was up to the commandants discretion. Yeah, that it reminded me of like how they'll be a paragraph and a legal contract that says all these things. At the very end it will say like or we could just change our mind about all that, right, So basically, yeah, we need all these papers and documents, and that was in our article seven or article six, and then the seventh article said, or just let them in if you, you know, have a good feeling about them exactly, and

worry about the papers so much. And that led to this thing called um and and non nimt nonmat, which is anonymity in French. Um and it says that you can join the French Foreign Legion under an assumed name, because we're going to give you an assumed name one way or another for the first year of your service in the French Foreign Legion. You need to basically take on an assumed name. You're leaving your old identity behind. And that's a really strange, unusual aspect of the frenchign

legion um that still exists today. Yeah. In fact, it was mandatory until just a few years ago. Until two thousand ten, you had to sign up under a different name, and then at the end of that year you go through a process called military regularization of the situation, which basically meant you could get your old papers back from your home country and go back to your old name. And you can still do all that. It's just not

mandatory any longer. No UM. But a lot of guys it's like the fresh start, you know, that's what they're looking for. A lot of men who joined the army and that's one of the every country. That's one of the things that the French Foreign Legion touts when you when you join it, is that we're a place you can have a second chance. Yeah, forget your past, even forget your name, minor criminal records. I mean back in

the day they would accept major criminals. Uh. Now they're a little more selective and they'll overlook like a minor criminal record, but nothing like they want to accept murderers and things like that. And for a very long time, Um, they would accept nothing, no one but foreign nationals. You couldn't be French and join the French Foreign Legion. You can join the army, but not the foreign Legion. Um. They recently changed that, so you can be French um

and join it, right, Yeah. And you can gain your French citizenship as a foreign national by serving what three years? Three years in good standing. And I think you have to go back to your original name and stuff. Um, yeah, you if you're going to get citizenship, you can't do

it under your declared name. Um. And you're talking about that, um, the what was it called where you go through that that process of the military regularization of the situation it's such a weird name for name change really is UM. But it's not just the name change. It's basically like that represents the end of your first year, and it represents the end of the French Foreign Legion owning you

during this time. UM. During your first year, you cannot have a civilian bank account, you can't get married, you can't wear civilian clothes even off duty. You can't buy a car, you can't um travel abroad on leave anywhere but France. You have to wear your uniform all the time. Yeah, some in some form or fashion you have to wear a uniform. So yeah, it's UM. They own you for the first year. It's definitely harder than the French Army.

Like you said, yeah, and whatever status. If you're married and you join the French Foreign Legion, you have to enlist as a single man, right, So I don't know if I guess you can remain married technically, but the papers say that you're a single man. I would imagine if you run off to the French Foreign Legion, the marriage might be on shaky ground as it is, or you're not married. Yeah, this good point that probably out of like already married men doesn't seem like a very

family supportive place. It's kind of like, you know, you are getting away from a situation or something like that. Honey, I'm gonna have to deny your existence and change my name. Um, but it's really worth it because I want to be a legionnaire and where and where the kp right and gain the respect of the French. You think I'm just kidding. Well, you know what's funny is they are. I read an article. There's an article in the December two thou twelve Vanity

Fair called the Expendables. That's pretty interesting. It's about the French Foreign Legion what they're doing now. Some of that you remember in our gold Um episode we talked about illicit gold mining in Guiana. Apparently one of the things that Foreign Legion is doing now is they're fighting those gold miners now, shutting that down. That's one of the things they're doing because Afghanistan's winding down for the French, so they're kind of looking for new stuff to do,

and that's one of the things up. Uh. Your first contract if you join up as a legionnaire is a minimum of five years and pay for a corporal starting out is one thousand forty three I guess euros per month plus of course you know all room and board, but that's your take home pay or not. I don't know about takeome but that's your salary. And you get forty five days leave and then you know there is a path to prosperity to some degree in success US, just like any other army, you can work your way

up through the officer ranks. And after that first five years, successive contracts are six months to five years. Uh. And I don't I'm not sure how they determine that, whether it's up to you, like if you're like, I just want to go six months at a time here, guys, or I'm not sure. I couldn't actually find any information on that. If they're like, no, you you must sign

for three years, six months whatever. Yeah, they're like you'll probably be dead by then anyway, so and we'll keep all of your euros um So in that article, one of the things I was that I came across was that the the um the legionnaire's view themselves and apparently are viewed by the French as That's why the article is called the Expendables as basically there to fight and kill and die, and that there's a lot of honor in dying, even if it's unnecessarily. But they're just they

kind of are nihilistic. I get the impression. And I think they even used that word their nihilists, well not say nhilists. Yeah. I did read part of the article though, and they said that normal people don't join the French Foreign Legion, right, they said they're all just a little little off, which, um, you know, good about their tough dudes.

