“The march to the Legion’s headquarters in Castelnaudary carrying our full patrol gear on a three-day, 200km walk was a rite of passage for me. This marked our final three months of basic training and we become legionnaires once the march is completed. And young legionnaires are also given permission by our regimental commanders to put on our kepis for the first time.”
Pita Vuanilalo described the moment he received his képi blanc (white kepi) as his “light at the end of the tunnel”.
“Képis are the stiff, round, flat-topped garrison caps worn by the French army as part of the traditional dress uniform and the legionnaires wear a white kepi.
“The white colour is exclusive to the Legion,” Vuanilalo explained.
He only wished his parents were at Castelnaudary to witness his achievement as applause mounted, as the Foreign Legion’s band passed, playing its solemn hymn “Le Boudin”.
“For us new legionnaires, this was our moment,” he said.
He joined the elite French military force in late 2008; leaving his comfort zone and travelled on a one way ticket from Fiji to Paris — with no return fare.
“This was all part of the mystique. I received a favourable reply from the French Foreign Legion or Légion Étrangère headquarters in Aubagne, just outside Marseille in Southern France. I remembered the Foreign Legion from watching Jean-Claude Van Damme’s 1988 movie Legionnaire.
“And Hollywood really captured the exoticism of Saharan forts and promoted a romantic image of a legionnaire that has influenced a lot of young guys like me,” Vuanilalo said.
The 25-year-old is a corporal with the 2nd Regiment Étrangère d’Infantary (REI) and has lived in Nimes for the past six years.
He revealed the reason he chose the 2nd REI was because of the overseas missions.
Vuanilalo has been deployed to Central Africa, Djibouti, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Mali, spending at least four to five months away in missions.
In a nutshell, the French Foreign Legion was established in 1831 primarily to gather some of the foreign deserters and criminals that had drifted to France in the aftermath of the Napoleonic War. It is also an establishment that hopes to give people who have run out of bridges to burn — a second chance in life.
However, Vuanilalo says recruitment processes still strictly scrutinise applications.
The Legion — Legio Patria Nostra
“The Legion is our homeland. We promise to serve with honour and loyalty!”
Vuanilalo says becoming a legionnaire starts at the 4th Foreign Regiment at Castelnaudary in Southwestern France with four months of boot camp at the remote and mysterious “farm”.
“Reaching boot camp is every new recruit’s dream because it is a step closer to becoming a real legionnaire.
“Besides thorough psychological, medical, and physical exams, we are immediately transported to an exclusive location for the start of our real training, called the farm.
“The farm is one of four properties used by the Legion for the first month of basic training and all chosen for their isolation,” Vuanilalo said.
The new recruits are left at the boondocks with all outside contact cut off and living under assumed names, with their actual identities closely protected by the Legion. He was not spared living under a given pseudonym.
“The new recruits came from neighbouring European countries. Also from Asia, New Zealand, South Africa and Fiji and we all had one thing in common and that is to find refuge in the Legion,” he said.
Vuanilalo found himself on the farm with the two other Russian new recruits he met at the recruitment office in Lille and Paris, all willing to adjust to garrison life and determined to pull through with the tough and physical daily basic training timetable.
“For me, it was tough, like hardcore physical tough. We were pushed to our limits by our instructors but it was expected. It was not going to be a walk in the park.
“We were hardened during the training so that we don’t find ourselves disoriented in combat conditions,” he recalled.
Vuanilalo said apart from the physical training, there were also parade ground exercises in which they were taught the slow cadence of the Legion’s ceremonial march and the lyrics to the Legion’s traditional songs — slow, melancholy chants that referred to solitude.
“There was pride and a lot of patriotism when we hit those notes because it gave us that feeling of recognition in a foreign country.
“There was a lot of running, pull-ups, dips, sequence of synchronised sit-ups and press-ups, weapon-disassembly and self-defence or combat training. There was very little sleep too.
“And part of the training also included the overseas missions and deployments and what is expected from legionnaires. A lot of what was taught was based on the successes and reputation of the Legion,” he said.
Vuanilalo says there were also endless housekeeping chores that constitute much of life in the boondocks. For Vuanilalo and his group, the hardest hurdle was the French language itself.
“My biggest problem back then was the French language. I didn’t understand nor speak a French word and it was chaotic.
“I had to quickly learn survival French and my lessons didn’t come gift-wrapped. There were times when I thought I couldn’t do it anymore. It was just too much. But I am happy I didn’t give in.
“Because at the end of the four months training, I could converse in basic French and I pushed myself to learn French in two years after my initial basic recruitment training,” Vuanilalo said.
Today, Vuanilalo comfortably converses in French with no hesitation, whether he is with his regiment or with his fellow Fijians playing rugby in France.
Humble beginnings
Vuanilalo’s achievements in the Foreign Legion are modestly recognised back home in Makoi. His six younger brothers continue to look up to him. And he makes time to have a skype session with his parents whenever he can.
“It is the reality of living in a foreign country and being a soldier. And I always look forward to skyping my parents wherever I am. And now with smartphones and good internet connections, I get to see my family every now and then,” he said.
The young legionnaire grew up at Matata Village, just outside Lami Town and constantly moved homes with his parents until they recently bought a family home in Makoi in the Suva-Nausori corridor.
“My dad worked at the Coke factory and mum looked after the home and we have had our fair share of struggles. And I can say that we, like any other family, have come a long way and we’re thankful every day for this opportunity in France.
“My parents struggled and sacrificed so much for us and it was their love and struggle for us that pushed me and kept me going during those tough days at boot camp,” Vuanilalo recalled.
Vuanilalo had earlier enrolled at the then Fiji Institute of Technology in February 2008 (now Fiji National University) hoping for a career in banking after completing his secondary school in Dudley High School with good grades in economics and accounting.
“The decision to immediately withdraw from my studies was not one that went well with my parents at first. My mother was really worried about the idea of me joining a foreign military force.
“But somehow I convinced them and I really did a good job too.
“I have always had an interest to join the military. It was either the Republic of the Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) or the British Army but when I got a reply from the French Foreign Legion, I literally begged my parents to let me go.
“I had an uncle who was serving in the British Army and was based in Germany and he also assisted in my travelling to France. He was also there at the airport in Paris to pick me up when I arrived,” Vuanilalo said.
In 2011, Vuanilalo surprised his family when he flew in to celebrate his 21st birthday.
“I don’t often come back to Fiji because of work commitments but when I get the chance to come, I take it. It is always good to come and see my parents and brothers once in a while,” he said.
And in his very little free time, Vuanilalo tries to catch up with some of the Fijian rugby players in the neighbouring cities. He also plays a bit of rugby for his regiment and has taken a keen liking for ski trips to Perpignan.
“I’m just a 30-minute drive from Montpellier and when I am free I look forward to catching up with our Fijian guys playing rugby here in France. I always enjoy their company, food and the long hours of talking about our families back home in Fiji.
“I also get VIP tickets to watch the Fijian players play during club games, something I don’t think I would be able to do back home in Fiji.”
He also keeps his iPhone close by for a quick glance at family portraits and photos when the thoughts of home tug at the heart. Vuanilalo hopes to take his parents to France soon.
This young legionnaire’s life story is proof that it is possible to overcome life’s tough challenges and create something better for one’s self.
* Moira Vilsoni-Raduva is the public
affairs adviser and relations officer at the Embassy of France in Suva.
