Corporal Chris Hooper (centre) explains the safety drills for the UK SA80 A2 Rifle to Legionnaire Oskar Trompakajski (left) and Legionnaire 1st Class Jung Jih (right).

British paratroopers  trained with their counterparts from the French Foreign on Exercise BLUE LEGIONNAIRE on the island of Corsica in January 2014.

Corporal Chris Hooper, 26 from Hereford, said: “It’s been a very different experience to see how another army does its business. The legionnaires are a very disciplined and professional outfit and we’ve worked well together because we’ve got the same role and mentality. It’s been a friendly exercise with a lot of war stories swapped – they did an operational jump in Mali last year and we’ve got a lot to say about Afghanistan.”