Legion of the Lost: The true experience of an American in the French Foreign Legion Paperback – February 24, 2021

Somewhere amidst the mid-1990s a Soldier magazine (S.O.F I think it was) found its way into my living room. That issue had published a lengthy informative article on the French Foreign Legion that I found utterly fascinating. As Full Metal Jacket and Heartbreak Ridge had done to me previously, my head began to swim with romantic ideas of ‘extreme soldiering’ and ‘sniping bad guys’.About 10 years later extreme survivor dude Bear Grylls did a 4-part series on FFL boot camp. He and a bunch of other idiots decided it would be good TV to be filmed trying to survive the initial 4 week FFL boot camp. He was right, it made for great TV. And once again visions of white caps danced in my head.So here I am another 10 years later and I have stumbled on to Jaime’s book. And once again I aimed to get my decade Legion fix. So that’s what I did. So here is what you need to know before purchase… You need to know what the book is and what it is not. There is a surplus of negative comments about this book as you have most likely seen. I humbly believe that those who did not care for the book did not because they were expecting something else. The book is not a military-training-life-in-the-Legion tell all per se; rather it is a personal recount of an intelligent young man searching for purpose and meaning in the French Foreign Legion. It is a story of personal discovery that unfolds as a journey of disenchantment and frustration. I found this to be relatable and enlightening.There has been a lot of blow back on the subject of Jaime's unscheduled exodus from the Legion. Whether you think this is right or wrong is really not the point. If you take an overview off all Jaime's decisions and actions during this time and look at it for what it is, you see that he is really telling the reader that during this time he was lost and searching. Being lost often leads to less than wonderful decisions as well as an attempt to fill the void with whatever takes meaning at the time. His narrative is filled with dozens of examples of this very thing. What is important is that he tells the whole story. He needs to let the reader to know it without a sugar coating.Now that being said, did the book have the elements that drove me to it in the first place? It did. In Jaime’s journey there was a solid account of the recruitment process, the brutish inhumane discipline, the uber-intense training; as well as a full clown-college-troupe-of-characters straight out of central casting. Pile on to that Ozzy-level partying coupled with overly debaucherous tales of bedroom lore and you have ‘Legion of the Lost’.At the end of the day I enjoyed taking a ride on Jaime’s journey; and I think as long as you know what you are in store for, you will to. Bon appetite.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the French Foreign Legion. I didn’t know a whole lot about the Legion going into the book. I knew some of the Legion’s history and their reputation but not much beyond that. So don’t think you will be lost if you don’t know anything about the Legion. Salazar gives the basics of the Legion and its history throughout the book.Salazar’s book is well written and his experiences in the Legion are interesting. I was pleased with his writing style which is what makes it hard to put the book down. Be aware however, he was a peace time Legionnaire so you will find no war stories in this book.His desertion was baffling. When he went back to turn himself in for the second time, they just told him they could do nothing because he was a civilian now. He was never good in this book about giving time frames so the only thing I can figure is he went back years later to turn himself in.I wonder how this book would have looked like if he stayed in the Legion longer. He was only in for less than a year. Even after his basic training he was still only Junior Legionnaire. He never got out of the “hazing period” for lack of a better term.In the end it is a fascinating book and I’m glad he decided to share his experiences.

The author demonstrated good judgement in numerous bullying incidents by simply walking away or tolerating the abuse. I strongly identified with his experience, as I myself was a Marine for six years in a rifle company. Unlike the author, I have never regretted not staying in, although I did complete my six year enlistment. I do think about it a lot though. And dream that I am back in my unit. To his credit, he went back to France after his desertion and tried to get back into the Legion, and that in itself atones for his breach of contract. I kept drawing parallels between the stupidity and harsh discipline of the Legion and the USMC and strongly identified with the author.

I bought this book because of an interest in the French Foreign Legion and that it was about an American joining in modern times. While I felt that the author is an interesting recruit to join the FFL I feel that his story is disjointed and doesn't flow making it more difficult to read. The story would have been better had the author explained events leading up to his joining the Legion. I kept asking myself, "what led up to this decision "? Obviously there were reasons other than trying to find oneself and take on a challenge. The author is a Purdue graduate with an engineering degree not your ordinary FFL recruit. There are numerous descriptions of hardship endured in training and abuse suffered at the hands of the officers. Descriptions of his fellow soldiers are interesting and the afterword contains some follow up on some of these characters. There are many French words and phrases interspersed through out and while you usually can fiqure out the meaning, a definition at the bottom of the page or back of the book would have helped while reading. There are also a few tales of sexual exploits of the author while on leave or escape that seemed out of place in this book and egotistical. The author definitely has a unique story to tell but I feel that it could have been relayed in a more orderly , comprehensive style.

