Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25044
en with the promise of action adventure in exotic loc:all�s-- d the chance to escape their past. But don't expect dashing G types a la Beau Geste steeped' in intrigue. In these lonial times, legionnaires spend more time on tedious -I;".�, ... patrol than fighting off rebel forces. Started in 1831 by King Louis Philippe to defend the . colonies, and still sentimentally cheered in the Paris Bastille Day parade, the Legion is now the premiere training ground for the world's mercenaries. If this spells fun to you, and you're a 17- to 40-year-old man (no women allowed), then head to France, where the Legion has 17 recruitment centers (the busiest is Fort de Nogent in Paris); or go to headquarters in Aubagne, outside Marseilles. You don't even need a passport Gust a "valid ID paper"). But the Foreign Legion does have its limits-no known mur- derers (an Interpol murder check is standard) or obvious psychotics allowed. How do they know you're not the next Ted Bundy? Through what's known as the "Gestapo Interrogation"-a grueling Q+A. There's no shortage of applicants-more than 8,000 men compete for 1,500 spots each year, joining a force of 8,500 soldiers from 120 countries. If you make the cut you can look forward to five years of spartan barracks living, strict discipline and the odd foreign skirmish. After just three years you can ask for French citizenship-the carrot now attracting a huge influx of Eastern Europeans. But the undying myth still lures most recruits. "I had fanta- sized about the Foreign Legion since I was a child. It was like being a �!I'ႀ䊉 I!'��: ·� - �::- -;;- s - But instead of action, all Jordan got was four months . hours of basic warfare training and a lot of mel)ial chores such as and looking for spent bullet casings. "It was boring," he says. And nvp",:p�l� regiments are based outside France in the territories of Mayotte; Hao, French Polynesia; Kourou, French Guiana; and Djibouti) legionnaire duties include guarding oil reserves. With the Cold War over and borders tightening, interna- tiona I corporate interests call on the Legion's services as often as communities under siege. up The violence Jordan did see was between superiors and soldiers. One day, a soldier couldn't keep in step with the marching formation. The Chief Sergeant (all officers are French) beat him in the face with a quarter-inch steel rod .. "The rest of us were shocked, but had to keep marching, or we would be next," says Jordan. He later heard that the soldier lost his sight in one eye. Five months after joining, Jordan decided to desert. One night he climbed the fence and jogged 12 miles to the train station. "I had on jeans with a standard army Windbreaker and a shaved head. I was terrified," says Jordan. He made it through customs with the aid of an ex-legionnaire. Now 32 and an assistant in a Manhattan art studio, Jordan says as far as he knows he can never return to France without being thrown in jail.- ILLUSTRATION: RUDY SPEERSCHNEIDER Heidi Kriz to pursue