Hundreds of Irish soldiers have recently spent nearly five testing months in the volatile central African nation of Chad. Eoin Butlermet a few of them as they arrived home on leave
INCOMING MORTAR rounds, 13-hour working days and temperatures of up to of 55 degrees. It wasn't all fun and games for the soldiers of the Western Brigade last year, as they grappled with the task of establishing an Irish peacekeeping presence in Chad. The central African country has among the world's worst rates of life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income and corruption. To further complicate matters, eastern Chad currently hosts 285,000 refugees from the Darfur conflict (raging just over the border in Sudan) as well as 180,000 Chadians displaced by clashes between government and rebel forces.
In May this year, 450 Irish troops were deployed to eastern Chad as part of the Eufor mission to the region. Their job was to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Here, in their own words, three Irish soldiers describe how they got to grips with the challenges they faced and how they coped in the testing conditions.
Battery sergeant Gary Madden (43)
"I went into Chad as part of the initial injection force. Our job was to construct a base that would house the main body of 400 Irish soldiers coming after us. I suppose it was a fairly daunting task, if you were to sit back and think about it.
"Fortunately, the Army Rangers were already in the area when we arrived, so we had a secure area to set up camp for the first couple of days. Wells had been dug and the Rangers had set up a makeshift shower. You could probably sneak in there once a day, if you were lucky. Each of us had our own two-man tent. As well as sleeping in it, you also used this to store your gear in. The tents got very hot during the day. If you had any electronic equipment, you had to be very careful. We had pack rations and bottled water.
"That was it. I don't know if you've seen any pictures of Chad, but it's not the most lushly forrested place on God's green earth. There's no foliage on any of the trees during the dry season. So there was no cover from the sun. The heat was violent, 55 degrees in the middle of the day. For the first week or so, you were constantly drenched with sweat. But at night temperatures often dropped below freezing.
"Basically, we had what you would call a brown field site. Everything that you would expect to see in a modern urban development had yet to be put in place. It was a long working day. We'd start at 5am and work until it got dark at 6pm. If you could, you'd try and get out of the sun at the hottest part of the day. But a lot of the time that wasn't possible. Any break time you got was just about getting food into you, getting water into you and preparing for the next few hours' work. If you had half an hour to rest you'd probably try and find a small bit of shade and catch 40 winks.
"There was no opportunity for recreation in those first few weeks, none whatsoever. There was a job to be done every single day. That was just how it was. Everybody knew what they were getting in to. You knew what was expected of you and you knew what the level of comfort would be. We were lucky, however, in that the people we had were not only very skilled, but also very dedicated and hardworking. There was a great atmosphere of camaraderie.
"Did I miss home? It's strange. When I was in Chad, home didn't seem real. Now that I'm back, it's Chad that seems unreal. Like a different planet or something. I suppose, when I was over there, I conditioned myself to think, "This is real. This is where I am and this is what I'm dealing with'. But of course there were things I missed. You couldn't get your hands on an egg over there. I'd have loved a fried egg. Right now I can't wait to have a few rashers and sausages. But what you really miss is being able to talk to your wife or partner at the end of the day. You're away from the people that are closest to you. That's obviously the hardest part of it all."
Captain James Sharkey (27)
"We left [Chadian capital] N'Djamena last night, stopped off to refuel in Las Palmas and then flew in directly here to Baldonnel. We're just waiting for our bags now. It's still all a bit surreal. But there's definitely a sense of satisfaction for a job well done. In the five or six months Irish forces have been based in Goz-Beida, the town has already become noticeably more confident. There are brick buildings going up where previously there were only mud or straw huts. The local population know that as long as we're there, the rebels are not going to come back. If they do, we'll be there to defend them.
"I went into Chad with the main body of the battalion as a member of one of the manoeuvre companies. It was our job to patrol the area around the camp and provide a safe and secure environment for the IDFs [internally displaced people] and refugees. There are no roads over there. It's all dirt tracks. The most serious incident we had to deal with was when the rebels attacked Goz-Beida in June and we got into a fire fight. There were incoming mortar rounds and small-arms fire, which we returned. Luckily we were able to secure the refugee camps and rescue the NGOs from Goz-Beida. It was pretty frightening. But we dealt with it. That's what we're trained to do.
