Fighting For The French Foreign Legion
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Product Description
Product Description
This is a very rare and fascinating account of life as a modern day Legionnaire. The author describes how, with no French language ability, he approached recruiters for the French Foreign Legion in Paris and the demanding selection process that followed. When he was accepted, he and other prospective legionnaires were sent to Southern France to begin the harsh recruit training course. The mix of different nationalities and backgrounds among his fellows was enormous. New members are traditionally allowed to change their identities - the author chose to alter his age becoming 28 not 38! Elite paratrooper training followed in Corsica before the author earned his 'wings'.
The FFL is never far from the front line and we read of challenging active service in former French colonies in Africa as well as during the First Gulf War, evicting Saddam Hussein from Kuwait and operations in Bosnia and Sarajevo.
This is a completely authentic book that lifts the veil of mystery and myth and reveals much about the realities of service in the Foreign Legion. The author is not given to exaggeration - there is no need for it. A gripping read.
From the Author
It is now just over a year since my autobiuography was first published and I am more than greatful for the all the positive comments I have received. At the begining of March(2012) it went into its 3rd re-print.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
First and foremost, this book is a good read. It is the biography of a man whose life experiences were worth writing about, and which are definitely worth reading. Although Alex gives only a brief overview of his pre-army days, it provides an important backdrop to his subsequent achievements.
Dyslexia and unsupportive parents would be enough to crush many people, but not Alex. He is bold, brave, adventurous and intelligent. And through his own inner strength he has triumphed over the critisisms of early authority figures. His life has been an a full one, travelling the world and being activley involved in the recently well publicised war zones. This author is blessed with a rare combination of talents that have enriched his own life and many of those around him; and luckily for the readers of his book he has shared his life story with us.
I think that this book would be a good gift for any young person who just does not fit into the traditional academic system, but who is clearly intelligent and talented (assuming of course that they could be bothered to read it).
Dyslexia and unsupportive parents would be enough to crush many people, but not Alex. He is bold, brave, adventurous and intelligent. And through his own inner strength he has triumphed over the critisisms of early authority figures. His life has been an a full one, travelling the world and being activley involved in the recently well publicised war zones. This author is blessed with a rare combination of talents that have enriched his own life and many of those around him; and luckily for the readers of his book he has shared his life story with us.
I think that this book would be a good gift for any young person who just does not fit into the traditional academic system, but who is clearly intelligent and talented (assuming of course that they could be bothered to read it).
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Is there anyone in the French Foreign Legion who has time to go out fighting these days, or are they all busy writing their memoirs? Since Simon Murray's seminal Legionnaire of 1978 the trickle of books about the Legion has become a tidal wave. I've counted seven in English alone between 2005 and the present. One pictures the lads scribbling away in the foyer of an evening, shaven heads bowed, Kronenbourgs neglected for the time being.
These recent books inevitably have a sameness; the aspiring recruit is fed up/has family or girlfriend problems/wants to relive his old army life/seeks adventure/likes the uniform/glamour of the legion. He is accepted (one of the chosen few) and survives basic training with its boring chores and incredible physical extremes. If his rating is high and he is British, he likely opts to join the elite parachute regiment, 2 REP. Here he makes friends and enemies, endures even more physical hardship, may see some action and is likely to leave after his initial five years are over - perhaps deserting earlier if he can take no more - his obsession with the Legion cured.
Scotsman Alex Lochrie's book, published in 2009, is different, bringing a new dimension to accounts of life in the Legion. He suffered from dyslexia in childhood, had an unsympathetic family, but still carved out various careers as artist, illustrator, advertising manager, policeman, and in his spare time, drove rally cars and learnt to fly. In his late thirties he suffered, dare one say, a mid-life crisis and found himself, like many before him, standing uncertainly outside the ancient gates of Fort de Nogent, the Legion's Paris recruiting base. Once accepted, 38-year-old Lochrie assumed not a nom de guerre but a new age - at 28, ten years younger. To his surprise he was chosen to join the 2éme REP - he had expected the equivalent of the old Pay Corps - and stayed in from 1983-94, leaving when he nearly 50 when a good pension deal was offered him.
There are light moments in the book, the tricks played on the sergeant escorting his group to a caporals' course, and how ladies' tights were discovered to provided as much warmth in -20C temperatures as expensive Arctic underpants. But it is his accounts of duties in the Gulf and in former French colonies of Chad and the Central African Republic that help to provide that extra dimension.
