Why two Americans joined the French Foreign Legion and stayed in France

There’s one main rule to follow, adjudant Benjamin Coureu, the Légion étrangère press officer tells me when we meet at Quartier Viénot in Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhône), where the Legion is based.

I was to meet Chris and Isaac, two Americans who joined the Legion.

“You can only mention their first names. No surnames,” he says.

In fact, these first names were already fake – as it is one of the Legion’s traditions for recruits to assume a new name (see box on opposite page).

“One of the two does not want any picture published,” Mr Coureu adds.

It dawns on me that the very first seconds of my interaction are shrouded in secrecy. 

It is done for security reasons rather than deception. Still, if first names are fake, I wondered, what about the stories I was about to be told?

The Légion étrangère’s allure is built on myth: it is seen as a place to vanish, to reinvent yourself under a new name with no questions asked. Fake names are part of the institution’s mystique.

In the interview room, I was met by Isaac, a surprisingly chatty man for all his military bearing.

Then came Chris, a tall, large-framed man who resembles American actor Ken Samuels, who is best remembered by French audiences as Bill Trumendous in OSS 117: Lost in Rio.

They told me about their former lives in the US, how they heard about the Légion étrangère and what it had given them, all under the scrutiny of Mr Coureu.

During our conversation, Chris and Isaac spoke to me in American English.

Only when they addressed Mr Coureu did they switch to French.

How did you hear about the Legion?

Isaac: I had just divorced. I was searching for a way out of the country to begin a new life and start over. I met the producer of Bear Grylls’ Escape to the Legion, a 2005 four-part television series in which [TV presenter] Grylls joins the Legion.

What life did you leave in the US?

Isaac: I was a firefighter, trained in Michigan by firefighters from the Battalion 49 command unit of the Fire Department of the City of New York, who responded on 9/11. I was based in Florida.

Chris: He’s got some crazy stories.

Isaac: We once assisted an airboat captain giving tours in the Everglades who got his arm chomped by an alligator while feeding it fish. Another time, a woman was bitten in the leg but shot the alligator which was still biting into her when we arrived. 

I’ve got loads of stories involving people being shot as well. I saw more combat-style wounds in Florida than during my entire time in the Legion.

What about you, Chris?

Chris: In 2009, I was in Florida and feeling bored with my life. 

My dad, a military man himself, showed me clips of the Légion étrangère, a corps I knew nothing about. I found them fascinating.

In what sense?

Chris: There is a mentality that speaks to the American credo of hard work through suffering. To excel is to work, suffer and perform consistently. It corresponds with my own personal work ethic. 

To thrive as a légionnaire, you’ve got to put in the time, to do the extra things that are going to put you above your peers.

You’re expected to do more with less.

Just because you don’t have what you need doesn’t mean you can’t finish the mission. That’s the esprit de corps.

What convinced you?

Chris: The way they carried themselves, the attention to detail. It’s a cut above regular French military units, and well above many military units around the world.

I wanted to be surrounded by the best, to know if I was good enough to join the ranks and hold my own, to see what I was capable of doing, both then and in the future. I really grew into being a man. 

I trained for three months and took a one-way ticket to Paris.

Légion étrangère physical exercises are notoriously gruelling. What is the policy on new recruits? Do you eliminate them if they cannot keep up?

Benjamin Coureu: It is less a question of physical ability than adaptation to military life. Our goal is to keep them for as long as we can. Bringing people to an elite physical level is our bread and butter. We have 200 years of experience doing it.

Isaac: I thought I was strong but Legion strength is different, more efficient, with a different body mass. Take US breakfast: eggs, cheese, bacon, potatoes... Three different animals on the plate. Breakfast at the Legion is a cup of coffee and a piece of bread with a cigarette, if you smoke.

They gave me a bowl. I’m like: “Where’s the cereal?” They tell me I’ve got to pour coffee into it. “What the f***?” You look at the guys around you. They’re skinny. Not a trace of fat on their bodies.

That was your first day?

Isaac: No, but I can tell you what I had on my first day: old macaroni pasta with no sauce on it. Never had I been served pasta without sauce until I came to France.

That was in October 2015 at Fort de Nogent [Val-de-Marne], where Legion recruits are processed. 

Your passport is taken. You’re thrown into the mix and wait in what feels like a dark cave.

A Romanian guy showed up. Then a Canadian. From that moment, you start to figure out who speaks English. 

It’s like the Olympics. Every language you could imagine is spoken there: Russian, Chinese, Romanian, Japanese. I’ve never heard so many different languages spoken in one place.

Chris: I showed up on July 14, unaware it was Bastille Day. [He looks towards Mr Coureu] On s’attrape plus tard [we will catch each other later].

Is that your American brain translating ‘Catch you later’? 