"When you're on patrol you might be out overnight. Otherwise you'd finish work at about three or four in the afternoon. It wasn't a particularly comfortable environment to live in. You couldn't leave the camp. For the first month we were living without air conditioning. That was hard. Even when we got the air con in, there were problems with generators not working. The showers were also strictly rationed. You had to go in, turn the water on, wet yourself and turn it off again. Then you'd put your soap on and turn the shower on again to rinse yourself off. So you had maybe two minutes of water in total.
"The cook house didn't open until half way through the trip, so we were living off pack rations for the first couple of months. For breakfast you'd have bacon and baked beans. For dinner you might have a Lancashire hot pot. It was all pre-cooked, pre-packed. To heat it up you could put it in boiling water or else you could just leave it out in the sun for a few minutes. There were a couple of welfare tents with large television screens. Rugby matches and the Premiership were obviously popular. The internet was limited to 15 minutes per person. If you wanted to watch films you'd generally watch them on your laptop. Lots of DVDs got swapped around.
"What am I looking forward to now? Seeing my family, I suppose. Eating fast food. Sleeping in a normal bed and not sweating all the time. But more than anything, I'm looking forward to going out on the beer with my friends. We kept a dry camp over there, so I haven't had a drink in four and a half months. We'll probably have a few pints and then head out to Club 92. I'm also really looking forward to spending some time alone. As a soldier, you're used to living in close proximity to other people. But on a trip like that you're never, ever alone. There's always someone else around. So to be honest, I won't miss the lads now for the next two or three weeks."
Lieutenant Aine Gilmore (24)
"I had two jobs in Chad. I was second-in-command of a company of about 130 people. But I was also the welfare officer, which meant I was in charge of all the creature comforts for the camp - the shop, the recreation room, the gym and entertainment.
"Good morale is very important when you've got people living in close quarters like that. But it wasn't always easy. On other trips you'd have had a bar or a canteen. We didn't have that in Chad. It was a dry mission. We were also in a very isolated location where everything had to be built from scratch. It took time to get bits and pieces together.
"The camp was located right beside an airstrip, which we were allowed to train on during the day. There was also a really good gym. The shop sold cigarettes, phone credit, sweets and Pringles. It was very hard to get chocolate. Even when we did, it'd sell out quickly and reordering would take time. There were a couple of days when we couldn't open the shop for whatever reason. That caused a little bit of tension. It was the little luxuries - phone credit or a can of coke - that the lads really missed. In the evenings we organised quiz nights, poker nights, pool competitions, darts competitions, that kind of thing.
"Most people will tell you that they missed their friends or family or going out. But for me it was the normal things I missed the most, like sitting down with a cup of tea and watching the soaps. I play Gaelic football with the Galway ladies' team and it was heartbreaking leaving that behind. I think my lowest days were when the girls were playing a match. I missed running around in the muck and the rain. It sounds strange to say that, but I really did.
"We all had our bad days. But the thing was, everyone was in the same boat. So you'd kind of drag each other along through it. When someone was feeling down you'd say, 'Look, we'll make the best of it. We'll go training or watch a DVD. We'll do whatever it is necessary to get it out of your system'. At the end of the day, we were going to be there for four and a half months either way. You could complain and moan and be pissed off for that entire four and a half months if you wanted. But it was much easier for yourself and everyone else around you if you just got on with things.
"Did I enjoy the experience? Absolutely, I did. It was my first trip overseas, so I knew it was going to be hard. I had nothing to compare it to. Other guys had been in Liberia and Kosovo and might have found it tough in comparison. But it was a really rewarding experience. We started with nothing and, by the time our tour of duty ended, Camp Ciara was one of the most envied camps in the area of operations. It was great to be a part of that and to see how our presence benefited the local people.
"They were really happy that we were there. It's nice to get the opportunity to do something that worthwhile in your career."