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Ep 08- Legoinnaire - Active Duty
10 Plays10 months ago
In this third episode, with ex-Legionnaire Liam Cullinane, we discuss his active duty as he finished his training and was deployed to Africa and French Guyana
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Recap of Liam's Journey
00:00:17
philosophecker
Hello listeners and welcome back to Philosophagory. Here we have our third episode as promised with Mr. Lean Collinland, the Legionnaire. In episode one, we talked about how Lean left Galway as a young man, teenager, and went to join the French Foreign Legion. And we had an hour and a half of that which he took us through some of the training and Then in the second episode, Liam talked about when he contracted meningitis after leaving the Legion. And we had some very insightful discussions on that one, but we had promised to come back because people were asking to hear more about Liam's active duty as a Legionnaire.
Focus on Active Duty and Sharing Limitations
00:01:05
philosophecker
So that is what this episode is going to be about.
00:01:09
philosophecker
So only a man who's never been can to war or in the military can say this, but so this is the fun stuff, Liam, yeah? boom How are you, Liam? And thanks for coming back. Good talking. Good to go. and Good to go. Is that is that like a legionnaire saying good to go when they ask you? Just what was on the tip of their tongue. I hear you. So.
00:01:38
philosophecker
Okay, you as I said the last time in the first episode we were talking a lot about your training and and I don't know that I would not realize it at the time or we just press for time but I pushed past a lot of asking you about your active duty. So before I ask you more questions You were in one of the elite units, yes? Yeah. Is there things now that you can't talk about?
Basic Training Achievements and Ambitions
00:02:14
philosophecker
Is there a stuff that you did that you're like, no, we're not we're not allowed to talk about that?
00:02:19
philosophecker
are There's really too much of that kind of stuff. Okay. So I'll talk a couple of things that we'll mention.
00:02:31
philosophecker
which were a bit strange, which showed me very much how the political world of the to Western world how it treats the likes of Africa. okay Okay, well let's go. You've done your basic training. You've finished in the top ten.
00:02:58
philosophecker
You chose the Mountain Parachute Regiment? No. Okay, I'm wrong again. Let's go. I wanted to go to the Mountain Company um in the Parachute Regiment.
Skills and Training: Mountain vs. Amphibious Companies
00:03:15
philosophecker
I chose, when I finished the talking, I chose to go to the Parachute Regiment but once you get to that regiment and you do your jump training, the the whole group that's undergoing the jump school, they were sent to whatever company the regiment size. So you had to try it in the mountain part of it. It just so happens that they chose to send
00:03:50
philosophecker
the whole Jump School 2, the month come the which thesec and company, company. There are slats in there. I don't know about right now, but at the same, there was a lot in the third company, which is the amphibious company.
00:04:13
philosophecker
And when they arrived there, they could not swim.
Arrival and Initial Experiences in Djibouti
00:04:19
philosophecker
Oh my God. And it was that them out then or did they have to learn? No, no, they did learn. I ah don't know how they managed to teach them. Well, it's a real sinker swim situation. Yeah. And okay, so you went through the basic training, and you got into the power regiment,
00:04:41
philosophecker
but then after that you didn't really decide which part of that regiment you went in and you were assigned the mountain company. I guess what skills would be different from the amphibian company and the mountain company? Would you have would you go training in different places? Would you have different weapons? What would be different in your training compared to the other units?
00:05:07
philosophecker
similar weapons to be sent weapons throughout the whole illusion unless you're in, say, the regiment, the tribe's tanks and stuff. Obviously, they're all going to be using the same weaponry, but in the mountain company and the amphibious company,
00:05:37
philosophecker
ah Fastly to friends what you've been doing? Okay, and would you this is a stupid question Would you be brought to the mountains to train and the amphibious company would be brought to? Water of some sort I guess Get the regiment. It's on the coast of the north of course ago spa Say 500 meters inland But the third company, they have an amphibious unit right on the yeah actual color beach. okay That's where they have all their equipment.
00:06:24
philosophecker
All that kind of stuff. Okay, so they had it easy on the beach and you were hiking up the mountains. They were the softies, the beach bumps. I don't know about softies. I wouldn't say that to their face.
00:06:38
philosophecker
ah
00:06:42
philosophecker
So, it was on Corsica, but you were in the mountain areas where you were training. No, no, we were based in New Regiment. Just like the amphibious company that we had up. Oh, Charlie up in mountains. All right. Super cool. Yeah, it says so. And how often did you go? How long after you got assigned to the mountain unit? How much training did you have between then and your like first deployment?
00:07:18
philosophecker
By deployment, do you mean going overseas? I do, I do. I use that word because I've heard it said other places, but I think that is what I mean, like your your active service, your deployment,
00:07:35
philosophecker
the meaning of that term depends very much where you go. Okay. I'm my first deployment in the rap, in the parade regiment, we we call them tour notes, tours. And my my first tour was to Djiboutin, which was a total eye opener. was just shy of 19, when we met. You're so young, man. You're so young to be doing this.
00:08:12
philosophecker
Yeah, but the youngest soldier in the First World War, I think was the youngest killed was 14 or something.
00:08:28
philosophecker
so yeah Age changes dramatically at the years, Copaia and humanity. Yeah, so you went to Djibouti.
00:08:40
philosophecker
ah What was your job there? what What were you sent there to do?
Daily Life and Base Dynamics in Djibouti
00:08:45
philosophecker
Well, Djibouti was fantastic.
00:08:52
philosophecker
Wasn't it? We arrived late at night after being cooked up in a, it was a civilian aircraft, but it was part of their French Army Air Force. And it was very narrow. The smokin' their heads off. And after, I'm guessing, after say four or five hours, it was getting pretty uncomfortable, getting really antsy. Everybody just wanted to get the hell out
00:09:41
philosophecker
and the aircraft door opens and I had the impression some of the set fire up to the front just to pull in there's a big wall of heat just came flying down the the oil of the plane and this was at night wow and then because I was really pretty fairly new, fairly young. I was grateful to unload the plane and put all the gear into the trucks. There was of us doing that. And we were on all well dressed in our uniform. When the Legion traveled, they
00:10:34
philosophecker
over travel in Seoul and as we were throwing these bags around I kept getting bits of my uniform there if Sydney and all the pair of wings that comes on kind of stuff was constantly getting stuck in the baggage and being ripped off, and I was like, man, I'm gonna have some fun tomorrow morning, throwing all this back in place. And once all the trucks were loaded, I was diesel all by myself to one truck, and I would just lead them on top of all the bags.
00:11:28
philosophecker
and the shock was open and we died in the way we were going but that truck was heading up into the thousand meters up and on that journey there was practically nothing of humanity North Street lights, nothing like that. I could just vaguely, vaguely pick up this narrow road that we've been climbing up. I could see it off the back of this rock. And felt like I just stepped into that narrow wall.
00:12:22
philosophecker
the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. It was like I entered a new world. Hero was coming up, left off the drawers. The only sign of humanity was the pairing of the old simca engine, truck engine. And the landscape was There was really strong smell of it. And all the insect life worked. Often the glory. And then the, no, no, no, it was really strong. I just felt that we were priming up the the spine by giant creature. And I really had told them that
00:13:19
philosophecker
Ireland isn't the center of the universe. Neither is France. Neither is Europe. Maybe it's Africa. Maybe. It's just where we all started. hu One way or the other. but That must have been such a ah culture shock to like your 19 years of age. You've been playing rugby in the Jays not too long before that.
