French War Motorcycle!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun
I work at the door in portsmouth/NH on the week ends. A lot of active service members there. Navy and some marines. Sometimes, they tend to drink a little and I have to take them out. Some of them don't like it at all. They notice my french accent, and my co workers call me by my first name (jean-Luc, won't get mopre french then that) so they know that I am french.
None of them tries to give me crap in person. And none of them really steps up to the plate and gives me a good fight. None. Not a single time in 7 month. I wonder why?
Some civilians atleast try... So far so good for over 1/2 a year, I'm still here, and unharmed. Back in the days in Germany and France, I used to finance my studies as a bouncer (club owned busines), and I had atleast 2-3 very entertaining fight per night. Makes you wonder, huh?
As for the FFL, there are NO french legionaires/NCO's, for the sole and only reason that you enlist "sous identite declaree", means you get a new name and history when you enlist. French citizens get nationalities from some french speaking country, like Canada or Switzerland, in their new military ID. But the amount of actual frenchmen in the legion is around 30%. The CO's on the other hand, are french with no exeption. When an NCO goes to the "ecole superieure" to become an officer, he has to take the french citizenship. From Lt up, they are not considered legionaires anymore, but members of the regular french forces, and they can be assigned to regiments outside of the FFL, wich is not the case for legionaires and NCO's.
And just for Krusty: I was in Lebanon in early 84, and I saw the marines withdraw with their tails between their legs, after the October 83 attacks. We ( the coward french) stood. Any comments, mon ami?
I work at the door in portsmouth/NH on the week ends. A lot of active service members there. Navy and some marines. Sometimes, they tend to drink a little and I have to take them out. Some of them don't like it at all. They notice my french accent, and my co workers call me by my first name (jean-Luc, won't get mopre french then that) so they know that I am french.
None of them tries to give me crap in person. And none of them really steps up to the plate and gives me a good fight. None. Not a single time in 7 month. I wonder why?
Some civilians atleast try... So far so good for over 1/2 a year, I'm still here, and unharmed. Back in the days in Germany and France, I used to finance my studies as a bouncer (club owned busines), and I had atleast 2-3 very entertaining fight per night. Makes you wonder, huh?
As for the FFL, there are NO french legionaires/NCO's, for the sole and only reason that you enlist "sous identite declaree", means you get a new name and history when you enlist. French citizens get nationalities from some french speaking country, like Canada or Switzerland, in their new military ID. But the amount of actual frenchmen in the legion is around 30%. The CO's on the other hand, are french with no exeption. When an NCO goes to the "ecole superieure" to become an officer, he has to take the french citizenship. From Lt up, they are not considered legionaires anymore, but members of the regular french forces, and they can be assigned to regiments outside of the FFL, wich is not the case for legionaires and NCO's.
And just for Krusty: I was in Lebanon in early 84, and I saw the marines withdraw with their tails between their legs, after the October 83 attacks. We ( the coward french) stood. Any comments, mon ami?
I've lived in the US for 20 years so believe me, I've heard a ton of crap about the French not liking Americans and a ton of surrendering jokes, particularly right after France told GW Bush to get lost.
Anyway, what most people forget is that it took 6 years and pretty much the entire world to defeat the Germans in WWII, so how could the French alone beat them in 1939, when the ***** had their formidable war machine running at full steam? Unlike the Brits, the French don't live on an island, which is the only reason the Brits weren't defeated and occupied like us.
I remember an American of Italian descent busting my ***** in 2003, at the peak of the anti-French campaign, with his surrendering monkeys, white flag and french rifle never fired and dropped twice jokes. I just told him that, at least, my ancesters didn't switch sides in the middle of the war, like his. He never cracked a joke ever again.
90% of the time, the ribbing we take is done in good spirit and I laugh at it, but there will always be a few brainiacs who will take it too far.
The Marines in Beirut were ordered to guard the unsecured barracks with unloaded rifles, and the ROE forbid counter-attack without direct authorization from the Pentagon (which was witheld). Reagan, and especially his Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, ordered the Marines to stand offshore to avoid an escalation of hostilities (and I assure you that the Marines would have loved to exact some bloody payback). The Reagan administration desperately didn't want to antagonize anybody in the region...and any insinuation that Marines walk away from a fight is flat out ridiculous...and you well know that.
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Army_Mutinies_(1917)


