Reply #59: The French Foreign Legion is not all that foreign

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

The original appeal of the Legion in the old days was the fact they accepted everyone, even those with criminal records or even prosecutions pending against them in foreign countries. After the Russian Revolution, many Russians volunteered and after WWII a lot of ex-German soldiers joined. But I think that generally the majority of enlistees in the French Foreign Legion have been French citizens. The Spanish had a similar elite corps called "La Bandera", fighting in the Spanish colonies in North Africa.

But I would be curious to know how many US soldiers dying in Iraq are actually foreign citizens. Anyone know where this information can be obtained? I think that it would be interesting to find out if the number of US alien soldiers grows in the coming years.