00:13:48
philosophecker
made a couple of decisions now you're on the back of the larry drive up a mountain in jubility in africa and you were going up to unload that you were the the helper i guess the unloader after after it's a the legion have a base up there and those those other french army military establishments french French Marines are how I based her. So it's a really interesting place. And he had what they call boys in camp. They were just local Africans who was coming on. They do many of the tasks like laundry and help out the technicians and that.
00:14:46
philosophecker
and I remember a particular one gentleman an old guy grizzly grey here constantly she was chewing on cat is there, cats are throwing up the colour of the drug is is bell-like chewing tobacco fairly strong. Yeah, so Dan actually talked about that on this podcast. The cast and the came across people in Somalia. Yeah, he said it' it's it's not really a good drug. like it is but It just kind of makes people stupid.
Djibouti's Strategic Importance
00:15:24
philosophecker
So he was always how this and is off to be giving us hair calls. And when was in contact with this guy,
00:15:41
philosophecker
First of all, it looks like they have a fairly cushy regular paying job compared to their brethren in life. It's pretty tough. For Alex, it's pretty extremely tough. And I also under um i wonder they think about the swag guys who have had everything and just roll around like they were super cool. Even the gamma a bit embarrassed to say it is. But it is a legion gamma so there had to be a garb due to 24-7 and I'll add the garb post just inside the entrance of the gate.
00:16:40
philosophecker
We had a dog, I never found out who him, who trained him, but they just passed off from unit to unit, who did their former tour in this camp, but this dog did not like Negroes. From whenever but um one of the boys came in,
00:17:10
philosophecker
for his day's work. The dog, he was also a little tired of your kind of dog. He'd be in the car house with the movie job. It was growl and growl.
00:17:30
philosophecker
Some casting now, some warriors asked, trained him to do that. Possibly, possibly. are Yeah, dogs often take on the attitudes of their owners, so maybe he had an owner who who had a some attitude like that. You wouldn't know. art He could have had just bad experiences with that. So o to what we were doing there, Jupiter, it was part of the French colonial empire, empire, I call it. It's independent,
00:18:06
philosophecker
bob There was really relief strong ties between Jupiter and France.
00:18:14
philosophecker
some Simply because in terms of strategic importance, Jupiter is massive. okay And I haven't been following what I've been having for a few years.
00:18:34
philosophecker
oh several years ago I heard that the Legion Regiment that was in Djibouti is gone and the drop zone for the parachuting was you also right on the beach that have been completely taken over by the US Army through the military
00:19:06
philosophecker
and to the U.S. forces set up there. They were virtually 100% self-sufficient. They just had giant hovercraft, landing craft, whatever, driving all the goods they needed, all the logistics and stuff.
00:19:33
philosophecker
We were just driving from from but what our cargo ship was out to see, to drive up onto the beach and on north to the U.S. camp, which was where our drop zone was. Okay. And be before i before the Legion regiment, they're moved.
00:20:07
philosophecker
I think it's in France now. But both, so the walls of sage were the wages of the legionaries were paying white cards, were being paid by you smell the military. Oh, yeah. That's actually taste funny. I was doing a a little bit of research on this. and One guy I heard speaking who was a Legionnaire too and he said that they're famously broke, the That they really kind of live from the land wherever they go almost in ways. a They don't have a load of equipment and the pay is not that great compared to other militaries. So when you see the likes of the US coming in,
00:20:59
philosophecker
who absolutely has everything including every type of kitchen sink that you could possibly know of, I think.
Parachute Training and Routine Jumps
00:21:07
philosophecker
Was there a bit a kind of envy coming from the Legion? Or was it more, we can do it without all out but out on that stuff? You, Ebi. No. Is it but like the pride, the sense of honor? I remember one time We were off in... in... I think it was tomorrow in Jupiter. They might have been shot. I'm not sure. But then a truck broke down in the middle of the desert. No gas for a long way. When I say desert, it's not like this. A hard desert.
00:22:16
philosophecker
earth.
00:22:20
philosophecker
But practically nothing grew. and the rocks are all over the place so so they're the back but when you when you pull them out of the ground and turn them up there's also a normal brown rock so they're blackened by the sun wow it must be a long time under that really hot sun on the first two there
00:22:53
philosophecker
After about three months of having my shower, and I noticed the he would be practically French speaking, and he wasn't,
00:24:19
philosophecker
Yeah. And how long were you in Djibouti then?
00:24:26
philosophecker
The first tour was about four months and like the two of the tours were also nearly one year in total.
00:24:40
philosophecker
And how you've done the tour for four months? And did you get a break then to go? Where did you go in between tours? or Yeah, back to back to Calvary. On leverage, we do one tour a year. Okay. And you spend the rest of the time and base then training.
00:25:02
philosophecker
Training on maneuvers in France. Quite the but time. up in the mountains of Corsico. And you training in Djibouti too? Were you doing jumps all the time? like in Yeah, we do jumps in Djibouti.
00:25:26
philosophecker
Ricardo was the new ah drop zone. It was interesting. okay And for the automatic parachute, you have difficulty choosing where you want to go. In fact, you don't really have a choice. You have the windows, balls, you wherever. And long times after 10, you land backwards on your ass.
00:26:01
philosophecker
um after a day is jumping you get back to arthos arthos probably nowhere by truck at least he's just dying for offshore war yeah to get rid of all the sand stuck up you ah pure so Yeah, Jesus, I imagine a woman like that. How many jumps did you do in your time in the legend? Do you keep a number? Do you keep a number? No, only keep a number. It's easy to lose track, but I see
00:26:55
philosophecker
No, about 200. That's a lot of times jumping out of a perfectly good airplane is this. who it did you Did you get a at at the end, let's say in your last 50 jumps there, was it?
00:27:13
philosophecker
Oh, here we go again. Just jump out and things are like, I imagine jumping out of the plane, you're going to get that buzz, that adrenaline. Did that wear off after 150 or so? Or did every time, did you go? Then that only wore off after I trained as a sky tanker. Okay. And was that in your time of the Legion 2? That was with the,
00:27:41
philosophecker
what section of craft as the commando unit. Okay. I swash towards it. Yeah, I prefer the commando unit. Okay. Swash up over this. Sounds a bit past the gig. Okay, yeah it does. So it's on the commando unit. For that you train in it.
00:28:10
philosophecker
The French army have a brand new course open. And it's called Mont-Louis. So you go there for a month and read you well. And then you'd be sent to the French army, three folks rule.
00:28:40
philosophecker
which was in poo and for three months you roll out worth civilian clothes you're not it's like you're not in religion other than the fact that you're wearing your green berry and everybody else the French army you will have the red berry made that makes you feel pretty unique and life is really good for three months all you're doing is free falling out of a plane and on my first osmosis jump after that my trainer then was way down and I suppose would that be something they'd be trying to
00:29:36
philosophecker
to to get you to so that like in in in a time of action or if you're jump jumping into a war zone well I suppose your adrenaline is going to be high anyways but you'd at least have the wherewithal to be thinking about what happens when you hit the ground obviously the first time you jump out of an airplane I'd say there's very little thinking but a lot of feeling going on a lot of whoa and over time then that wears off so I guess by the time you're 150 jumps, you jump out of the plane, you're still already thinking about what's going to happen when you hit the ground. You're not all pumped up on this adrenaline. So is that part of the conditioning, do you think, to get that adrenaline dumps down? Well, the goal, I presume, is just to get you to jump
00:30:34
philosophecker
yeah and that that you use come from A to B when you do to jump to your add your location B and that's where you are breathing starts okay okay so but so they get it so the jump is just like getting up in the morning so they'll be getting near that so yeah basically turning the The whole shrine of parachuting into a mere formality.
