In the Foreign Legion ..
... discipline is strict and punishment swift, though the days are past when an officer might run his saber through a Legionnaire's chest for murmuring in the ranks, or a drill sergeant punch out a recruit for neglecting to shave. "It's tough, but not in a stupid or brutal way," Alex Lochrie, retired Scottish Legion veteran and author of the recent Fighting for the French Foreign Legion, told me. "Legionnaires are hardened during training so they don't suddenly find themselves disoriented in combat conditions like forces that rely heavily on reservists. The result is that only a small number of them suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder."
