The French Foreign Legion (French: Légion étrangère, L.E.) is a military service wing of the French Army established in 1831, unique because it was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. Commanded by French officers, it is also open to French citizens, who amounted to 24% of the recruits as of 2007.
The Foreign Legion is today known as an elite unit whose training focuses not only on traditional military skills but also on its strong esprit de corps. As its men come from different countries with different cultures, this is a way to strengthen them enough to work as a team. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also very stressful psychologically. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is now being instructed in the legion. Many Brazilian BJJ players are legionnaires and have been instructing the art for the past years. BJJ Eastern Europe sat down with BJJ black belt Leopoldo Dos Passos, Legion BJJ instructor: 

Hi Leopoldo, please introduce yourself to the BJJ community of Central-Eastern Europe:

My name is legionaire Leopoldo dos Passos, 31 years old, half of my life dedicated to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
I was born in Brazil, the land of football, but my real passion I only discovered at 15 years of age: Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It was with the AOA team, of Professor Herman Gutierrez, I started in this martial art.
Today, I have a black belt obtained by following the footsteps of my teacher Gustavo Henrique, from Alliance Jiu-Jitsu / Donostia, currently in Macéio, Brazil.
In deciding to leave Brazil to go to Europe, I stayed in Germany, Italy and Spain.
After seeing these countries, I engaged in the French army, serving France under the green and red flag of the legendary French Foreign Legion.

How did you go about teaching BJJ in the French Foreign Legion:

I wanted to go from fighting on the mat to fighting on enemy territory.
The Foreign Legion welcomed me to make me a fighter worthy of the name Legionnaire, and I saw that I could offer more to the Foreign Legion … That’s when I offered my skills as a teacher of Brazilian jiu-jitsu – and I realized that having learned the “art of war” in the Legion, that I could teach “gentle art ” to Legionnaires.
Since my arrival in my regiment in Saint-Christol d’Albion, I took over regular training at night, according to my availability. I struggled with how to bring together the largest number of followers of other disciplines by promoting the Brazilian jiu-jitsu as I knew it. The modest dojo was filled with wrestlers, judokas and sambo fighters. Besides those of MMA, boxing, Thai boxing, karate, etc …
Thanks to the confidence, goodwill and sportsmanship of the Llegionnaires, Brazilian jiu-jitsu has become accepted and practiced by the officers, NCOs and other ranks. This is a bigger challenge than I conducted in order to integrate the family spirit among practitioners. As we often say at the Legion: “The Legion is a big family” – I saw this family extended to Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the Legion too.
Such success has surprised me. But that was the goal!
Throughout the Legion, we can count about a dozen officers in each belt-knowing that Legionnaires come and go in the institution constantly, always carrying a variable number. But the white belts are really a “legion” …

What are the recent events that you have planned?

On June 15, 2013, I organized the first seminar of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, in Marseille. For this occasion, I took advantage of the arrival of my teacher Gustavo Henrique, who has been in Spain, and I called the Legionaries of 1 ° Régiment Etranger, in Aubagne, and the 2nd Regiment Etranger Engineering in Saint-Christol d’Albion. This course was to discover the different practice and the true nature of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the flexibility of the art, all the mastery of the human being and the family spirit in our team. Some elected officials have come to know this art from Brazil.

What’s next?

My next goal is to make the first tournament of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the Foreign Legion. Probably in January 2014, following a technical course, the Legion regiments will meet on the mat in a friendly and competitive spirit. I rely on my superiors to lead this event.
to be honest, it is not easy to reconcile the life of a sportsman with the hard life of a soldier, much less when the soldier belongs at the top of the elite. Whether it’s in French territory on overseas peacekeeping mission, by parading to the Champs Elysées, the Legion always represents!
It is with all my jiu-jitsukas Legionnaires that we prove that the art of war and gentle art can walk together.
I thank God for giving me everything I have in my life, the Foreign Legion to welcome me under his flag, my teacher Gustavo Henrique for showing me the way, my superiors and fellow legionnaires who train, my family and my friends. OSS!