UK to French Foreign Legion

>can't get a passport
You won't be able to enter France without a passport, under no circumstances.

Get a real job and then buy one.

You won't get a different answer.

>>1288043
>work at tesco for 3 weeks
>get passport
>quit

>>1288044
>Get a job
Easier said than done.
I can't work as a laborer since I need to pay for a CSCS card and all the other jobs within a 25 mile radius of me require either a degree I would need to go to uni for or want previous experience in their line of work.

>>1288055
I tried Tesco, they did a group interview and I got the rejection letter through the post.
I had tried multiple times before this and never got an invitation to an interview.
So Tesco takes the piss.

>>1288057
I imagine you have to be pretty resourceful to make it in the French Foreign Legion, you can't talk your way through a Tesco interview, is this the right path for you?

>>1288068
Tesco interviews aren't really that talkative.
We dicked around designing a flag and gave a short sentence about ourselves.

>>1288070
How old are you? what qualifications you got?

>>1288071
18 and I got
FCSE Spanish – D
GCSE Religious Studies – B
GCSE English Lit. - B
GCSE D&T Product Design – E
GCSE Catering – D
GCSE Mathematics – C
GCSE English Language – B
BTEC Level 1/2 First Award Principles of Applied Science – Pass

>>1288072
Have you considered working at sea? I can point you in the direction of somewhere you can work for four months on 3 off, minimal quals needed, they'll pay you to train up in fact. Its not quite military but not far off.

>>1288073
I have to ask too, why haven't you tried with our armed forces? I know the Foreign Legion sounds romantic but the reality is supposedly very harsh these days, very few westerners. 5 years min service with no get out clause. poor wage... why not the British Armed Forces?

>>1288073
I would definitely be interested in that, thanks man.

>>1288075
Long story short, I had an inhaler in 2010 and my doctor never told me I had to come back to prove I was clear.
So my medical forms have to clear date on, just a slot saying I have had an inhaler prescribed to me.
I am appealing the deferral but I am not getting my hopes up.

>>1288078
Right well I hope you haven't already explored this route, but its the R.F.A (Royal fleet Auxiliary) you dont' have the qualifications to go straight to officer training yet, but you could make the ratings- and there is a path to officer from there plus the money is really pretty good for the job 10K a year for the initial apprenticeship... Have you heard of them at all? Its part of the navy but does not have the same strict health standards, just a merchant navy standard medical which is fairly brief and non invasive, not sure about the inhaler but should be ok with it I think. If you wan't any more info feel free to ask.

>>1288080
Just had a look pal and it turns out they have the same policy on inhalers so until my new doctor sorts out my messed up medical records then I would just get declined again.
I appreciate your help though, I really do.

>>1288082
Really? Shit. The other option is the general merchant navy route which im almost sure is not so harsh with Asthma, but you'll need 5 gcse's at C or above, is that something you could possibly get in the next year or so, you might be fine with the 4 GCSE's and the BTEC to be honest... Companies I would look at are SSTG, Trinity House and Clyde Marine. take a look, the medical standard is the ENG1 certificate. they don't check medical records- that's from personal experience. The intakes are in September and January.

>>1288084
I'm a bit surprised about the Asthma thing though, they might even have dodgy info on the website because its all so tied in with the RN, worth calling them and checking in my opinion. You'll get there lad.

>>1288086
It's 0147 right now so I might give them a ring tomorrow.
You've been a big help mate, cheers for everything.

>>1288089
Good luck. call around all those companies and check out info on the websites. Its a good career, you can travel a lot and get tons of time off for travelling too.

I'm also thinking about joining the foreign legion once my visa is up. I understand it is hard to get it and I'm training for it already

>>1288275
Make sure you go to them before it expires, otherwise you will have to go back to your homeland and renew your visa.

>>1288386
Thanks that is a good point you make. On the other hand I can also stay for another 3 months as a tourist with no problem at all, so I guess I will do it within that period

>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3546207/The-French-Foreign-Legion-the-last-option-for-those-desperate-to-escape-the-UK.html
>Cpl Buys Francois, 43, a South African legionnaire who joined 11 years ago, says: "We call the new entrants Generation PlayStation because they’re so soft. Now we’re taking the ex-husbands running from alimony, and all these guys with university degrees."
What did he mean by this?

>>1288057
>Go to a neighbor
>Ask "Hey, do you need some help with yardwork, walking dogs or carry some trash? Only X pounds per hour!
>Repeat
Now that was not so hard was it?

>>1288043
(OP) when it comes to the Legion, it sounds great and all but it's really for guys who are either 2nd chance people, or guys who want more action than their military provides.
So in short be careful what you wish for.

>>1288044
Really? They haven't brexited yet...

>>1288073
>>1288078

I work at sea in the American Merchant Marine. I have a friend that worked on a Brit flagged Shell tanker, too. Let me know if you're interested and maybe I can help.

>>1288043
get a pay day loan?

