By Louis Perez y Cid
“Daddy, Why Are You Leaving?” is a children’s book written by a young author. It has its rightful place on our site primarily because its story is deeply intertwined with our own.
Its author, Marion Maloigne, is a fellow service member of the French Air Force. Like so many service members, she had to deploy, leaving behind what she held most dear: her family. As a mother, she experienced the separation not only with her adult heart, but also through the eyes of her child.
From this ordeal, a certainty emerged. By blending her own experience with her passion for literature, she chose to write for children. For those who are waiting. For those who feel the absence without always being able to name it. For our children.

“Every day, hundreds of men and women are sent far from home. Of course, we think of them and support them, but what about those who stay behind? What about those little ones who suffer in silence?

As a mother, I saw the terrible sadness in my little boy’s eyes. What a heartbreaking ordeal for a parent to witness this powerful rift taking root in the hearts of our children. I couldn’t leave my son in such a heavy sorrow, and it’s thanks to these kinds of little stories that I was able to help him heal.”
Marion Maloigne Read more...

Unlike many politicians, our friend Christian keeps his promises. The second post on comics is still fresh off the press. He doesn't do this half-heartedly; there are no half measures. You can tell he's a comic book addict; he knows his stuff… Many years ago, he took me through the streets of Aix-en-Provence to show me a bookstore specializing in them. He probably doesn't remember it anymore, but I remember it very well, so astonished was I by the owners' passion for the world of comics, as if surprised by the glee in Christian's eyes. These comics aren't for kids; they're very adult and very serious.
I humbly confess that I never thought I could elevate my mind to such a degree—like on Jacob's Ladder, which he mentions—thanks to comics. But come to think of it… who knows!
Today he's talking about Calvin, complete with his tiger and his famous box. He feels literally hypnotized by the box's contents. As he himself says, it's a veritable Pandora's box where you find everything that can affect us in life.
A marvelous world where you can dive headfirst without being mistaken for an old man having a midlife crisis.
Our friend Christian has more in store for us…
Antoine Marquet.

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Published in 2006, this book by Étienne de Montety, then deputy editor of Figaro Magazine, is the result of three years of research with former members of the French Foreign Legion. Through thirteen unique stories, it recounts the rupture, the ordeal, and the rebuilding. Often from elsewhere, these men remind us that nothing is ever truly over.
In this Christmas season, conducive to reflection, it seemed fitting to evoke one of them, whose journey is profoundly human: Father Jorge Saavedra.

In this article, Christian recounts with simplicity his encounter with this discreet man, whose spiritual path, shaped by trials and decisive encounters, finds its light at the very heart of the French Foreign Legion.

Louis Perez y Cid

Collected by Christian Morisot
As Director of the Foreign Legion Veterans' Home, I found myself in a very delicate situation: I had no priest to officiate at the funeral of one of our residents who had recently passed away.
From memory, I knew that a priest, a former legionnaire, was in Aix-en-Provence. It was noted that he was a very discreet man who lived in a small attic apartment near the cathedral.
Thus, responding to my request, I met Father Jorge Saavedra, who agreed to celebrate this religious tribute to our veteran in the Institution's chapel.
Afterwards, the opportunity arose to get to know each other better. Read more...

Some books are disturbing because they hit the nail on the head. The Camp of the Saints is one of them. For over fifty years, Jean Raspail's novel has been vilified, not for what it is, but for what it forces us to confront.

In this article, Antoine offers a frank rereading of this reviled work in light of contemporary realities. This is neither about indulgence nor demonization, but about an observation: by refusing debate, our societies have replaced lucidity with denial.
Whether one agrees with or rejects Raspail's arguments, one thing remains: ignoring the warnings never makes them obsolete. This article invites us to break the silence before it becomes irreversible.

Louis Perez y Cid

Antoine Marquet (Lieutenant Colonel TE-er)

As editor-in-chief of Képi Blanc magazine, I was, among other things, responsible for reviewing literary works submitted to me for the magazine's readers. For a long time, I was tempted to review The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail, ambassador of Patagonia, journalist, and writer. I confess that I censored myself in order to avoid attracting potentially damaging criticism to the magazine. The movement of ... Read more...

“To be fiercely opposed to any leveling down.”
Our friend is indulging himself today, venturing into the philosophical realms he so loves, by evoking and sharing with us the reflections of Alexandra David-Néel… who, known as Alexandra, was actually named Alexandrine. A writer and explorer, a renowned orientalist, this woman led an absolutely extraordinary life. Born in Saint-Mandé, she died in Digne, but between these two cities she traveled extensively throughout the Far East, where she was a leading authority. What an extraordinary destiny for someone who, initially, was named Alexandrine… a sort of verse with two sets of six syllables… in the feminine form…
Antoine Marquet

By Christian Morisot
Alexandra David-Néel said: “The greatest service one could render to a human being was to make them intelligent. Helping people rise up didn't mean giving them money, but culture, a well-formed mind. Giving money to a fool is useless; they don't know how to spend it. The rich shouldn't fall down the social ladder, but it was the poor who should rise. One must be fiercely opposed to any leveling down.”
Read more...

Reflections following the CEMA's remarks: Seventy years ago, the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who fled Nazi Germany, warned us. Her warning was not that lies would prevail, but that people would become too exhausted to care about what is true.
Hannah Arendt didn't study totalitarianism from books. She fled from it.
Born in 1906 in Germany, in a world of ideas and debates, she studied philosophy under some of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers. Then the Nazis came to power.
In 1933, this Jewish intellectual was briefly arrested by the Gestapo. Released after a week, she understood what was coming. She fled Germany illegally, passing through Czechoslovakia and then France. When France fell in 1940, she was interned in a camp. She escaped during the chaos of the French collapse. With emergency visas, forged documents, and desperate courage, she crossed borders as Europe burned. She reached Portugal, and finally New York in 1941.
She survived. But she never forgot what she had seen. Read more...