Dangerous Jumps and Routine Transition
00:31:07
philosophecker
Okay, I get you. I get you. I was just making it a normal everyday motion. And everybody knows how to go through these motions, lad. So, okay. And what's the most dangerous jump you ever did then? What was the highest jump? Did you do night jumps? Yeah.
00:31:29
philosophecker
I think our mentioned do third then I jump on the first backrest. It was very new at the end of my service. When you were looking out the door. yeah and ah That was the thing that was just over 4000 meters.
00:31:53
philosophecker
on That was a glory jump. That sounds 4,000 meters. That's a hell of a freefall, I'd imagine. Yeah, it's probably a minute at least. I can't remember. It's a murder, I'm around there. Was there like you had? Well, I like the size. Even though it's 4,000 meters and you jump at the Zoldark. At that stage,
00:32:26
philosophecker
to use your job, your duty, the mere formality, the aim is to get onto the ground, and then the job really starts. They're pet-like, driving to the office in the morning, or getting into the train. But there, once you get there, that's only one really kick into gear. Yeah. It's just strange how you liken it. to Just like driving to work or jumping on the train or the bus to work. And you jump out of an airplane for four kilometers up in the sky. I'm just off to work. See you later, love. It sounds like a very intense experience. I suppose you were conditioned to the end that it wasn't so intense.
Deployments to Djibouti and Chad
00:33:21
philosophecker
So your time in Djibouti, you were there for four months, then you went back and then you went back to Djibouti again? I think, well the first time was in 86. I think the second was 89.
00:33:42
philosophecker
And the third time was in 91. one Okay, so there was a few years. You had three three outings to Djibouti, but there was a few years in between. Did you go to other places in between that? Where did you go? but Where was your second deployment after the first one to Djibouti?
00:34:06
philosophecker
I was all written down there, but I don't want to be based on time trying to find the details.
00:34:17
philosophecker
I remember Chad in 87 for Daphne. I thought that was a really eye opening experience. There was a lockdown in Chad in 87, wasn't there? There was and there wasn't. Okay. There was in terms of the The borders, zonas, in French, are bones of youth, which in English is probably the band of a you and youth. It's an area of triple lands, which is extremely rich and rainy and all that kind of stuff.
00:35:07
philosophecker
um The Libyans wanted to draw hold on to it. The Shaddings wanted to take it. They were always speckling. And the Libyans, they'd be using Soviet equipment. Tea, whatever, thank number.
00:35:32
philosophecker
zoom Yeah, Conde will call the number 1854 just guessing. So the Libyan tank crew would be down in this that region really hot. It's on the on water top the their Sahara and they're chatting and they just roll up and they forgot their hatchbacks with the massive machine gun standing in the back of the hatchback and they just drive round and round and round and round and round these tanks really fast so fast that they would
00:36:21
philosophecker
There was no way the tanks could track them. So the turret of the tank couldn't turn as fast as the Heil tail, the Heil extra? Yeah, it would be a bit like, you know, on occasion a warp can be sorting around you. And no matter where you go, there's frigging warps being passed through on you.
00:36:49
philosophecker
um The shootings would do that with the Libyans and the eventually said tank proof. It's a frigging desert. They have to open their house to come off work and escape from the infernal heat inside their tank. And the shootings without firing a bullet would take them prisoner. And the there'd be a big parade of the Chadeans came back to town, back to the capital.
00:37:30
philosophecker
They'd be parading the prisoners and then they would hand them over to the CIA. You kidding me? So the Chadeans would go out there the the The Livians had these cool tanks. The Tewarever tanks from the Russians. And they'd be out there in the desert. And would they be hunting the Chavians then? with the like Was it a battlefield? I was never up there. The French army, me for their french balry forces the were only allowed this far north.
00:38:13
philosophecker
so yeah county who remember the a
00:38:21
philosophecker
yeah the mut but you weren't allowed up as far as where this stuff was taking place no but the Chadeans used to then and the Toyota Hiluxes when like and when we here now we've seen it so much on the news and in movies the Toyota Hilux with the big 50 cal going up on the top of it a lad driving and a lad shooting the gun. It's kind of an image, I think, that's easily recollected for most people in them areas. I don't think the chatting bodies even had to put their firing around. And they just drove around and around the tank like a wasp in them. Yeah, that's what they care. And I can imagine the heat, like you were saying, inside them tanks. So the Libyans that eventually come out,
00:39:09
philosophecker
Chatty and say, how are you lads? Take them back to the CIA. Yeah. You told the Soviet tanks there was a sign for Russia for the European arena. Oh, yeah. And that scenario. tanks are invariably hot after a couple of hours.
00:39:38
philosophecker
so new desert no thanks yeah these diesel engines and and like just like you said even even in cold weather you'd be hot in the tank because the engines and everything gone up that must have been so uncomfortable so the russians were in somewhere back in the libyans if they were selling them uh military equipment and then the americans of the west were obviously witch had and the Legion was there as well.
Exploitation and Realities of Africa
00:40:09
philosophecker
was there Was there a multinational force of Western militaries in Chad all working together? I think it was mainly just France. So the French were there with the Legion. Well, what what the French army. So like with the the Americans were the Americans there while not being there. Like they just had a What would they call it? Advisors who wore dark glasses and took prisoners.
00:40:43
philosophecker
yeah And would you see a lot of ah lot of like CIA operatives and things like that going Me personally would see that, but I'll put their own. I'll get to talking about about what this was shot in 87. I went back there in I think it was 1990 nineteen ninety things changed quite a bit. From 87 to 1990, so in three years they have changed a lot. They have changed in terms of
00:41:27
philosophecker
operation opportunities for the CIA to change the remarkable. It's amazing how the Americans always seem to over the past whatever 50 to 60 years the Americans always seem to want to bring freedom to places with lots of natural resources. It's always kind of struck me as odd how their generosity is so choosy.
00:41:56
philosophecker
get you on that that I've been to the States several, several times, different parts. Find the Americans, a great bunch of people, extremely friendly.
00:42:19
philosophecker
Admittedly, some lemons can be a bit strange or right.
00:42:24
philosophecker
when you think everybody knows that ah to the for America of leading the world is huge.
00:42:40
philosophecker
If only they change their foreign policy. Yeah. Did you see a lot of that in in action in Africa, the the impacts of their foreign policy?
00:42:53
philosophecker
Not so much American power and policy, but the way and the corridors of the Western world, the power of the Western world, there's not much goodwill held towards Africa. For example, you hear all this time the time about all this all this foreign needs going from the global north to the global south, especially Africa, but we also had to use those at least 10 times more coming from
00:43:42
philosophecker
in terms of resources coming from the global south and to the global north with the western world.
Cultural Encounters and Guard Duty Incidents
00:43:54
philosophecker
Absolutely, it's a it's a bit cheeky of was even to be saying how much aid we're sending down there when you think about the amount of wealth like natural resource wealth which has become more and more important in our technological world with all the rare earth metals but how much of that is common northwards?