And the Spans. The Spanish tried the same thing in they tried to form the Spanish Foreign Legion, um, and it didn't take so now it's just called the Spanish Legion. It's made up of Spaniards. Yeah. And some folks say America could try something like a foreign Legion with h the influx of non Americans in this country to maybe serve under our regular armies. And uh, I don't know if that's ever been pitched. Patril citizenship should be in the Dream Act. Yeah why not, dude, I don't know.

I'm sure people would be like, this is why not? Well, yeah, you can email us later. Yeah, I didn't consider it. It It just came to my head. Um, have you got anything else, No, I want to keep. I'll get you one for your birthday. Do you remember when those were like hip in the eighties with the breakdancing? Uh? Yeah, those are awesome. It's so funny what different cultures latch onto from different eras. Yes, you know, yeah, somebody said that will look very cool when I'm doing a headspin.

And the KPE was adopted a break in Ohio, like the painters cap And when I was just growing up, the Painter's cap and the bicycle caps were very big in the eighties. Oh yeah, the bike cap with the billful. I had a couple of, like Italian ones. I just thought it was so cool. What was the name of that one brand that everybody had the bike had, you know what I'm talking about, trek No, it was like a French name, I believe. I don't know. Uh, I think I had one though. I thought, like it's similar

to the word champion, Samano or something. But it wasn't that Japanese. And I know what you mean, it's gonna come to me. I wonder if it is Japanese. I'll bet it's Italian or something. And I'm saying it's Japanese. Shimano. Yeah, I love it when we do these things that where we can't think of something because we always get emails where people like, oh, screaming in my home the name, We're sorry for all of them. Yeah, that sounds close. It's not it's that that we're not going to get emails,

but those of you screaming right now, settled down. Grab You only get Ahold of Yourselves podcast. Uh. If you want to learn more about the foreign legion, you can type that word or those words into the search bar how stuffworks dot com and that will bring up this fine article. There you go. And I said search bars, it was time for listener mail. I guess before we get into that chuck, you want a message from our sponsor. And now it's time for listener mail. Uh. This is

from Donato and it's about autopsies. Dudes, just finished listening to the autopsies work. I wanted to mention a couple of things. I'm currently in law enforcement and have attended a few of them. My first one was really fascinating. The emmy tried to get me to vomit by handing me a brain the past to his assistant, but it actually really turned out to be extre really exciting for me, So screw you, Emmy, I'm not vomiting. Look at me,

I'm juggling in s brand Um. I wanted to point out you did not mention the extraction of vitreous fluid from the eyeballs using a needle. That part was a little freaky to me, I have to admit, and after a couple of times asked why it was done, which leads me to toxico toxicological toxicological examination. Fluids and samples from some organs are sent for examination in these cases. Uh, and in my experience, emmys will not provide a final

autopsy before toxicology results come back. And lastly, the difference between cause and manner of death c O D and m O D Uh. They are used interchangeably often, but c O D is the physiological mechanism responsible for death, where m O D is the explanation how the c

O D can would be. For example, is physia is the c O D and murder is the m O D. If a person is smoldered with their pillow, so c you can be considered purely medical, while the m O D is a combination of medical and investigative and evil and so I hope it did not double tap something you guys covered. Well, that's an old time your reference. Nice call out to uh green Barray's uh Delta Delta. Thank you, Denato, Thanks Denata. Appreciate that he's written in before. Awesome,

Thanks for writing in again. Has he made listener mail before? Uh? No, I'll tell you what he went wrote in before? After? Okay, Okay, I just winked it. Um. If you want to write in, you can write in as many times as possible. See if you can get on listener mail twice, I don't think anyone ever has, right, well, Sarah the amazing eleven twelve now thirteen fourteen, probably fifteen year old. Yeah that's right, Thank you for correcting me. And Sarah, come on, we

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