Well, howdy there internet people, it's Boa Gown. So tonight we're going to talk about what the state of California can learn from the French Foreign Legion.

The Foreign Legion has a mythology all of its own and it has an image in popular culture.

Thing is it's been around for centuries.

Centuries.

It is said that when a man leaves the Legion, he's a new man.

That is quite literally true.

In fact, before he leaves, because he has a new name

and a clean slate, a second chance.

Most Americans are familiar with the Legion through bad movies,

or maybe from Gen-Bien-Fu.

The idea of the ideal legionaire is that he is never a criminal but seldom an angel.

Reality a lot of them are criminals, but they put their lives on the line and it changes them. Doesn't just

change their name. It has anything. When you face danger like that, it changes you.

Gien-Bien-Fu, for example, was a just vicious battle in what became Vietnam.

It marked the end of French involvement

and set the stage for American involvement in Vietnam.

The battle was lost because the French believed the Vietnamese did not have anti-aircraft.

And they did that was a pretty

catastrophic failure of assessment right there. But the point is these men who have this image of these hardened

killers, these people that are just criminals.

They walk out with a clean slate.

The Legion has existed for centuries.

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