Been a long, long, long time since the fabled French Foreign Legion saw action. At one time they were some very elite troops. Wearing the Képi blanc was a source of pride for many.
Kind of cool hearing a name from the past back in action. The Legionnaires. Even Cecil wrote about them.
Actually the Legion was in Desert Storm as part of ground offensive, in the Balkans, and have been and as late as last year were still in the fight in Afghanistan; plus they have conducted various and sundry interventions in Central Africa for decades. So it’s not like they have been sitting idle, they serve the role of the French military’s quick-reaction force.
The Legion just doesn’t get the press it used to. I had to google to confirm that France included the Legion forces in its Mali engagement.
There were lots of films that glorified the Foreign Legion. I used to pretend that I was one of them in my neighborhood war games. 
*Beau Geste *with Gary Cooper had me dreaming of joining the Legion.
I recall them being on that Deadliest Warrior show, matched against somebody like the Texas Rangers or the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz