Editing French Foreign Legion (section)

==Composition==
The Legionnaires are an integral part of the [[French Army]]. Today, they constitute some 7–8% of its strength (or 11% of the Ground Operational Forces, FOT, French Army operational units).<ref>{{Cite web |title=French Foreign Legion structure in 2018 {{!}} French Foreign Legion Information |url=https://foreignlegion.info/2018/01/16/french-foreign-legion-structure-in-2018/ |access-date=2022-03-02 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Foreign Legion is the only unit of the French Army open to people of any nationality. Most legionnaires still come from European countries but a growing percentage comes from [[Latin America]] and [[Asia]].<ref>{{cite web|title=French Foreign Legion structure in 2018 {{!}} French Foreign Legion Information|url=http://foreignlegion.info/2018/01/16/french-foreign-legion-structure-in-2018/|access-date=2022-01-29|language=en-US}}</ref> Most of the Foreign Legion's [[Ranks in the French Army#Officers|commissioned officers]] are French with approximately 10% being Legionnaires who have risen through the ranks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ranks {{!}} French Foreign Legion Information|url=http://foreignlegion.info/ranks/|access-date=2022-01-29|language=en-US}}</ref>

Members come from 140 countries. In the past, legionnaires were forced to enlist under a pseudonym ("declared identity"). This policy was designed to allow recruits who wanted to restart their lives to enlist. The Legion held the belief that it was fairer to make all new recruits use declared identities.<ref name="Tweedie" /> French citizens can enlist under a declared, fictitious, foreign citizenship (generally, a [[francophone countries|francophone]] one, often that of Belgium, Canada, or Switzerland).<ref name="Martin. 2013">{{Cite book |first=Martin |last=Windrow |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/881163349 |title=The Foreign Legion. |date=2013 |publisher=Osprey Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-4728-0636-9 |oclc=881163349}}</ref> As of 20 September 2010, new recruits may enlist under their real identities or under declared identities. Recruits who do enlist with declared identities may, after one year's service, regularise their situations under their true identities.<ref name="FAQEN">{{cite web |date=2021-03-11 |title=Is Foreign Legion still an elite, international fighting force? |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20210311-is-french-foreign-legion-still-an-elite-international-fighting-force-covid-19-diversity-military |access-date=2022-01-29 |website=RFI |language=en}}</ref> After serving in the Foreign Legion for three years, a legionnaire may apply for French [[citizenship]].<ref name="Tweedie" /> He must be serving under his real name, must have no problems with the authorities, and must have served with "honour and fidelity".<ref name="FAQEN" />

The Foreign Legion does not accept women in its ranks, however, there has been one official female legionnaire, [[Susan Travers]], an [[English people|Englishwoman]] who joined the Free French Forces during World War II. She became a member of the Foreign Legion after the war, and subsequently served in Vietnam during the First Indochina War.<ref name="Martin. 2013"/> In October 2000, it was announced women would no longer be barred from service.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/women-can-run-off-and-join-the-legion-635055.html|work=The Independent|title=Women can run off and join the Legion|author=Joy Lichfield|date=13 October 2000}}</ref> However, this announcement was retracted one month later and blamed on a "miscommunication"; a spokesman confirmed the policy barring women from the Legion would remain unchanged.<ref>{{cite web | last=Daley | first=Suzanne | title=Who Says Sexism Is Legion? Not France. | website=The New York Times | date=2000-11-05 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/05/weekinreview/who-says-sexism-is-legion-not-france.html | access-date=2024-06-13}}</ref>

===Membership by country===
As of 2008, legionnaires came from 140 countries. The majority of enlisted men originate from outside France, while the majority of the officer corps consists of Frenchmen. Many recruits originate from Eastern Europe{{where?|date=January 2023}} and Latin America{{where?|date=January 2023}}. Neil Tweedie of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' said that Germany traditionally provided many recruits, "somewhat ironically given the Legion's bloody role in two world wars."