00:44:13
philosophecker
We never consider that eight. We never consider that a charitable donation. But then when we when we give something back, we do consider it a charitable donation. And we even figure some of them might be in debt to us first. Seems to be the way we we plan it out. But la but did you what how was your,
00:44:36
philosophecker
how was your I imagine back then, As I said, we're not very different in ages. So so my picture of Africa and my picture of the Middle East and all that would have come from like movies and TV shows and stuff like that. And we we didn't have the internet back then. So when you arrived in Africa,
00:45:00
philosophecker
Was there, what was the big differences that said, oh, wow, this is just not like the movies I saw, or this is not like I imagined it, or the, what was the big things that struck you as different? Like, what were the big elements of the culture shock that struck you? what's so valuable, sensing how a fragrance to mingle In clipping to strangle Cubans together, we would have to resort to things that of the Europeans, as Westerners, would indeed even think of. Chad was a real idol opener.
00:45:53
philosophecker
in terms of seeing the realities of African life and and comparing it to the Western world. Yeah. In Chad,
00:46:09
philosophecker
was tall hell of a lot of French interests there. And collision, we were just there to do cartridges, all we did was guard French military. The French military bases, so you were guarding the French military interests there again. Yeah. And I remember one time,
00:46:36
philosophecker
one of our lads while while doing job guard duty he was knifed by a local uh that that made it really apparent that these african boys they're only interested in investigating military race is because they they might find something valuable. They might be able to preserve survivability.
00:47:12
philosophecker
I'm one of the most beautiful majestic things are I've seen in my whole life. well
Contemplations on Happiness and Kindness
00:47:25
philosophecker
I was on guard duty and I think it was a big ammunition base and I was on the guard tower pulled out of my brains and a few hundred meters on the other side, on the other side of the
00:47:50
philosophecker
the wire perimeter, a camel through his body. And on top of the camel, there was this little African boy with butters turpin, extremely majestic. And I was looking at this guy.
00:48:12
philosophecker
I did that but not on a close. So I was sure what age he was but I'm guessing around 12 and he just looks so cruel and majestic. Totally relaxed um and in full with the camel look which was elegantly flooding along. And they thought I will tell you now about happiness who's happier he on the camel or me port of my brains in the guard tower yeah it's strange the things you remember on the kind of the contrast that you remember would he would he have been a rich young fella no idea because he had a camel that's what i'm thinking
00:49:11
philosophecker
I can presume having a camo probably like having a really tall quality car when compared to a lot of the African kids remember us we were based in and ge no upmo reach faster And I can't recall exactly where or why, but I remember
00:49:53
philosophecker
driving past a dump and there two would be hundreds of are well ma no hundred say t see dusons of half frank gis some li um well under 10 years of age. We are rooting around and whenever we drive past they can come running after the truck just hoping that we through something after them. and Did he? No. He didn't have extra stuff, I guess he didn't have it. Well, it's not so much that we didn't have something but like we could do, shock the fuck or whatever, but there was pretty much
00:50:44
philosophecker
I'm not much against a Harder than rule but it was not a thing to do So see if you encourage African kids to come chasing after a stroke because they're sure they got a pack, but they're do That would lead on to who knows where? Yes, it's it's a this I remember being in Edinburgh and I was sitting down outside in a pub with ah with a girlfriend a minute at the time. And a homeless guy came up and he was asking for money so I gave him a couple of bucks at the time and she's like, why did you do that? She's like, he's gonna come be back now. I was like, it's fine, it's fine. It wasn't 10 minutes later I could see him directing other homeless people my direction. ah
00:51:40
philosophecker
And so, so she was right there. there was ah we had We had a few around her, but I guess that that that's the same, similar attitude when you're traveling to these places where there is a lot of poverty. You make, of course, some inside you're just going to want to help everybody, but you can't help everybody. Well, at least he didn't give you that look off. You tight whore. That's all they give them me.
00:52:09
philosophecker
That happens in Galvacoy to birth. Oh, yeah. Give someone a you next thing they want a favor. Okay. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's time for people living in them situations, but it's very hard because we all know that there's gangs going around running people to do this.
00:52:38
philosophecker
they're more worthy of sympathy to the pastor's buy and the good folk who want to and want to help people and give people money so it becomes very hard to realize who you are helping if you give somebody money, are they giving a practice on ringleader or it becomes difficult. Advantations,
Chad: Harsh Living and Butchering Realities
00:52:58
philosophecker
we were based in a town called Apache.
00:53:03
philosophecker
is
00:53:05
philosophecker
ah It's... I'm guessing near near the middle of Chad and in my section we were posted to Biltin and Biltin is the... it was in the sewer, it was the farthest north a tiny bit got to go so we felt really special ah about being sent up there and the built-in is it's bigger than the wheelie part okay okay call it small thumb it's also square
00:53:50
philosophecker
in the center and our fort was on the square and the fort was built way back in the 18 whatever by the legion and fort was built after sand okay i'm seeing sand castle is coming to my mind how do you how do you build a fort out of the sand ah yeah Don't ask me how. All them remember about it in the morning you wake up and you were covered in sand. Really? Well not covered, but there was plenty of sand on you. And the fort was able to
00:54:41
philosophecker
It took a typical school children's conception of a sandcastle with a little turtle. It was like a sandcastle. It was really cool. Oh yeah. It would have been far, far from a post, regional post way back.
00:55:10
philosophecker
that.
00:55:12
philosophecker
home One of the best days there was going to the butcher shop. And the butcher shop was just a slab of concrete.
00:55:28
philosophecker
probably 30 feet by 30 feet and there was a trough down the middle of it and we were all standing there our bus was barf turning both the butcher bus what we were getting and the price and all that meanwhile there was the Met being of a cow being pulled by several men. big The cow was mean because I knew this was And then the men, when they took the cow to drop, they got all this done so that it's truth was directly over. sha
00:56:24
philosophecker
So let us truth. Jeez, okay. That kind of thing happens here too. We just don't see it. But when you've seen all these men struggling, pulling the cow to the trough, did you say, hang on, lads, I've done this before. but Did you say, i don't I've moved cows before at night into into staff canteen rooms and schools. It's like, I've actually got some experience.
00:56:54
philosophecker
ah i'm I'm actually, or a wall actually useful list moving ah child ah wooden bedroomroom and I the it off the surface. And in return from my gesture, it just shat all over me.
00:57:17
philosophecker
yeah It's the waves, and thank you for that. that was
Deployment in French Guiana and Historical Reflections
00:57:22
philosophecker
So Chad, so yeah okay, you went to Djibouti, then you were in Chad. Where else did you go? Were most of your deployments around Africa?
00:57:33
philosophecker
All of them are one which was to fresh piano a French Oh, French Guiana, cool. Which is just north of Brazil. It's on the coast. And the Legion have a base there at Curu.
00:57:49
philosophecker
which used the word the French Space Launch Center. Oh, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. The Legion, I don't know how long they've been there, but with the event of the Space Launch Center,
00:58:14
philosophecker
ah all they did really hard, the main duty was to go to space whenever when they were launching so that was yeah pretty boring to the guard duty but it was really cool watching the space launch you got to see them
00:58:41
philosophecker
we We saw that the distance there was several kilometers away. But there was pretty miraculous.
00:58:52
philosophecker
nor the And then two seconds later, we got up in the sky. ah But the coolest thing about Peru was Lézille du Soulou. What? Lézille du Soulou. That's a French name. There's three guidelines. One is Devil's Island. Island, okay. The second is St. Joseph's Lagunu, which the Legion uses for R&R retinal cooperation. And the third is
00:59:38
philosophecker
royal argument, which was the one that opened to tourism. When we were on to just the argument, we were given an afternoon off. So all the English-speaking letters had to write, we've gone to Pat, although for two, that was the and to have a look And because the three aliens are adjacent to each other, to your to tell
01:00:18
philosophecker
the tide is really powerful. So it was a realistic battle from St. Joseph's Islands over to the other side.
