Life in the French Foreign Legion: How to Join and What to Expect When You Get There

Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining and informative
Review: A book on a relatively mysterious military unit. I have read a few books on the Legion and this one is by far the best. Very well written and plain-spoken. I felt like the author and I were having coffee while conversing about his time in the French Foreign Legion. He is a good writer and I hope he continues writing. Once I picked up his book there was no letting go. It was that good and that revealing. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Its a great book!
Review: After McGorman's book about the French Legion, I can honestly say now that I will NEVER join the Legion. I cannot stand that thought of spending so many hours in a day doing mindless 'corvee' or being at the mercy of some heartless caporal. I sometimes fantasized about joining, but not anymore!!
I am currently serving in the U.S Army and am stationed in Korea. Field life in Korea is difficult enough, with its terribly hot weather and its aggresive mosquitos. But I cannot imagine the pain of a raid march, where you march on through mountains for 90+ miles. Forget that!! If anyone even has the most remote sense of what marching with a 60lb ruck for miles on end is like, it is the most bone crunching experience ever. There is nothing glamorous about it.
After I finish my stint, I will leave the Army (it is still an honor and privelege to serve). But as for the Legion? Ha!

Rating:
Summary: Its a great book!
Review: After McGorman's book about the French Legion, I can honestly say now that I will NEVER join the Legion. I cannot stand that thought of spending so many hours in a day doing mindless 'corvee' or being at the mercy of some heartless caporal. I sometimes fantasized about joining, but not anymore!!
I am currently serving in the U.S Army and am stationed in Korea. Field life in Korea is difficult enough, with its terribly hot weather and its aggresive mosquitos. But I cannot imagine the pain of a raid march, where you march on through mountains for 90+ miles. Forget that!! If anyone even has the most remote sense of what marching with a 60lb ruck for miles on end is like, it is the most bone crunching experience ever. There is nothing glamorous about it.
After I finish my stint, I will leave the Army (it is still an honor and privelege to serve). But as for the Legion? Ha!

Rating:
Summary: It's still French!
Review: Anyone interested in a military stint would best look elsewhere than the Legion Estranger. Elite formations of the U.S. have better equipment-training and off-duty diversions than the Legion. If you want to learn to speak French buy a language course on DVD!

Rating:
Summary: Very Pleasantly Surprised
Review: I bought and read McGorman's book not because I had any desire to enlist the Foreign Legion, but because I wanted to see how his enlistment compared to my own five-year hitch in the Marine Corps. I must say there are very few major differences. Naturally, we (the Marines) didn't have to learn to speak French but the mindset of the two institutions is not noticeably different. I agree with his advice too, don't do it (enlist) unless you're ready to put up with a lot of peacetime garrison nonsense (the proverbial "chicken$&#t" that Paul Fussell so aptly described). Amazingly, the Legion is far more selective than the Marine Corps about who is allowed into recruit training and then there's the added benefit of not having to deal with burden of female troops. I was also very pleasantly surprised to find that McGorman is a talented writer (the editors did a fine job too). If there were any typos or mistakes anywhere in this book, I didn't see them. Books about the Foreign Legion are usually more concerned with wowing action adventure readers with all the "zap-blat-gott-in-himmel-bayonet-in-the-guts" nonsense they crave. Thankfully, that's not the case here. McGorman is definitely not concerned with telling war stories. What the reader will find is a detailed account of what it's like to serve the Legion (circa late 1990's) and what will be required and expected of aspirants once they embark on an enlistment. All in all, I don't think a finer book about the Legion has ever been written.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative
Review: I got this for my friend, a guy interested in reading about this elite group of men. He read it right away and couldn't put it down. Congratulations to the author, for a very informative view of life in the French Foreign Legion. My friend gave it 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Bets book on the Legion today
Review: I just got the book and i read it almost to fast. It is the best bok i have ever read about the legion, though it lack somthing about all the other regiments, but the auther has only been in the 2'nd REP.. A very good buy and a dang good book :)

Rating:
Summary: A MASTERPIECE!!
Review: I would like to congratulate Mr McGorman for writing such an amazing book about the Foreign Legion. Since I am thinking about joining the Legion somewhere down the line , I tried to gather as much information as possible. So far I have never read a book which was so moving and truthful coming from an ex legionnare before. I emailed him and thanked him for telling the Legion for what it really is. He was kind enough to reply and answer few of my questions. I would recommend this book to anyone who is even slightly considering to join the Legion.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: If you are looking for a book on life in the FFL, this is it. If you are thinking of joining, read this book. Having read it, I strongly reccomened not joining. I rated the book 4 stars instead of 5 due to the lack of actual combat training info, as the book focuses far more on the daily routine.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST HAVE BOOK
Review: IF YOU WANT INFO ON JOINING OR WHAT TO EXPECT FOR YOUR 5 YEAR CONTRACT IN THE LEGION,THIS DETAIL BOOK IS A MUST HAVE.