At the age of sixteen, Gotovina left home to become a sailor. In 1973, before turning eighteen, he joined the French Foreign Legion under the pseudonym of Andrija Grabovac and became a member of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e REP) after qualifying at the Training School in Pau before joining the elite "Commandos de Recherche et d'Action en Profondeur" (CRAP) now renamed as "Parachute Commando Group" (GCP). It was there he met Dominique Erulin, brother of the Colonel Philippe Erulin, who became his friend and partner in future missions. In the next few years, he participated in Foreign Legion operations in Djibouti, the Battle of Kolwezi in Zaire, and missions in the Ivory Coast, becoming Colonel Erulin's driver. After five years of service, he left the Legion with the rank of "caporal-chef"; he obtained French citizenship in 1979.