Book Review: Diary of a Legionaire

Another book already… yeah i know!

C360_2012-06-16-08-34-44

This book is Diary of a Legionnaire by Gareth Carins is the latest book for me to finish. Albeit very quickly after the last book, but i boil that down to a few factors, travelling and long commutes in plenty of traffic (that and its not that thick of a book).

The book is an autobiography of the author who served 5 years in the French Foreign Legion. For those that don’t know, the Foreign Legion is one of the divisions in the French Army. An entirely Volunteer force of men from all over the globe, those wishing to escape their pasts and start a new life. Pretty much at the end of 5 years you will have a brand spanking new life! You commit to a 5 year contract and if you dont fulfil it, jail for you buddy!

Gareth served with the French Foreign Legion’s (FFL) Parachute Regiment. Kind of like the elite of the elite. The FFL has always had the kind of allure to me, that exotic attraction of being given a new life, a new identity and being able to just get rid of all your past. What I didn’t realise till this book was just how much they follow their traditions in the FFL. They are extremely traditional, extremely different and extremely brutal.

The book covers some of the brutalities that just become like a normal life for the soldiers. The beatings, the treatment by superiors all just seems way to unlike what I had expected and in fact totally changed my mind on certain things. Would I ever join the FFL…. not anymore!!!

A good read for those who like these kinds of books (like me) for something a bit different, to show the side of men who want to change their life entirely and start a whole new life somewhere off in this great big brown earth.