The Monastery of the Damned

From the Ivy League to the French Foreign Legion

Most men fantasize about military life and action. Few ever serve. Even fewer succeed in joining elite combat units. In a world of roughly four billion men, only a few thousand each year dare to take the ultimate leap of faith by joining the most renowned and mysterious military fighting force in the world, the French Foreign Legion. In the attempt to forge himself into a “Renaissance man,” Nicholas Tobias—a young scholar with a promising future at the Anglo-Saxon Academy, a recent convert to Roman Catholicism, and decidedly tall, dark, and melancholy— instead leaves behind his studies in Renaissance history at Princeton to enlist in the French Foreign Legion. This is the story of his journey with the Foreign Legion, sometimes referred to as the “The Monastery of the Damned.” 

From his initial days in the French Foreign Legion to his premature honourable discharge twenty months later, Nicholas encounters a series of people, places, and events that profoundly challenge and reshape his worldviews shaped by his upbringing in suburban United States and later at prestigious universities across the US and Europe. This is the story of a young man forever changed not only by the lessons and hardships of life as a legionnaire, but also by his service alongside fellow legionnaires. Originating from over 140 countries, these soldiers collectively form one of the most nationally and culturally diverse organizations in the world. 

Deployed to Afghanistan in summer 2009 as part of a French task force, Nicholas steps foot into his first “war zone” with fellow legionnaires. During his six months of operations across various regions of Afghanistan, including in and around Kabul, the realities of modern conflict clash with Nicholas’ romanticized notions of soldiering, warfare, and adventure. 

This is the story of a young man as he struggles to reconcile such realities with his unyielding appetite for adventure, endurance, and service. This is the story of a young man who dared— to join the French Foreign Legion.