@Chris:
But it's the French Foreign Legion. By definition, they aren't French.
Silly Belgian.
Well, actually, most of the Legionaire are actually French, and you can notice that if there is so much Belgian, Swiss and Canadian legionnaire, it's because lot of them are French under fake identity from french speaking country.
@mclaincausey:
The first clue that they aren't French is that they are soldiers.
Oh yes. Just like the +1,300,000 soldiers who died in the trench during WWI, the +371,000 who died during the Napoleonic wars, or the 88 who died in Afghanistan, the +10,000 which are right now deployed in Mali, CAR, Niger, Chad and Mauritania fighting terrorism. They aren't soldiers.
And no, Palladium boots are no longer part of the standard legion uniform since the 60's. They were designed as off-duty boots in former french north african colonial empire conditions, but have nothing to compare with modern combat boots.