How To Join The French Foreign Legion

About this video

Ritland’s guest describes his experience joining the French Foreign Legion, walking through the initial pre-selection process at Fort Nogent in Paris. He recounts the physical and mental tests, the diverse international recruit pool, and being assigned a new identity on a sticky note. The guest explains he joined seeking a self-imposed reset after leaving the Navy SEALs, viewing it as a way to mature and escape a pattern of self-sabotage.

Key takeaways

• The guest describes French Foreign Legion pre-selection as lasting 1-2 weeks with physical tests (pull-ups, beep tests), IQ tests, medical exams, and in-depth interviews where most recruits are eliminated
• According to the guest, recruits are given new identities (different names and birth dates) on sticky notes during processing, which can become permanent European identities if desired
• The guest recounts joining the Legion as a self-imposed ‘hard reset’ after the SEALs, seeking time to mature and break patterns of self-sabotage rather than from romantic notions of military service

Episode details: published August 14, 2025 · 237.4K views · 12:43 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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