Chris: No. That’s Legion French.

What do you mean?

Chris: Our vocabulary isn’t the same as standard French. We don’t use the tenses correctly, but we understand each other through our own vocabulary. The way I speak to a comrade, a commander and an officer is completely different.

Benjamin Coureu: No other military unit relies on language the way we do. 

You are not allowed to speak any language other than French in the Légion étrangère. Between 12% and 16% of the corps must be native French speakers for this system to operate.

Each group of 20 to 25 new soldiers takes part in our four-month language course. The goal is to give them a working vocabulary of around 500 words – enough to start communicating, understanding instructions and following orders.

How much French still goes over your head?

Isaac: We understand a lot more than we speak. The problem comes when we speak to an officer who is French and has a perfect vocabulary. Even today I’m like, “What the hell did he say?”

Chris: And they speak really fast. [He snaps his fingers to imitate the rapid pace of speech.]

Isaac: You’re like: “Permission de parler anglais, mon lieutenant?” [laughs].

Chris: You find yourself understanding a word here, another there.

While they’ve already moved on to something else, you’re still thinking: “Hey... I think he said this…”

And it’s normal. English is a more modern language. 

French is older, but it’s more beautiful. It’s really about what sounds best. 

It comes with time, but the first three years are very challenging.

Isaac: My preparation was cardio, gym, every day for two months. I was put in contact with a Frenchman who was making his third attempt to join. 

I sold everything of value, gave my car to my mother and started training with him.

Chris: I came primarily because I’m an adventurous guy and I like to challenge myself, to test myself. The selection process is tough. 

They only pick one out of every ten candidates. 

Some of them simply disappear during the tests because it’s so demanding.

How well have you adapted to France?

Chris: An American passport is already extremely strong and I’m used to certain comforts. I didn’t join for a passport, for a higher wage or a better quality of life.

There are still things I question about France. It could be so much more efficient. You hear a lot of c’est comme ça.

“Hey, you know, I only make this much money, so don’t expect too much of me. This is my life, this is what I earn and this is what’s expected of me. 

“I’m going to do that and nothing more.” That’s really the mentality. 

I have some trouble with people not expecting more of themselves.

After 10 years of living in France, is citizenship the next logical step?

Isaac: I’m hoping to be naturalised this year. The Legion has given me a home. 

I have no plans to go back to the US. 

Going back would be like breaking out of prison only to climb back over the prison wall and lock myself in again. 

I grew up poor in America. 

My quality of life is a thousand times better here.

Chris: I should have become a citizen a while ago. I was in the Legion, then got out and went home before deciding to come back. 

When I returned the second time, I wasn’t planning on staying. 

Then I was injured and transferred to a hospital in Paris, where I was treated by a nurse who eventually became my wife.

I want to stay with her, which means I have to stay here, and if I’m staying here it makes sense to remain in the Legion.

So citizenship will come. 

It’s on my list of long-term goals.

What makes the Legion so different? 

The French Foreign Legion takes its name from its original purpose: it was created in 1831 as a force in which foreign nationals could serve, principally outside metropolitan France. 

However, French nationals can and do join the unit.

The Legion’s tradition of having recruits initially serve under une identité déclarée (a declared identity) helped create its image as a place where men with complicated pasts could reinvent themselves. 

However, it is not a haven for fugitives. Recruits with minor convictions may be accepted if they have served their sentences, but serious criminals are excluded. 

They can resume their original identity again later by following a specific procedure. 

Here are some other facts about the Legion:

•  Its ceremonial sappers (pionniers) grow full beards and parade wearing leather aprons and gloves and carrying axes, preserving a tradition associated with the Legion’s 19th-century military engineers.

•  The pas Légion marching pace is 88 steps per minute, compared with 120 for other units. This is why legionnaires come at the rear of military parades.

• One of its most treasured relics is a wooden hand. Captain Jean Danjou, who wore a wooden prosthetic hand, was killed at the Battle of Camerone – the Legion’s famous last stand in Mexico in 1863. His hand was recovered and is ceremonially presented each year during commemorations of the battle.

• Legionnaires face restrictions on their private lives during their first years of service. They generally cannot marry until they have served for five years and must meet certain conditions, including serving under their real identity and informing their commanding authorities. Restrictions also apply to buying a car during the early years of service.

• The Legion has developed its own distinctive vocabulary. Examples include piaule, which in ordinary slang means a room but in Legion usage refers to a legionnaire’s bed, and faire Camerone, referring to fighting on despite apparently hopeless odds. The Legion’s marching song Le Boudin – beginning Tiens, voilà du boudin – takes its name from  the rolled up tents legionnaires carried.

• Men aged 17 to 39, with a BMI under 30, can apply to join by knocking on the door of a recruiting centre in France. There is no way to do it online or by letter.