01:00:34
philosophecker
So we paddled over to Royal Agnes and then manhandled the, it was just here, maybe carried that from to the other side of the Agnes. And we only had, say, five meters to paddle to get to Jefferson. It was a crazy paddle,
01:01:04
philosophecker
and and say comments i'd say Yeah between islands we have the same thing on manage more there that the current that rolls between the islands is strong We we just had all like crazy it was it was like sprinting and we got to the devil's wagons and I Got the honor of sitting on pieces bench Dreyfus.
01:01:35
philosophecker
if Dreyfus was a French cavalry officer, Jewish, and he was friends.
01:01:46
philosophecker
can recall the eu probably 1800, hundred early 1800 and he he was sent to Frankiana, the Penitentiary, Penitentiary, you know how the the English used Australia for their convicts.
01:02:12
philosophecker
The French will send their two French quinoa. This is where the film Papillon is based on. Yeah. So i draw I read the book Papillon on Devil Island and there was several Hofstadter ruins.
01:02:32
philosophecker
Just the walls standing, no roofer in the thing. And Jeff is seated for there. Papi mentioned that in his book. That's very sad and thought about how he was going to make us escape. So you got to sit in the same... Two weeks. Yeah, sad man.
01:02:56
philosophecker
if all the tumb of who that forth built in It It felt like a step back into history. Yeah, that was really privileged. And then I found out, after all this talk, about Mushufu was about Mushufu.
01:03:23
philosophecker
translate literally literally as firefly okay but they're actually joining a twasp or like hornets or something oh no giant bigger you got one one sting of these guys in their neck and you've paralyzed for several hours and i got seven snings off the backside. of What were you doing to them? but How to did that happen? Going to the toilet or something? We were just cruising around devil angle. It's not even the size of a football field or from memory probably from these big girls. But
01:04:21
philosophecker
we were cruising around and the agony discovered in coconut trees and no one harvests the coconuts stuff so then I destroyed my time and next thing lived on and of course the swarm of black shades moving at such speed I couldn't could then figure out what they were I was first thinking what was all this what and then I felt it and I knew instantly
01:05:05
philosophecker
chauff momosh voor It's the only thing is that these guys based in Ganyang would feel when the girls in long distance, for sure, in the jungle. worship If someone encounters you and scream never, people just drop everything and run like crazy.
01:05:33
philosophecker
and at that day you said they were moving along the ground do they move like ants then? are they fly around? no no they they were swarming around my waist but the things fast out didn't have time to figure out what they were so they were singing me and we were only 10 meters from the sea so that's that's worth of aiming for yeah but as I tried to sprint at full speed
01:06:08
philosophecker
I just looked like this ridiculous cartoon character, sliding around in all these corgas, and my mates, who was fighting about them, they were just standing there, passing their house laughing walls for me. I suppose in modern times, that's the equivalent of them getting on the phone to a record it. By the way, did you get to the sea?
01:06:39
philosophecker
No, I never got it. And
Local Beverages and Drinking Culture
01:06:44
philosophecker
afterwards we we took a group photo and photo my face is so contorted you can't actually recognize me. um im pun you can help my butff And my you my butt with the camera. So I love For one day maybe someone with so hi high tech computer stopped and they enlarged the butt to see. Third, is actually seven stings or am I vastly exaggerating?
01:07:28
philosophecker
and did yeah did you What was the result of the seven stings? like I was just so embarrassed because my ass was so... well it's the no no longer meaty husband and but then back then I had to fix all this ass so all the meat was absorbed whatever this thing is so you didn't get the parala paralysis or whatever yeah I just had the tend back side for the world okay
01:08:01
philosophecker
her And how long did you spend in Guyana then? That was, I presume, four months to somewhere around there. Was that a, would that be one of the the sought after deployments to Guyana? Like if you were, would there be some people saying, I don't want to go back to Chad or I don't want to go back to Djibouti, please send me to Guyana.
01:08:29
philosophecker
a to The de Guignon was one of the best tours. First because Harlin and the Paris Regiment was sent to Franklin. It was always Africa. Okay.
01:08:50
philosophecker
oh Things were so different. thou Firstly, Whenever you're after you're saturated all the time. Just the humidity. Humidity is raining, raining, raining. It's just a given. It's going be raining. And the rum over there. The rum.
01:09:28
philosophecker
In very care you can go to bed absolutely hammered and you wake up in the morning stones over It's like a song you just sweat it all off I gave up what to go and hence all of spirits one of 16
01:09:52
philosophecker
The first time I had both go was my last time. I always was sick as a pig for an hour and an hour. Do you know Klaus, because he knew in the South Hill? I do, yeah. I just remember sitting in the day jacks, throwing up into the day jacks for, seemed like for hours.
01:10:21
philosophecker
and You know all that hackling time we have when we're sober, that one feeling good, and you're back to normal life. And the old itching for them the other room comes on.
01:10:47
philosophecker
but my never again with vertigo lasted from 16 right up until one night in Frankano.
01:11:02
philosophecker
A friend got a bottle of rum and it's so sweet and easy to drink. um Before I knew it, I was plastered. And then they
Exercises in Senegal and Survival Observations
01:11:16
philosophecker
went to our friend's house, he was living off base and he had a vast array of liquors in his house.
01:11:30
philosophecker
I was hopping them down and I got incredibly drunk before we even went out and on the town and I was so drunk I didn't know I was drunk.
01:11:51
philosophecker
You were so drunk you didn't know you were drunk. Yeah, I think I've been that drunk once or twice myself too. So troy I gave up Rome after a time like that as well um that Rome was probably that would have been the local drink there would have been the sugar cane and stuff Yeah, so I imagine it is it's like drinking Guinness in Dublin, you know what I mean? It's where you get the good stuff they right Right at the home of the jet imagine that And where else in Africa did you go then you were in Chad you were in Djibouti?
01:12:28
philosophecker
A week in Senegal, Bambap was with the communities. We were just in a main street exercise with the locals.
01:12:41
philosophecker
Because I was so short and swift, we landed at the maneuver and then went back to France. But I remember we we did get a couple of hours off oh we were where we were staying at the train was very close to the beach and we went down to the Atlantic Ocean exactly nia two have a nice day, surely paddle and it was freaking freezing it was like jumping a black rock in the middle of winter and this was Senegal
01:13:25
philosophecker
yeah it was well that the peanut mountains the peanut mountains yeah okay they they must mean the harvest time of year and they just directly the I say mountains, hills, hills of peanuts.
01:13:56
philosophecker
yeah I'm guessing 20 feet high. Wow, mountains of peanuts. That's cool. it a Senegal, i in comparison to Chad and Djibouti, I imagine would have been ah would it be a bit more successful?
01:14:19
philosophecker
Would it be a bit more stable? It's it is on the coast floor. It has a bit more going for it. It would have been exposed to the first Europeans, the Portuguese who started all that colonic stuff.
01:14:41
philosophecker
the the wooden counter, the there over there. I just remember the freezing cold so soon, the peanuts, the landscaping,
01:15:11
philosophecker
relatively lush compared to the likes of Chad and Thrive being past the palace and the very elegantly dressed palace guard. Okay, very good. ah Speaking of lost weight nutrition,
01:15:37
philosophecker
and a member in Chad, or an in Jupiter, being off some patrol, we'd be driving for days, yeah exploring exploring a lot and the And our boss, fantastic guy, he always seemed to bring us to a beach at the end of the day.