>>1289864
This tbqhwtmm
Legionnaires usually end up very messed up peoples. I am French and we all know an ex-legionnaire who eats broken glass for free drinks.

>>1290524
>eating broken glass for free drinks is messed up
>feeding someone broken glass so he can drink isn't

fucking french, wtf, and it's your legion too...

does he actually swallow the glass?

>>1288057
>can't even get a job at a supermarket
>thinks he can get a military job in a foreign country

why don't you just join the military in your own country?
the ffl has been super romanticised and it's not even very likely you'll get in

>>1290568
I tried to join the Legion back in 2004. They're very selective. It's not like the old days when they would take anybody.

There was a group of about 50 of us and they only took 13. The rest were turned away.

>>1290590
A little more background on what you can expect if you want to join the Legion.

Get to France and make your way to Aubagne to Fort de Nogent. I literally walked up in the middle of the night with nothing more than a backpack and knocked on the door. A Chinese looking guy answered and asked me what I wanted. I said in English "I want to join the Legion" and he look very annoyed. I think he was napping at his desk.

He let me in and searched all of my bags and pockets and spoke in broken English. He basically told me that he was the Duty Officer and everyone was gone for the night. He led me to a processing room and let me sleep on the floor. I asked if he had any food and he said "No".

The next morning he woke me up by kicking my feet and yelling at me to wake up and immediately made me do four pullups. He was pretty insistent on four and shoved four fingers in my face to make sure I understood. After that he showed me to a building that looked like it was built by the Soviet Union in style and quality. It was just a huge room full of beds with other recruits just like me. The other guys hated the fact that I was American. It was mostly Russian guys and people from the old Soviet Republics. Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Turkmenistan, etc. There were a few Brits but they were looked down upon just like Americans. The Americans and Brits weren't treated well.

The Russians and Ukrainians all looked like criminals and I later found out that one Russian had actually escaped from a Russian prison and made his way to France. There were a couple of fistfights and the Legionaires didn't care, they thought it was funny. One of the popular games was for the Russian-type crowd to steal food from weaker people like Brits and other people they thought were inferior to them. They would just walk up and take it off your plate and eat it right in front of you and see if you'd fight them. Cocky sons of bitches.

The next few weeks went like this with medical tests

>>1290602
Continued

Physical fitness tests and other such things. For punishment they would make you do the "Marche Canard" or the "duck walk" for at least an hour. You had to walk stooped down like a duck and quack. After an hour your legs feel like they're going to fall off. It was hell.

One whole week is about psychological and aptitude tests. Afterwards you have an interview with some officers and they grill you pretty hard and it's about a three hour interview. They ask you about why you want to join the Legion and why you failed so much in your life that your only last resort is to join the Legion.

Don't tell them that you're doing it for the "Romantic aspect" because they'll just yell at you and call you a liar. No one joins the Legion unless they've experienced a lot of failure in their life (This is true) and why they should take a chance on you. During this interview you'll actually start thinking on the REAL reason you joined and you'll have self doubts. They really get to the reason. This interview will continue until they break you and they get the answers they want to hear.

They'll deliberate for a few days and then assemble everyone for the results of selection. They'll read out some names and send the rest home.

They'll literally throw your shit in the street and tell you to go fuck yourself. True story.

Good luck anon. I hope you make it.

>>1290606
There's more to my story if you want to know. It was in 2004 so I don't remember all the details, but if you ask me some questions it might jar my memory.

I wasn't selected (obviously) and they literally threw my shit out the door with everybody else's and told me to get fucked.

>>1290607
So what happens in the next 13 years of your life?

>>1290613
Went to college, joined the American Navy, served on nuclear submarines. Got out, got a job at a major defense contractor, met my wife and started a family, got two Masters Degrees.

Life it good. I tried to join the Legion because I wanted to see combat in places other than Iraq or Afghanistan.

>>1290618
You would have just been riding around in Panhards killing Malians and other low-t second-rate ISIS/shabab/bokos in former colonies, while generally recolonizing the area.

You were spared a boring fate for one that pays the big contractor buxxx.

>>1290648
I'm glad I didn't get accepted. My life turned out great regardless.

>>1290551
>implying we made him, or even were interested in him eating glass.

He was just a broken man who didn't know how to interact with civilians in a normal setting and would just do stupid shit to make contact. Since he was the bouncer/barman at that pub there would often be booze involved.
He *could* be chill when he took his medication tho, but then he was useless at his bouncing gig.

Again, legion is for desperate folks that are often broken from the start, and they are just expendables in a non Hollywoodian way. All of the ex-légionnaires I've met/heard of were scary outcast that didn't belong anywhere but in the legion. They ear a fresh start but at the same time lost everything that was "them". Life and peoples went on during those years away, and they didn't really fit anymore.
OP have you checked any opportunity for vocational training? Or taking apprenticeship in a field you're interested in, or something?

>>1289869
This has always been the case.

>>1290606
That's a great story man, thanks. Glad to hear shit worked out for you

>>1288043
why the legion?
the SAS and Navy Seals are a lot cooler