Alex Rowe (soldier)
Chief Adjutant (French:Adjudant-Chef) Alex Rowe (born 11 November 1966 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British member of the French Foreign Legion, one of the most decorated members of the Legion and the first British legionnaire to be invested into the Légion d'honneur, France's highest order of merit. Born and raised in England, he was unable to join the British Army at age 17 on medical grounds, and instead elected to join the Foreign Legion at age 20. After 23 years service, Rowe reached the second highest level of rank among the corps of non-commissioned officers in the French Army, and had been awarded five citations for acts of bravery in operational theatres around the world, culminating in 2009 with the Légion d'honneur for a second tour of Afghanistan. Early life Alex Rowe and his twin brother, Mark, were born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 11 November 1966. He was raised in Gloucestershire, living in Stonehouse near Stroud, attending Maidenhill School in Stonehouse. As a teenager he joined the Stroud Army Cadets, and held a long-standing ambition to join the armed forces. Aged 17, Alex applied with his brother Mark to join the British Army. Mark was successful but Alex, having already been accepted by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was rejected on medical grounds, due to an eye condition. He had suffered a detached retina which was operated on when he was 13. Following his rejection by the British Army, Rowe contemplated running away to the French Foreign Legion at age 18, but was persuaded not to by his mother. At age 19 he was also declined by the police force due to his eye condition. For a time before joining the Legion, Rowe ran a pub in Stroud. Military career In 1987, shortly before his 21st birthday, and this time with his mother's agreement, Rowe travelled to Marseilles and signed up for the Legion. Having just a rudimentary knowledge of the French language, Rowe was required to learn on the job during basic training, during which the speaking of other languages is not permitted under pain of a "clip round the ear". Despite his eye condition, after passing basic training he was then trained as a sniper, becoming a top marksman. Rowe went on to see action in Bosnia, Kosovo, central Africa, the Ivory Coast and Afghanistan. Following service in Chad, Rowe was deployed as part of the United Nations Protection Force keeping open a corridor out of Sarajevo during the 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia. Rowe was deployed to the Ivory Coast in 2003. Around that time the region was experiencing the Ivorian Civil War, leading to the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire mission. Rowe was deployed on his first tour to Afghanistan in 2008, as part of the International Security Assistance Force, serving with an Afghan battalion that sustained heavy casualties. In his second tour of Afghanistan in 2009, Rowe was part of a 700 strong Legion force under Colonel Benoît Durieux, based in Surobi, east