01:16:04
philosophecker
But I remember one particular day, we were the middle of number, there was nothing in sight, nothing of a tree, no vegetation,
01:16:21
philosophecker
no no no evidence of humanity at all. but there was this old woman stooped over with a big basket on her back with bits of fireworks like that she would find a number thing where where the hell does she live however how can she survive in this environment
01:16:54
philosophecker
It was like it like they were subsisting of solid rock, unbelievable. It's amazing how people find a way, isn't it, how life finds a way. It really is.
01:17:08
philosophecker
a
Legion Recruitment and Psychological Impacts
01:17:10
philosophecker
when you So you you were in French Guiana, you were in Senegal, Chad. All these places have i have links with France and I'm sure a lot more places in Africa do as well.
01:17:22
philosophecker
we know that But did many Africans sign up to the Legion then? No. No, there wasn't many African-born Legionnaires. Oh, I thought there would be. because of Because of their links to these places.
01:17:36
philosophecker
the the be
01:17:40
philosophecker
ah for Africans who lived in France who signed up, but in general you wouldn't find where there are many Africans coming to France who joined the League directly. Okay, was that a... I just wonder why would you think that was? Because I'd imagine if I was an African living in Chad having a really tough um looking at the rich neighbor on the camel looking all elegant going down. my my My life is crap. And then I'm looking at the the Legionnaire guys. I'm like, they look pretty cool. They've got a cool walk. They've cool uniforms. How do I become one of them? and And given the setup of the Legion that it takes foreigners and it takes people of all sorts, I wonder why the Africans, the local Africans didn't sign up.
01:18:32
philosophecker
That should be the last problem. I never knew that the region was open to foreign recruits. And then more portland layout you see now, getting from Africa to Europe.
01:18:56
philosophecker
It's not easy now so for for many, many deadly. Yeah, yeah, that's true. And the as far as I know, the Legion... Well, maybe it does, but I don't think there is a list imposed outside outside France, territory.
01:19:22
philosophecker
Okay, so there wasn't an office, they could walk through, they'd have to head to France to sign up or get you. And as you said, that treacherous journey now would have been an even more treacherous journey back then, I guess. sort For a lot of African people, the only thing on their mind is the next meal.
01:19:45
philosophecker
it's one thing being hungry so you can go quite some time going without food and I'm not so far too much provider you know that
01:20:02
philosophecker
ah source change search li location or soft exhaust your time andgo I'm going to get dinner. But when you don't know, if you're ever going to eat again, totally different get out of it. You can imagine people are open to doing what we see as crazy things when they're that hungry. And as you said, it's different.
01:20:32
philosophecker
It's different being hungry if you know there's a meal coming tomorrow, or even in two days, you know how long you have to wait. But if if you don't know, if you don't know when or where your next meal is coming from, everything will begin looking like food to you, I imagine, you know? The humbliest of beanballs in French quinoa the The first boss I had in Paris Regiment, when I went to France again, he was sent up to a jungle train, this thing called Regina, and he was the boss up there. ah one One day,
01:21:26
philosophecker
e We travel, yeah, in the jungle. Travelers all by waterways. And he brought us to some, I think it was an island. And he dropped us there on this August, you know, a couple of days. And we said, Gloria, by the way, if you're hungry, those trees, not, not those zones, not those zones, not those zones, but that one, if you cut them down at the very top of the tree, you can eat it.
01:22:08
philosophecker
So we we try chop the tree down and the particular part of the edible tastes like trading cardboard.
01:22:21
philosophecker
we didn't bother shopping anymore, she's done down um the sky didn't show to pick it up when he said he would and that the next day Tommy was really rumbling and it's a comfortable feeling when you don't know when you're going to get food. That's the I've been hungry. I've gone weeks, nothing reasonable. At the same time, I've gone weeks without food. Yeah, fast. And yeah, after, I think it's two or three days, your hunger goes, but you have the thoughts.
01:23:16
philosophecker
at the back of your mind at the end of so many weeks I'm gonna start eating again so you're not stressed but when don't know when you're gonna get your next meal it's way freaking different And I think for a lot of Africans, it's very much the sinewing joy of that stressful nordigo of no one knowing when the next bit of food. Yeah, and you can see how that kind of being in that environment could seriously impact your psychology, especially
01:24:03
philosophecker
especially over time, like you're you're in that stressful situation for a long time, you've got all them, the cortisol and everything is talking to the fight or fight response. that that That has to have some kind of continuous trauma on the individual. You know what I mean? It has to have impacts. When you're hungry, when you don't know what's what, all your anger, frustration,
01:24:33
philosophecker
that wanker over there, that tube over there. All all the ah this naked stuff, pretty deep inside of you comes right to the surface. And that's when you find out who you are. Everything becoming either food or competition. but You know what I mean? so yeah it's It's weird how hundred of strange things to us. I remember being in Prague and I was told about some horrible things the communists did under the city. There's another city under the city and they had big pits in the ground and they used to have two people in there and they'd be starving and then they would throw in a little bit of food and they'd have bets on who was going to win the fight because they'd literally kill each other to get this little bit of food and they might have been neighbors or friends or brothers
01:25:31
philosophecker
two weeks before that but they had been starved and so many bones they found down there would have human bite marks in them that it just really brings home that we we don't know who we'd be or what we'd be in them situations really until you know what I mean that there's every chance we'd all likely kill for that last bit of food if the situation was correct you know not correct incorrect I suppose we'd probably be correct but i Yeah, you you saw a lot of that in Africa in the 80s and early 90s. Did it change how you viewed things at all? Did you go into into the Legion with one mindset? um I'm wondering what were the big changes that happened to your mindsets throughout that from your experiences in places like
01:26:24
philosophecker
As a teenager,
01:26:27
philosophecker
had a very strong impression that what the conventional educational system was teaching me was largely irrelevant to reality.
01:26:45
philosophecker
So that feeling was further emphasized by the likes of both with some great teachers in the jazz and just the aspects of the real world from them and
01:27:06
philosophecker
A lot of my friends were all on the laboratory sting of getting good marks and optimizing the points for their future career thing. I knew I was going to the region and I expected that I would get to see a bit reality that people going to conventional university wouldn't get.
01:27:48
philosophecker
ah
01:27:50
philosophecker
But what's the question again? What was the biggest differences or biggest differences in yourself that you saw from visiting these areas?
01:28:02
philosophecker
How was your outlook on life changed or your outlook um on people? or Or maybe it wasn't changed at all. I know a lot of people go to go to places and and and don't change their views or their world views.
01:28:17
philosophecker
When I went to France, I just thought everyone everyone was like people in Galway. And in France, I knew all differences. Then the little Legion got exposed to the good differences.
01:28:43
philosophecker
Things like Scandinavian recruits.
01:28:48
philosophecker
They spoke
Western Privilege vs. African Reality
01:28:51
philosophecker
American English, all but the the standard of their English, the grammar, the fluidity, the fluency was higher than mine. Oh, really?
01:29:08
philosophecker
And then when I went to Africa, the message was believing that all the world would know the Western world, not just the guy with the beautiful woman sitting beside them in the big swanky sports car. All of us in the Western world, even though with extreme difficult days, we were living in a palace compared to the average African
01:29:51
philosophecker
yeah and then a place like Garthow which I've never ah been to that's that's totally beyond imagination of life for name is like compared to so like we have here in the west it's even Like we have a lot of commentators and people arguing the furs and against and the the rights and the wrongs about what's happening out there. It's impossible for us to understand though, isn't it really? like a whatever We don't know what it's like to endure either side of that problem. like
Generational Conflicts and Historical Contexts
01:30:36
philosophecker
We don't know what it's like to be a Palestinian who had lived
01:30:42
philosophecker
under that kind of surveillance for so long and not being able to walk and and ah and having to go through checkpoints. I was an Israel in my 10 million, but not as a Legionnaire. Just before you get your facial discharged, they give you six weeks leave.