As of 2024, Belarusian and Russian citizens are no longer allowed to join the legion due to the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240531-foreign-legion-proud-to-provide-security-at-paris-olympics | title=Foreign legion 'proud' to provide security at Paris Olympics | date=31 May 2024 }}</ref>

==== Alsace-Lorraine ====
{{Main| Honneur et Fidélité|Alsace-Lorraine|Malgré-nous}}

Original nationalities of the Foreign Legion reflect events in history at the time they joined. Many former [[Wehrmacht]] personnel joined in the wake of World War II<ref>Sharpe, Michael. (2008) ''Waffen SS Elite Forces 1: Leibstandarte and Das Reich'' (p. 183) {{ISBN|978-0-7858-2323-0}}.</ref> as many soldiers returning to civilian life found it hard to find reliable employment. Jean-Denis Lepage reports that "The Foreign Legion discreetly recruited from German P.O.W. camps",<ref>{{cite book |author=Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage |title=The Foreign Legion: An Illustrated History |year= 2008 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-3239-4 |page=170}}</ref> but adds that the number of these recruits has been subsequently exaggerated. [[Bernard B. Fall]], who was a supporter of the French government, writing in the context of the [[First Indochina War]], questioned the notion that the Foreign Legion was mainly German at that time, calling it:

<blockquote>[a] canard...with the sub-variant that all those Germans were at least SS generals and other much wanted war criminals. As a rule, and in order to prevent any particular nation from making the Foreign Legion into a [[Praetorian Guard]], any particular national component is kept at about 25 percent of the total. Even supposing (and this was the case, of course) that the French recruiters, in the eagerness for candidates would sign up Germans enlisting as Swiss, Austrian, Scandinavian and other nationalities of related ethnic background, it is unlikely that the number of Germans in the Foreign Legion ever exceeded 35 percent. Thus, without making an allowance for losses, rotation, discharges, etc., the maximum number of Germans fighting in Indochina at any one time reached perhaps 7,000 out of 278,000. As to the ex-Nazis, the early arrivals contained a number of them, none of whom were known to be war criminals. French intelligence saw to that.<br />
Since, in view of the rugged Indochinese climate, older men without previous tropical experience constituted more a liability than an asset, the average age of the Foreign Legion enlistees was about 23. At the time of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, any legionnaire of that age group was at the worst, in his "Hitler Youth" shorts when the [Third] Reich collapsed.<ref>{{cite book| author=Bernard B. Fall| title=Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GkHH8OoCTtAC&pg=PA279| year=1994| publisher=Stackpole Books| isbn=978-0-8117-1700-7| page=279}}</ref></blockquote>

The Foreign Legion accepts people enlisting under a nationality that is not their own. A proportion of the Swiss and Belgians are actually likely to be Frenchmen who wish to avoid detection.<ref>{{Citation |last=Moudjahid |first=El |title=La Légion étrangère démoralisée |date=2018-05-03 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3917/dec.fanon.2018.01.0557 |work=Écrits sur l'aliénation et la liberté |pages=557–564 |publisher=La Découverte |doi=10.3917/dec.fanon.2018.01.0557 |isbn=9782348036262 |access-date=2022-02-28}}</ref> In addition many Alsatians are said to have joined the Foreign Legion when [[Alsace]] was part of the [[German Empire]], and may have been recorded as German while considering themselves French.

Regarding recruitment conditions within the Foreign Legion, see the official page (in English) dedicated to the subject:<ref>{{cite web |title=Foreign Legion – Recruiting |url=http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/condition.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122095354/http://www.legion-recrute.com/en/condition.php |archive-date=22 November 2013 |publisher=Legion-recrute.com}}</ref> With regard to age limits, recruits can be accepted from ages ranging from 17½ (with parental consent) to 39½ years old.

===Countries that allow post-Foreign Legion contract===

In the European Union framework, post Legion enlistment is less clear. Denmark, Norway, Germany and Portugal allow post-Legion enlistment. The European Union twin threads seem to be recognized [[dual nationality]] status or restricting constitutional article.

The United States allows post-Legion enlistment in its [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] of career soldiers (up to the rank of captain) who are [[Permanent residence (United States)|Green Card]] holders.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

Israel allows post-Legion enlistment.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

One of the biggest national groups in the Legion are [[Poland|Poles]]. Polish law allows [[service in a foreign army]], but only after written permission from the [[Polish Ministry of National Defence]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Uzyskaj zgodę na służbę w obcym wojsku lub w obcej organizacji wojskowej - Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej - Portal Gov.pl |url=https://www.gov.pl/web/obrona-narodowa/uzyskaj-zgode-na-sluzbe-w-obcym-wojsku-lub-w-obcej-organizacji-wojskowej |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej |language=pl-PL}}</ref>