I always wondered about the legion and now I’m glad I only dreamed about it. A great story but I found the senseless brutality of instructors and superiors disturbing. If you’ve ever wondered, “Could I have done that?” I highly recommend this book.

all legion books pretty much the same. This is a more modern one dispelling the old myths. We can’t run away to the circus and now no more Legion. Think I’ll just stay in my room

From joining the Legion, learn French, hardships, brutality of the Caporals and survived it all. Then to negotiate the bullies within. This book is definitely worth a read.

I am interested in books about the French Foreign legion and I decided to buy this one thinking that I would read a book about humility, courage and toughness and so on...from a guy who has a similar level of studies. I was wrong.This book is basically about a nice (and naive) guy from a very religious background who discovered the pleasure of loose women, breaking his faith rules, his morality and going so in a downward spiral when he was a legionnaire.Those "details" with women, who can be read in any erotica harlequin novel, are like were written from a guy that was first time in his life considered by women.Since he was a wealthy guy, I asked myself, at the end: why instead he hasn't took a year off touring Europe/The world, so he could understand the joys of having a very well payied but very demanding job ?Sadly, I can gave two stars.

It has to be said that French Foreign Legion autobiographies tend to be pretty good value though they tend to follow a linear route of inept officers, sadistic corporals, violent and bullying Eastern European recruits, the tedium and micromanaging of the life as well as the thoughts of desertion. We get all that with Jaime Salazar's 'Legion of the Lost' about his stint in the French Foreign Legion at the turn of the millennium - what marks Salazar's story as somewhat different was that he was running towards the Legion, not running away from anything back home except boredom and a predictable life of middle class, Middle American life with the car, house, six figure career - none of this was balm to Salazar's soul as he knew his calling was out there for him to find and he gambled on a life in the French Foreign Legion.Salazar managed to get through basic training - no mean feat at all - but ended up being subjected to the banal life and micromanaging of the French Foreign Legion, he was told by one of his NCO's that he 'thinks too much' and that he probably did - a good skill to get through the banalities of military life is to 'switch off' and not think things through to any depth - he was also a good long distance runner which helped him get through the training though it seems to me - and this is what makes this book really interesting in comparison to the usual French Foreign Legion tome - he couldn't help but think about things too much. He would state incessantly about his education at Purdue, his big career in engineering that he gave up to become a buckshee legionnaire and of course, it impressed nobody - as he was being beastied around the camp in front of visiting US Army officers - he panted to a group of them observing with the one word 'Purdue' and who knows what they thought when they went back to the officers mess but they probably weren't that impressed as they no doubt had a good laugh about it afterwards.The same when he went out in his uniform and met fellow Americans - the vast majority didn't know nor didn't care about Salazar's achievement with one commenting that he was a milkman when he asked her to guess what he did for a living on noticing his brilliant white 'Kepi'. After absconding from the French Foreign Legion and making it back to The States - his parents were less impressed about his life choices which led to him getting angry at them at the breakfast table but this is a story about the choices you make and for whom - nobody really cares about where you went to school and your military career - when you do these things you have to do them for yourself - I am sure Salazar did that to a degree but he seemed to get real disappointed at other people's reactions to his career choices. Did this general apathy from others lead to him deserting? Who knows but he seems to be in a better place for it now.I would have liked to have read about the interest and the books/cinema or other media that got Salazar interested in joining the French Foreign Legion whilst in the states, when was the idea first implemented - as a teenager or as an adult? What was it at that time that got him interested? Apart from that this is a solid account of a life path suited to very few people. Salazar can sleep soundly at night regarding his efforts.

Interesting enough, but the author seems to be a very mixed up character. He was a highly educated man and not one of the misfits that the Legion seems to attract. He deserted then changed his mind and returned, only to be rejected by the Legion. The story involves a great of violence by supervisors under the pretence of maintaining discipline. The NCOs and indeed many of the legionnaires seem to be a collection of sadists who either directly inflict pain or ignore the suffering of injured men. Didn’t really enjoy it.Dear