01:31:10
philosophecker
and I'm guessing the big idea on the letters gives you time to prepare your future.
01:31:23
philosophecker
And for me, that was six weeks holiday time. So Hari was in Egypt. Okay, your brother Hari. Yeah. And no more both homes back then. So Dweebo's work was he's bringing home to my dad. They have a message. And I got message that way.
01:31:56
philosophecker
So I went to Israel um or race to meetton and a lot is on the border between between the two. And after a couple of days still no sign of Harry. So I'll bring him back to the father.
01:32:22
philosophecker
and eventually finally he'll be ready shortly and then Harry turned off and we had a great time in Israel Drove around for three weeks didn't didn't have contact contact at all really with the Israelis The only of crack we had for locals to work with local Arabs and the thought really hit me that visually there was no difference between an Arab and an Israeli. It's like a
01:33:16
philosophecker
a French man going to Belfast, who's Catholic, who's Protestant, you all look the same. ila this know you um And Israel, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.
01:33:37
philosophecker
the amount of guns, weaponry, everybody and yeah looking around and to rent a car we had Israeli police and on our way to Jerusalem before And the heartache tour took a long time. Some kind of scenario like that. And we drove through.
01:34:10
philosophecker
I'm not sure if it was Hebron. Yeah. Yeah, ah on a area. And there was no outwards.
01:34:27
philosophecker
outdoor violence or anything towards us. We could just feel the hateful stares.
01:34:38
philosophecker
I had to work hard for this Israeli police. And we just knew not to stop, keep going. And it was then that they really had to be like, hmm, those are our thoughts to this that we don't know. But there is this, But now but yeah, even
01:35:05
philosophecker
Yeah, like um but on both sides of that war, there's a lot of trauma and a lot of damaged people coming out of it. And then you're going to have generational trauma and generational hatred, which is already it's already well established in a place like like Israel, Gaza, areas. And Ireland went through that as well with our own civil war and our own war for sovereignty.
01:35:35
philosophecker
But I think the Irish-English generational hatred has died down an incredible amount. And I think the peace process in Ireland, it is a good example to hold up to places that are going through ethnic and religious conflicts.
01:35:51
philosophecker
But then you think of the generational hate that's been created in Ukraine and Russia now. And they're two very similar peoples to differences in language, but they do have, they're genetically very similar, you know, down through the years. ah But i I worry about this generational hate. You worry about what's happening now.
01:36:16
philosophecker
But all the people that are being killed now, on both sides, the Israelis, the the hostages, the thousands of Palestinians that are being killed. It's the hate of the people that's left behind, the stories they will tell to the next generations that will be more full of hate. This is what i I'm more worried about the future than I am about the present, if you understand me, because of these things.
01:36:43
philosophecker
but Yeah so so so I do wonder if you've seen a lot of that on your travels I guess i guess that was one example just being Israeli car you felt it That heat goes back thousands of years it's all Saul documented the the Quran soon, and to say that there aren't that Irish-English complex, it lasted hundreds of years, but they are
01:37:30
philosophecker
that's come back thousands of years so it's going to be a hell of a long longer he even if it turns kidori just just like that you'd be talking hundreds of years for it to resolve me out yeah no that's uh that's definitely true and again you'd wonder is there Like Russia, Ukraine, is this the start of a thousand year hatred or a thousand year, you know, because it wasn't really there as much beforehand. Yeah, we just seen the birth of another kind of Israel Palestine problem. or like that that Like you said, the thousands of years of conflict that's gone on between the Jewish and the Christians and the Muslims in that part of the world.
01:38:23
philosophecker
the conflict the conflicts of the Nazis, Blythe and Léofey saw these real, as really, yoll do you share one, but both, would the world are assuming conflicts. That did come to, not not to spoil,
01:38:52
philosophecker
close to the world when Stalin ruined ruin lu wounded the place. ah He caused the death of millions. So yeah, I think but but beanddo tom forgen that was ah that was the the Russian famine. And I guess Ukraine was still the breadbasket that time, but they were bringing all the food back to Moscow, the center.
01:39:21
philosophecker
Oh yeah, so there would have been a lot of hatred boiled off from them as well from the guy. And the food tube was being brought back. It was being brought back to finance how to the of sound and supply bill plan.
01:39:49
philosophecker
Yeah, I guess the they all go back a bit, all these conflicts, don't they? love
Commandos and Surprising Deployments
01:39:57
philosophecker
The most eventful or surprising tour was to RCE. That's the Republic of Central Africa.
01:40:16
philosophecker
I just joined the commandos at the time, and previous to my arrival, the commandos were largely captain in Nancourt-Gopat, they'd be on French territory. So basically, we were captain French just in case they were needed.
01:40:44
philosophecker
so that didn't get too too and when you too too afraid of your weight you do it they would pin him on double okay so so to kill your wife it wasn't a good move to go to the pandas in terms of promotion potential but but financially it was definitely not a good move and my rank when you joined the commando was at the corporal and you'd be treated as if you were a sergeant
01:41:38
philosophecker
but budge you you went into ti tall to to end to go in expenses. So say you're traveling and um so you're very glad. Well, you got a ferry from from Karst to go to the mainland.
01:42:02
philosophecker
that is used for being embarrassed but they could claim the expense back but a couple who'd be obliged to stay embarrassed wouldn't be eligible for compensation so on until you attained the rank of of an issue or your <unk>f Stuffs in all the cash for expensive that were never going to be your fate.
Injuries and Recovery Reflections
01:42:41
philosophecker
But then when are your I arrived, happy days just started going overseas. And the the first one that came up was to to Gabon. But one when I went
01:43:00
philosophecker
got his commandos. I cucked up like a total jackass when the first two jumps of a maneuver and I i broke ah but my hands on the second jump. And that's when I encountered an angel.
01:43:27
philosophecker
okay
01:43:29
philosophecker
immediately after the jump the medic in the unit said your hand pastored so i was sent to a hospital and the hots will la hospital accredited and confirmed it was pastored both said and you'll have to go to and mill the military hospital in Marcy for an operation tomorrow.
01:44:02
philosophecker
So to that night I stayed where we were while the unit went off. and an issue really and yeah character Karl Po, he was with me, it was me, I'm me so to speak and the two were the word and pub and next thing on the big tv screen up and all that song came on and I was
01:44:41
philosophecker
Totally speechless. There was this angel up in the screen. Never seen her before. Had no idea who she was. Yeah, she had a skinhead. Okay. She had a gunner. Yeah. Really? And she was singing that song.
01:45:06
philosophecker
you know the one nothing compares yeah yeah the one where she got Prince Prince and when he he met her once raised and they couldn't pronounce her name so she was yeah my name she need pants so i i think she need the color the most beautiful woman not a sexual man about beautiful most beautiful woman if i was her
01:45:47
philosophecker
think about an angel in the human form, it would be Sinead O'Connor of mind-blowing. And you saying you saw her in the Central Republic of Africa until it came to mind? No, no, it's O'Hara in... Oh, Marcea, no. Yeah, and while it's O'Hara, it was Priya, can't live in a member, the hearing in the South of France, so I had the opportunity in military hospital and when we got back to the camp the hand was in the plaster and the unit was going to Gabon and they were all smiling at me saying
01:46:34
philosophecker
You freakin' tosser. You're staying here. So the boys will end up to cap on. I felt like a total tosser. In fact, I want to tosser. I completely bowl.
