Creating a foreign legion military unit for a (fictional) African/Middle East country

Actully the US Army still uses the Regiment. In fact the name of the organizational system is United States Army Regimental System (USARS) which replaced another Regimental system in 1981. For example we have the 34th Armored Regiment whose motto is. "FEAR GOD, DREADNAUGHT!"

edited 2nd Feb '17 6:50:07 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Its really just an administrative unit. They actually deploy people in battalions.

The structure's based on the French Foreign Legion for the most part, although I'm modifying it later on.

De Marquis: Your point is what? It is still used and it is more then just administration it is the overarching structure for all the units under it. It doesn't really matter what you call it and it is still in use. The force structure goes higher then that to boot.

I haven't forgotten the Kurdish AU option just yet, though it's not a priority yet.

Need to figure out how to make the ORBAT relevant for the AU country.

ORBAT?

Order of Battle.

• 1st/2nd Foreign Cavalry Regiment
• 1st/2nd Foreign Engineer Regiment
• 1st/2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment
• Legion Special Operations Regiment

This is the basic for now, but it'll change depending on how big is the country to house their bases and all that... Thinking about naming them after the cities/towns where their bases are located.

If I come around to writing this, I'll probably start near the end of the 1980s in the face of a communist insurgency threat or the 1990s when the first Gulf War started when a new recruit arrives.

edited 6th Feb '17 9:28:14 PM by Ominae

Map is finished and I'll be able to show a preview on where the units of the legion will be based.

Although I may have to have the legion's commando unit be cross-trained with navy spec ops skills.

Sorta related, but I'm sharing this article I found with foreigners recruited to the Omani Army during the Dhofar civil war.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/mercenaries-who-helped-sustain-a-sultan/news-story/fb18f252528f6d501e80f7bd4b4685f2

Someone told me online that maybe setting this kind of story in the Middle East may bring kinds of flak, so I was told to maybe set it somewhere else. I had considered Africa as an alternative. Makes some good story materials as Rhodesia as a state has ceased to exist in the late 80s. Don't know where to put said country geographically. Perhaps a bit to the east?

edited 1st Mar '17 6:12:55 PM by Ominae

Well, there is Somaliland, the piece of Somalia that is unrecognized but still functional and where one could probably get alot of mileage out of a legion chasing pirates (mostly based in neighboring Puntland), dealing with unruly warlord hosts (who are theoretically one's countrymen), the occasional WOT-related drone strike, and through it not devolving into an Army of Thieves and Whores to try to get the country on the path to recognition.

Congo (the Democratic Republic) is also interesting but wholly different. Technically, the state exists, but its also very weak and with a history of kleptocracy. It recently underwent its own version of the Thirty Years War (sans the religious casus belli), and, as of the early 2000s was effectively a two way colony of Rwanda and Uganda with a rump region "governed" from Kinshasa. However, if one looks by raw resources alone (the country's named after the Congo river, it has plenty of farmland, and theoretical access to both the sea and river trade throughout the interior of the continent, and then there's fact that Congolese material is probably necessary in things from smartphones to laptops), it should have plenty to work with. The legion might spend its time showing off to/helping the locals, attached to UN/AU contingents to extend Kinshasa's effective power, defending vital infrastructure and trying to prevent theft of resources, chasing down slavers, trying to raise its profile by joining AU missions abroad, trying to endear itself to civilians who've seen the absolute worst of soldiers within living memory, and most likely being involved in complex political games with Kinshasa, Rwanda, and Uganda.

And any tale involving military/government apparatuses of countries extant or gone will involve political implications. You can work deliberate ones in if you want, but if others read politics in, that's no issue as long as the work is read, right?

edited 1st Mar '17 7:20:55 AM by CenturyEye

I'll keep that in mind. May as well try to write both versions. Though I'm not sure how to justify the Congo have a foreign legion unless it's either a colonial legacy (Which I doubt could work) or just foreign volunteers willing to go the extra mile.

Somaliland may be a bit of a pickle since I remember that there's an arms embargo years ago. Don't know if it's fully lifted.

edited 1st Mar '17 7:28:50 PM by Ominae

Well, in response to that. Congo's army made heavy use of mercenaries during the Mobutu years. They could probably just coalesce into a legion, if for no other reason than collective bargaining. (At least one merc with personal experience though said Mobutu had a habit of skipping payment and his forces sloppily maintained or didn't deliver the equipment at all they supposedly gave to the mercs).
And, at least according to the other wiki, the Zairean forces (Mobutu's Congo was called Zaire) never won a single campaign, culminating in Mobutu's overthrow. The Congo government would have ample reason to bring a varangian guard into the mix.