Even more remarkable are Chapters 14-16. Lochrie was part of a UN peace-keeping force based at Sarajevo airport during the harrowing Bosnian War where his use of digital photography became of paramount importance. He experienced great dangers, a soul-destroying atmosphere, corruptness, overwhelming poverty. His anger at journalists who manipulated events to get a good story is palpable. It was here that Caporal-chef Lochrie won the French Military medal, about which he is extremely modest.
A couple of small points. At the stroke of a pen, Lochrie creates a new outfit, the 14th demi-brigade. Maybe he doesn't like using the number 13. And he ends with an untranslatable motto - Legis Pastra Nostra. Probably the famous Legion motto Legio Patria Nostra, the Legion is our Country, is meant. Perhaps someone at the publishers just couldn't read his writing.
These recent books inevitably have a sameness; the aspiring recruit is fed up/has family or girlfriend problems/wants to relive his old army life/seeks adventure/likes the uniform/glamour of the legion. He is accepted (one of the chosen few) and survives basic training with its boring chores and incredible physical extremes. If his rating is high and he is British, he likely opts to join the elite parachute regiment, 2 REP. Here he makes friends and enemies, endures even more physical hardship, may see some action and is likely to leave after his initial five years are over - perhaps deserting earlier if he can take no more - his obsession with the Legion cured.
Scotsman Alex Lochrie's book, published in 2009, is different, bringing a new dimension to accounts of life in the Legion. He suffered from dyslexia in childhood, had an unsympathetic family, but still carved out various careers as artist, illustrator, advertising manager, policeman, and in his spare time, drove rally cars and learnt to fly. In his late thirties he suffered, dare one say, a mid-life crisis and found himself, like many before him, standing uncertainly outside the ancient gates of Fort de Nogent, the Legion's Paris recruiting base. Once accepted, 38-year-old Lochrie assumed not a nom de guerre but a new age - at 28, ten years younger. To his surprise he was chosen to join the 2éme REP - he had expected the equivalent of the old Pay Corps - and stayed in from 1983-94, leaving when he nearly 50 when a good pension deal was offered him.
There are light moments in the book, the tricks played on the sergeant escorting his group to a caporals' course, and how ladies' tights were discovered to provided as much warmth in -20C temperatures as expensive Arctic underpants. But it is his accounts of duties in the Gulf and in former French colonies of Chad and the Central African Republic that help to provide that extra dimension.
Even more remarkable are Chapters 14-16. Lochrie was part of a UN peace-keeping force based at Sarajevo airport during the harrowing Bosnian War where his use of digital photography became of paramount importance. He experienced great dangers, a soul-destroying atmosphere, corruptness, overwhelming poverty. His anger at journalists who manipulated events to get a good story is palpable. It was here that Caporal-chef Lochrie won the French Military medal, about which he is extremely modest.
A couple of small points. At the stroke of a pen, Lochrie creates a new outfit, the 14th demi-brigade. Maybe he doesn't like using the number 13. And he ends with an untranslatable motto - Legis Pastra Nostra. Probably the famous Legion motto Legio Patria Nostra, the Legion is our Country, is meant. Perhaps someone at the publishers just couldn't read his writing.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an honest account of what the French Foreign Legion is like today. Appart from those who love anything about the military, it is a must from anyone thinking about taking the gigantic step of joining the Legion.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The real author is a ghost-writer
The first part of this book - from basic training to first trip to Chad - is good. And so is the first high mountains' training. Read more
Published 22 months ago by klma
A good read
If you thought the French Foreign Legion was all criminals fleeing justice and broken hearted lovers, think again. Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2010 by Mr. Cliff A. Russell
Fighting for the French Foreign Legion.
This book was a very interesting read. However, it lacked depth and detail.
I read the book over the Christmas period. Read more
I read the book over the Christmas period. Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2010 by Serviceman
Good but not long enough.
Having read all the books of the genre starting off with Simon Murray some 25 years or more ago I always look forward to the next release of a Legionnaires memoirs of his service... Read more
Published on 16 Dec 2009 by D. Martin
Honest
I loved this book. Couldn't put it down and got a telling off at my work for reading it at my desk.
When I got home I read it in one go
When I got home I read it in one go
Published on 9 Oct 2009 by bookworm
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