01:46:51
philosophecker
But then, there was a company in the parliament. The individuals are C-E-A-C-U-R, a company declared, and there would be a heavy duty company, combat boss.
01:47:16
philosophecker
mortars one section mortars one section anti-aircraft guns so kind of it itinerary units yeah and one section don't even know the technology still relevant but it was called Milan it was a missile system anti-tank missile system
01:47:46
philosophecker
And the commando unit was part of the company. So when with the company was sent to Central Africa and the commando unit got to go with them. But through him when we were in base.
01:48:05
philosophecker
<unk> The minimum rank was purple and it was only under that lot of myself as corporals and all the others were senior rankers. Then it goes to when we really knew what to do with those. It was a fairly boring tour. um Well, intense how Africa was boring. Other than pick up to do a lot of free falling. I was told to blast. And we did a walk through the jungle. It was, I think it was five or six days. And ah they had you heard of the durian fruit? Durian fruit, no.
01:48:58
philosophecker
doing footage with like a delicacy but then the pong of letters stinks for a big time. You get them in the States, you probably get them in Ireland where about one-on-one they're imported And to this day they have to be frozen so that there's no pong. And I never heard of them. We've been given no training on what to expect as we crossed the jungle and there was one pint. There was
01:49:49
philosophecker
There was four of us in the team I was in, team of four, and we're going through this particularly thick part of the jungle vegetation. And there was this horrendous tongue, it smelled evil. And are we running?
01:50:16
philosophecker
Smelled evil. So, we crossed the and looking thing on on the floor, on the jungle floor. um We all sat round and no one commented on us. It was up under a year later.
01:50:43
philosophecker
It was an override to the food that had split open.
01:50:50
philosophecker
We finished our walk. Picked up by a helicopter in a village. It was picked up in the village. And I always remember there was an unknown in the village.
01:51:10
philosophecker
told us right to see you so we pick up back to camp next thing the rumor went round and I think we're going to ruendo and left the parties where the fuck is ruendo which was not far away and we've been told there was trouble happening And we were at the above, all getting armed up, waiting for the signal that we were going. And as we flew in, the adrenaline in the plane was so thick, you could cop it with the knife. and and had just Had any in this plane scene action like been dropped into action before? Was this your first time you thought, okay, we're going in?
01:52:09
philosophecker
Yeah, that was, I never mean to action before. Okay. We are acting only, only maneuvers. Yeah. So we were flying in and everyone's wondering, I don't know, just parachutors in a low level would be safer than landing like a, like the stock on the new field.
Evacuations and Western Priorities
01:52:37
philosophecker
But when we landed, it was safe.
01:52:42
philosophecker
The 12th later on, Shenan again, but job was to gather up the Europeans and evacuate them. Once that was done, we soon abruptly followed.
01:53:02
philosophecker
And that's when the pen really dropped when we left.
01:53:08
philosophecker
What penny? What penny dropped? I thought the West doesn't really give a shit about Africa. No. So you were there, Jesus, that must have been, that must have been really hard being that you were on the you you were the tip of the spear for this western whatever we are at this western government world you were the tip of the spear so when you went in you just got the Europeans out yeah and so when you were leaving that place where you look looking behind thinking should I've been trained to help and save people there's loads of people back there but they're taking us out of here did like did you want to stay there to help
01:53:50
philosophecker
nor Not much we wanted to see and help our job was done, but we we knew that yeah then things weren't right. It needed a presence to rectify things. A bit of luck, you know, got out of it. The sugar mountain that made him break loose.
01:54:17
philosophecker
Ok, you could argue all they had pulled the guns on that, And after, almost immediately after the window, Chad blew up. And a new new guy came to power in Chad, and he told the French on the hands to get the hell out. The problem with that was all these shouting prisoners or all these leaping prisoners.
01:55:02
philosophecker
After the French and the Americans suddenly left, these living prisoners who would be executed. So these are the same guys who the the fellows in the Toyota Hilux had run rings around and brought back and given to the CIA. So they've collected a load of prisoners, given them to the CIA or the Western forces. And whatever they were doing, at least they were keeping them alive. But when you got pulled out, if they were handed back to the Chadeans, they were just going to be executed. The story.
01:55:37
philosophecker
yeah could have been wrong but the story I got was that these Libyan prisoners were being handed over with the aim of making an army out of them that would be inserted back into Libya too.
01:55:57
philosophecker
over to get happy. Oh, so the country's kind of thing going on there. Yeah. on We were there for wasn't that long, but remember thing at the airport, guys had been manning the route from good the base where these prisoners were kept and brought them to the airport.
01:56:26
philosophecker
and I chose to remember that this American star lifter flying in and the star lifter it looks like a big hornet in this distance the soft wings and it comes in towards the runway and you're wondering What the hell is this? And next thing, the degree of RAM went down few hundred dudes got on the plane and ultimately came with them, I don't know. Wow. Yeah, it was says it.
01:57:14
philosophecker
I suppose that that's probably must be part of being in the military and especially in operations like that. where You see things going on. You don't know what it is. You never know because you're never supposed to know, but you know there's some nefarious shit going on behind the scenes. So to all at the time our boss told us
01:57:37
philosophecker
Silence, not the words. That was I think it was 1991.
01:57:54
philosophecker
Could be 1990. 1-1-2-2. Yeah. So I think after over 30 years, and it's okay to mention that. obviously footno Oh, absolutely. and I'd hope these things can be talked about and mentioned now. Yeah, Liam, it's been another very interesting conversation and I'm sad we're running out of time. I feel like we're getting to some good stuff, but who knows? We might do a fourth.
01:58:27
philosophecker
We'll see how it goes with that. I really appreciate your time. I really appreciate you going on to talk. Is there anything, okay, I'm gonna, I have a two-sided question here. Is there anything from your time in the military, an insight, a bit of wisdom that you'd like to tell the listeners? And plus, is there anything from the perspective of a civilian that you'd like to say back to the military. Do you know that? Do you know what I'm saying? Is there anything from the civilian side that you'd like to say? Here's some wisdom that you guys are missing.
Philosophical Insights and Military Reflections
01:59:07
philosophecker
Who got the first one first?
01:59:10
philosophecker
The first question in the military alarm thought Life is not what we think. The world is not what we think. Reality is not what we think.
01:59:27
philosophecker
The simple example I can give to not not only support that but to prove it is vision. For good vision we need daylight.
01:59:42
philosophecker
yeah but what they liked the farthest we can see is the sun a few million miles away total darkness while you can't even see your hands at the weather conditions are right and you hold that hand in front of your face and just peer over the hand and you can see the stars millions and millions and millions a week okay and the second question come from the civilian aspect looking back at the military you could argue
02:00:37
philosophecker
that the military life is unnecessary, but there is only unnecessary and a fully evolved human world where everybody is full of love. Okay, I get you.
02:01:01
philosophecker
So ideally ideally the military shouldn't exist. But unfortunately we will live in a world where it does. But I suppose the goal is to live in a world where it doesn't need. Love it. Thank you very much, Liam. And I know you're into sun gazing. That's another thing I'd love to spend an hour talking to you with.
02:01:22
philosophecker
um in front of the microphone. So hopefully we'll do that sometime in the future. oh do Okay, line thanks a lot again for coming. Cheers. Cheers. Listeners. Thank you for listening. Remember talking is thinking. So keep on talking.