Somaliland may be under arms embargo. I don't know that much, but commenters have a favorable opinion of it (compared to the rest of Somalia) and it really shouldn't have a hard time smuggling arms.

edited 2nd Mar '17 8:04:26 AM by CenturyEye

Yeah. I remember the Force Publique being manned by volunteers aside from Belgian expats until they started the Africanization. An AU reason is that the volunteers (some) had FFL experience and molded it as such to be professional, except with the problem as you mentioned about being well equipped.

I suppose that Mobutu not keeping his words kept their morale down would be an interesting story arc. If anything, they'll be involved in overthrowing Mobutu after the 1990s... I also need to check what things in DRC history needs to be changed to make it work.

Read up on the Somaliland part as mentioned. Thanks a bunch for the assist.

I'll probably use the "brigade" designation if I think Africa is better for the story setting.

Thread title changed per PM request.

On Mobutu's overthrow. That'll be quite the moral grey area. The First Congo War was, well, a war, but the real spirit breaker was the Second Congo War where Kabila (the post-Mobutu figurehead who may as well have been Mobutu) and his allies essentially fell out over the spoils.
The varying armies quickly became indistinguishable while all sides funded their operations through loot, and control of resources to yank out of the ground and sell became both a means and an end.
The civilian population...had a horrible time to say the least..
The fall of Mobutu is also partly spillover of the Rwandan Genocide.

And you are very welcome.

edited 3rd Mar '17 8:29:43 AM by CenturyEye

Revising the Africa map, but it'll be set in the Western regions of Africa, most likely next to Nigeria.

Decision will be made if it's alongside Benin or Cameroon. Both countries do have oil reserves, but the former got a bit sloppy with it in oil extraction, although there are some places near or inside its EEZ that have untapped oil. Pretty good idea to have some fun stories there.

The Cameroon part will have the potential separatist issues, especially with the English-speaking Cameroonian populace.

I'll get a better map done with the finalized place before I start to write the chapter. Maybe I need someone to read it for me.

Would it be worth looking into the Bob Crow Brigade or any of the International Freedom Battalion groups in Rojava? I can imagine something similar to what you're describing evolving from that setup.

Oh that's no problem. I've researched them aside from legit military units like the French/Spanish legions and the Rhodesian military when I was doing worldbuilding from an African perspective.

Building up on the African legion's basic training set in 1987. Of course, I got the story typed out and all.

Just not sure if this makes sense to start a recruit's BMT before sending him to a specialized course:

• Legion History classes
• Basic physical training, including going over obstacle course (Recruit would have passed physical conditions required to join)
• Operating small arms, including grenades
• Battlefield medicine
• Survival techniques
• Navigation (Map/Compass/etc)

If it needs to be changed, let me know.

I did some write ups for this story. So, the fictional country is set (IIRC) near Cameroon in Western Africa. I'll have to check my notes. Basically, I wrote the country to make it like Nigeria in mind.

A theme someone suggested is to write it up in terms of what the main character(s) experienced in this foreign legion. The story is set in the 80s where there's a Communist threat against the country, so the theme is for the main character(s) to be motivated because of the said threat and belief that they needed to make a contribution, even if it means being a grunt.

Sounds neat! What kind of communist threat would've been present in West Africa in this period? My frame of reference is kind of limited to the Biafran War (which was two decades prior and didn't involve communism) and the Angolan War, so I'm curious about what such a conflict would look like. Also, would the incentives on offer be enough to attract enough recruits to make up a full regiment?

Only thing I had is mind is that someone who participated in modern (1950s) politics of said country on keeping it free from colonialism became disgruntled on the progress of keeping it real independent. Soviet/Chinese/Warsaw Pact/Cuban/North Korean influence would seep it, as it happened in real life, and give support to a banned communist party.

The West would just warn them of the communist influence spreading in Africa.

For incentives, aside from the said country's fictional foreign regiment from taking in experienced recruits to keep the area safe from communism and other hostile threats. Like Rhodesia, they'll probably put ads out and call for foreigners who want to fight against communism and such.