Since November 2023, the Képi Blanc Magazine, a monthly journal of the famous French Foreign Legion, has been available also in the digital version! For those interested, below are instructions on how to order the digital (online) version of this magazine.
The Képi Blanc, named after the well-known cap of the legionnaires (White képi in English), has been published since 1947. It brings the news from the Legion and presents a comprehensive picture of the activities in the regiments (training, operations), as well as the history of the institution. It is distributed for free among all legionnaires to maintain cohesion and the bond of one family.
As for former legionnaires or the friends of the Foreign Legion, they have been allowed to buy a yearly subscription from the early years of the journal. This subscription means also an expression of Legion solidarity. In fact, the revenues contribute directly to the funds needed to finance and improve the living conditions of the disabled, wounded and veterans of the Legion, as well as the widows and orphans of the killed legionnaires.
If you would like to support the Legion and its social work in another way, you may subscribe to the Képi Blanc Magazine, now in digital format. It costs €35.00 (EUR) per year, which means around $37.35 (USD) or £30.55 (GBP) today, on November 10, 2023. You should get eleven KB issues for that price (already for decades, there has been a summer double issue). Here are instructions.
1. Go to Foyer d’Entraide de la Légion Etrangère.
This is an official website of the Foreign Legion Mutual Aid Foyer (FELE), a public institution run under the COMLE, which provides material and financial aid and manages fund-raising campaigns in support of the disabled, wounded, and veterans of the Legion. The link takes you to the Képi Blanc Magazine page on their web.
2. On the page, click ABONNEMENT (Subscription) or S’ABBONER (Subscribe), both buttons will navigate you to the same SUBSCRIPTION page.
(Enlarge the image by clicking on it.)
3. On the SUBSCRIPTION page, check the “Digital only” (Digital uniquement) box. Next, you may (but do not have to) make a donation, by clicking one of the pre-selected buttons. The chosen donation will be added to the subscription amount. Next to the “MY SUBSCRIPTION” box, there is the “PAYMENT METHOD” (Choix du mode de paiement) box. Here you may choose payment by a) Bank card (carte bancaire), b) Paypal, c) Bank transfer (virement bancaire), d) Check/cheque. I recommend one of the first two options. Then check that you accept the Terms and conditions (Conditions générales), and don’t click anything else.
4. Below the MAKE A DONATION option, you will see MY DETAILS box, with the “New Account” (Nouveau compte) red button already checked. If you are not a woman, leave the pre-selected Mr., and fill in your name and surname. Thereafter, don’t forget to check the “Create an Account” (Créé un compte) box so that the “Password” (Mot de passe) fields appear. Choose your password, repeat it, and then fill in the other relevant details. Because you order the digital subscription only, you don’t need to check the “Different billing address” box to fill a new address, different from your shipping one.
5. Now you may return to the “PAYMENT METHOD” (Choix du mode de paiement) box and finally click either the “Confirm my subscription” button or the “Paypal” button, depending on your choice of payment method. I myself have used the Paypal, which was quite simple to complete the transaction. Paying by the bank card is also easy to use, because the application is in English by default. Again, I recommend one of these two options. For the other than the Bank card or PayPal payment methods, I can’t provide any help, sorry.
6. After having successfully completed the transaction, you will receive a confirmation email to your given email address account, with the subscription period mentioned (you will notice that it is for eleven months only), with your given details, and the invoice attached.
7. Go back to the Foyer d’Entraide de la Légion Etrangère website, this time the link takes you directly to the Homepage. Look after the “Member Account” (Espace membre) button. If you decided to return to the initial link provided under Point 2, no problem. Look after the same button.
8. Click the “Member Account” (Espace membre) button. You will be taken to the Login Form page. Enter your email and password, and click the “Log in” (Se connecter) button.
9. In your “Member Account”, choose and click the “My Kepi Blanc Magazines” (Mes magazines Képi blanc) button.
10. In the “My Kepi Blanc Magazines” section, you will see your online Kepi Blanc issues. Click a chosen issue to enlarge it.
11. The chosen Kepi Blanc issue will be open in a simple, easy-to-use viewer. Although the issue can’t be downloaded and the resolution of photos could have been better (you may notice the images’ lower quality when you click “zoom in”), yet it is a useful, practical alternative to the paper edition.
12. After having read the magazine, close the viewer, and click the “Back to My Account” (Revenir sur mon compte) button as shown at Point 10. Then click the “Log Out” (Déconnexion) white button for logging out from your account, as shown at Point 9. And that’s all.
I hope that these instructions were helpful for you to support a good cause, and that you will enjoy your first online Képi Blanc magazine 🙂
PS: Note that any of the links provided in the article IS NOT an affiliate link to receive a profit.
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