A Mouthful of Rocks by Christian Jennings

[Matt McKeon]

Jennings, an aimless young man in 1980s Britain, wants to join the Parachute Regiment, from the Territorial(Reserve) unit he's in. Drinking heavily, commiting a petty crime, he goes to France and joins the French Foreign Legion,

The Legion of the 1980s imposed a harsh training regime of its recruits, rejecting the majority. Physical brutality and beatings were common, administrated by corporals who had extraordinary power over recruits. Jennings responded well to an organization that made every decision for him, even if it glorified violence, death, sacrifice and isolation. Jennings became a Foreign Legion paratrooper, and was deployed to Africa.

 

[jgoodguy]

Jennings, an aimless young man in 1980s Britain, wants to join the Parachute Regiment, from the Territorial(Reserve) unit he's in. Drinking heavily, commiting a petty crime, he goes to France and joins the French Foreign Legion,

The Legion of the 1980s imposed a harsh training regime of its recruits, rejecting the majority. Physical brutality and beatings were common, administrated by corporals who had extraordinary power over recruits. Jennings responded well to an organization that made every decision for him, even if it glorified violence, death, sacrifice and isolation. Jennings became a Foreign Legion paratrooper, and was deployed to Africa.

That was the story of the Legion well over a century before.

 

[Matt McKeon]

The intensity of the discipline is often surreal, recruits were punished for getting lyrics of songs wrong, ironing shirts wrong speaking English, not folding clothing into 16cm wide blocks. The entire section would be punished and forced to repeat actions. Jennings recounts singing practice, puncuated by punishment pushups for hours.
)

 

[Matt McKeon]

One trainees keeps screwing up, keeping the entire unit doing push ups past midnight(corporals would sometimes handout 2000 pushups for a punishment, to be split between the entire section). Furious at the screwup, Jennings and another legionaire corner him during an exercise and punch and kick him. When a corporal sees the bruises, he demands to know who beat the man. Jennings and his comrade step forwards(the alternative would have been a truly horrifying group punishment). The corporal punches Jennings in the face, dropping him to the ground and kicks him repeatedly, Then he barks, "There is no bullying in the Legion!" Only the corporals issue punishment!