Since 1831, when it was founded, the French Foreign Legion has intrigued people all around the world. The heroism and endurance of the legionnaires has become a byword. Surely all of us can learn some powerful motivational lessons from these men. This article is based mainly on a recent conversation with one of them

A week or so after posting my article on 'Motivation In The Legion' on my website, I was honoured to receive an email from someone who has actually been a legionnaire. I was also pleased to find out that he liked the article.

I was even more pleased to discover that he was none other than Sgt. Glenn Ferguson who played a major role in the Channel 4 TV series about 12 volunteers who bravely or foolishly volunteered to undergo a month's basic training in the North African desert in the style suffered by the great majority of legionnaires.

We talked later on the phone for about an hour about the program and Sgt. Glenn Ferguson's own experiences both in the Legion and in the US army AIRBORNE Brigade Recon Team. I learned a lot about what motivates the Legion and the Legionnaires.

Sgt. Glenn Ferguson comes from Atlanta, Georgia in the USA but currently lives in France with his French wife and seven children. He is still only 37.

I asked him what had motivated him to join the Legion at the age of 19. He was not sure what to do at the time and was young and inexperienced (I think he said 'stupid')! He had heard the great stories of the Legion and had decided to go for it.

When I asked him what motivated him after he had joined the Legion, he replied instantly: 'Fear'. I imagine that was not fear of the enemy but fear of the savage methods used by the Legion to discipline the often rebellious foreigners who joined their ranks.

Higher ranks in the legion were allowed to beat up lower ranks who showed a bad attitude. Most other armies do not allow this. The higher ranks can also use some painful drills and punishments in order to make recruits ready to accept discipline.

Interestingly, Sgt. Glenn Ferguson noticed that the men who spent most time in military prison for having a rebellious and arrogant attitude were British. However,he pointed out that not all the Brits in the Legion were bad and that he served with some great individuals who he would go to war with any time.

One British member of the training staff was Corporal Richard Sutter who had been in the Legion from 1990 to 1995.

At one point in the program, a volunteer challenged the Corporal to do the drill he was demanding that they do. Although I am sure the Corporal could easily have done the drill, he refused and pointed out that he had already paid his dues.

Experienced legionnaires have already been through hell once. No one has the right to ask them to go through it again. Sgt. Glenn Ferguson totally supported Corporal Richard Sutter in this view.

Another factor that motivated Sgt. Glenn Ferguson in the Legion was the fact that he hated to fail. All elite groups have a huge pride in the standards they achieve. They do not want people who only have a half hearted attitude to join them. A key saying that the Sergeant sent me by email was:

"If you didn