One of Liam Cullinane’s toughest tests after joining the French Foreign Legion in 1985 was a gruelling night march near Marseille. Cullinane had been demobilised from the French Foreign Legion and led a carefree, peripatetic year, enjoying a physical, outdoorsy life. From the age of 15, his only ambition was to join the French Foreign Legion. Liam Cullinane joined the French Foreign at age 18He was to stay with “the Legion” for seven years as an elite soldier, as a mountaineer and a paratrooper with the Special Forces skydiving section. “I lived one life until I was 26 years and then life changed.

Source: The Irish Times January 11, 2026 12:01 UTC