The Spanish Legion (La Legión Española) is a military unit of the Spanish Army . Formerly known as the Spanish Foreign Legion (Legión Extranjera Española), it was originally intended as a Spanish equivalent to the French Foreign Legion.
History
The Spanish Foreign Legion was formed by royal decree of King Alfonso XIII on January 28, 1920 with Minister of War José Villalba stating, "With the designation of `Tercio de Extranjeros’ (Regiment of Foreigners) there will be created an armed military unit, whose recruits, uniform and regulations by which they should be governed will be set by the minister of war."
On September 2 of that same year, King Alfonso XIII conferred command of the regiment to Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry José Millán Astray , chief proponent of the regiment and whose style and mythos would be imbued into the unit.
The initial make-up of the regiment was that of a headquarters unit and three battalions (known as Banderas or flags). Each battalion was in turn made up of a headquarters company, two rifle companies and a machine gun company. The regiment’s initial installation was at the Cuartel del Rey en Ceuta on the Plaza de Colon.
Francisco Franco was one of the founding members of the Legion and the unit's second-in-command. The Legion fought in Morocco in the War of the Rif, helped put down a workers revolt in Asturias in 1934 and, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yague, played an important part in the Spanish Civil War on the Nationalist side.
Through the course of the Legion's history Spaniards have made up the majority of its members, with foreigners accounting for 25 percent or less. After 1987 it stopped accepting foreigners altogether and changed its name to the Spanish Legion.
Present
The Spanish Legion nowadays is mostly used in NATO peacekeeping missions. It currently numbers 8 000 in four tercios regiments. It is directly controlled by the Spanish General Staff.
The Spanish Legion today is not for the weak. Training is still brutal with punishment, usually being a severe beating from NCOs who run training.
The BOEL , as they are known as, is the Spanish Legion "Special" unit. The Battalion consists of about 500 men. They are trained in several different areas:
- SCUBA/Maritime Warfare
- Arctic and Mountain Warfare
- Sabotage and Demolitions (BOEL Demo experts are very highly regarded)
- Parachute and HALO techniques
- Long Range Reconnaissance
- Counter-terrorism and CQB
- Vehicle insertion
- Sniping
- SERE
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