Legion of the Lost: The True Experience of An American in the French Foreign Legion

By Jaime Salazar

Book Overview

The son of underpaid Mexican immigrants, Jaime earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue. But at twenty-three, he was disillusioned with the corporate fast track. So he became an outcast American in a hard-bitten group of recruits-men on the run from their pasts, men without hope: He joined the French Foreign Legion. From the Legion's notoriously brutal training to Salazar's fierce competitiveness, ultimate disillusionment and dramatic desertion, Legion of the Lost is a compelling, firsthand account of today's French Foreign Legion that will dispel myths while adding to the legend of the finest trained army of warriors the world has ever known.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425202836
• ISBN13: 9780425202838
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Dutton Caliber
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

One of the best books I ever read

It's so brutaly honest and so insiteful.I've bought copys for all my friends all of which are supprised it was never a best seller.

Time to join the American Army Salazar!

I am a friend of Jaime's and remember when he returned to the US and I read an initial draft of this book which I immensely enjoyed. However one should probably be in that niche market of those odd fellows who enjoy Legion books and idolize Simon Murray while lambasting poor Christian Jennings. Jaime never hit either extreme, which is OK. Jaime, isn't it time to again leave corporate serfdom to finally join our Army of One and get that All-American military experience? We think you are our kind of guy! Maybe Civil Affairs would be fun so a sensitive man like you can win their hearts and minds. Recruiters are standing by...

Excellent Read...!

Excellent book! It flows very smoothly, and tells the author's story as he lived it. A good read for anyone with an interest in the Legion. The author describes the Legion as one great irony...a constant struggle to maintain your sanity, and after he deserts, suddenly realizes how much he misses the Legion. After reading this book, I can partly understand the pull the Legion still has on some veterans.

fascinating. fast read

If you are interested in the Legion this is a realistic quick paced book. It is hard to put down. I was sorry to see it over. It is the most interesting book on the Legion because it is not the history but what it is actually like being there day to day. The types of people who serve in it. If you have ever wondered what is life really like in the Legion you will want to read this book.

Fascinating personal journey

I bought this book and can't put it down. It is fascinating. The story of an American living in Chicago, who gets tired of the corporate rat race, and takes the very bold and risky step of joining the French Foreign legion. The book describes the training (brutal) and all the cliques of nationalities (Russians, Poles, etc.) that form. The fistfights that ensue. This is a fun book to read, and provides an interesting insight into human behavior and the military. The author clearly has an ambiguous relationship with the Legion from the very beginning (for example, he writes: "The military strategy of the French Foreign Legion seems to be to march somewhere, build a fort, and then wait for everyone to be killed". He describes the July 14th military parade down the Champes d'Elisee as "fascistic". The book is brutally honest, and I admire the author's courage and risk-taking, as well as his honesty. It is interesting to me because I also was 24 in Chicago, in a suit, and left it to go to Europe for 8 years (albeit to sudy German and then work for a German company). I also am now in the oil and gas sector and live in Texas. So I could identify with the author's "journey" and motivation a lot. He just did something that the vast majority of us are too "sober" or too timid to do. This is a fun book, and a book that on almost every page, I was saying out loud, "Jesus", or laughing. The only thing I would change in the next edition is, do better copy editing. An error on the title page is really not acceptable. But a really good book.