Next month siblings Breena, Shaun and Declan Diver, from Moville, Co Donegal, will find themselves in a war zone.
The three Defence Forces privates are part of the 125th Infantry Battalion which is currently preparing to rotate into southern Lebanon and replace the Irish troops stationed there as part of the Unifil peacekeeping mission.
More than 380 troops will travel over. They will join 24 soldiers from the current deployment who have opted to stay on, meaning they will have spent a year in Lebanon by the end of their tour.
“I think it was a case of monkey see, monkey do,” jokes Shaun (26), the oldest and most experienced Diver sibling when asked why his brother and sister volunteered alongside him for the mission.
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Their parents must be sick with worry? “My father is the stress head. He’d be the most vocal about it. My mother is usually stone cold, doesn’t say much. But I think she’s starting to show a few cracks this time,” Shaun says.
“Our friends tell us we’re mad going over there. But we know what we’re getting ourselves into. We’ve done the training,” says Declan, who is on his second tour.
Shaun and Derek are both armoured personnel carrier operators, while Breena is part of the quick reaction force (QRF), meaning all three could find themselves rushing towards danger to rescue their colleagues if they get in trouble.
Trouble is everywhere in south Lebanon since Israel invaded the region on October 1st, killing hundreds of civilians and stranding almost 300 Irish soldiers in the middle of intense fighting.
Israeli forces have launched a dozen attacks on United Nations outposts since the invasion, leaving about 17 peacekeepers injured. At the start of the invasion, Israeli tanks set up firing positions directly beside the small Irish compound on the border from where they fired on Hizbullah forces.
At one stage, an Israel tank barrel pointed directly into the camp. An image from a leaked internal UN report shows a towering plume of smoke directly beside the camp on October 7th, the aftermath of a large explosion.
The troops who will be taking over the outpost next month are aware of the dangers they are facing, says their commanding officer, the aptly named Lieut Col Shane Rockett.
So are their families. “My wife is a former military officer. She retired some years ago and she has anxiety about me going overseas. My troops’ families are exactly the same, and it’s natural,” the colonel says.
“The biggest challenge for me as the commander is to convey our message to families that: ‘Look, we’re going to keep our troops safe out here, but we are going to a dangerous environment.’”
The soldiers have studied recent interactions with the warring parties in the area of operations and have “learned lessons”, he says.
They are also prepared to defend themselves per the Unifil and Defence Forces rules of engagement, which permits soldiers to use their weapons to protect themselves, their posts and their colleagues. Each soldier carries around a small document outlining exactly what level of force they can use and when, a useful aid in a situation where a misjudgment could quickly transform into an international incident.
“Soldiers are trained and trained to a high standard on the use of force,” says Rockett. “If there is a threat to an Irish soldier and a serious threat, they are trained to respond to that threat.”
People back home can also be reassured the 125th is outfitted with the best equipment in the world, Rockett says. “From a force protection perspective, we’re up there with other armies in relation to our kit, body armour, armoured vehicles, etc. They’re the best that you can get. And that gives us confidence on deployment as well.”
The troops of the 125th will be undertaking a different type of mission than previous deployments. The invasion means patrols of the border area have been massively curtailed and troops are largely confined to base.
For long periods of time, they are likely to find themselves in “groundhog”, the term for taking cover in fortified bunkers as Israel and Hizbullah exchange fire overhead.
“Nobody can prepare for that,” says Rockett. “Being in a bunker for 48 hours or a week. You don’t know what that’s like until you’ve experienced it.”
He remembers his first overseas tour, which coincided with Operation Grapes of Wrath, Israel’s previous invasion of Lebanon in 1996. Irish troops were forced to spend four days straight in groundhog.
“It tests your resolve as a human being but it also brings out humour, and it brings out character in people. You find that through those situations you end up bonding with a lot of those guys in a way that probably you wouldn’t have done otherwise.”
Not everyone gets to take cover during groundhog. A small number of soldiers will have to remain in the watchtower to “observe and report” during barrages.
The situation is so volatile that the 125th is not yet certain if it will be able to deploy as scheduled next month. Unifil’s force commander previously ordered all troop rotations suspended for the duration of October and the Defence Forces are waiting to see if this will be extended into November.
Rockett is working on the basis that they will be able to deploy as planned. If not, they will simply wait here in Ireland and continue training, he says.
