In the half-century since the Army's pioneering overseas peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Defence Forces have changed out of all recognition - and built up an enviable international reputation
THIS WEEK, a series of events, including a large military parade at McKee Barracks in Dublin, marked 50 years of peacekeeping work by the Irish Defence Forces overseas. In the last half-century, somewhere in the region of 59,000 tours of duty have been undertaken, the Nobel Peace Prize has been shared, and many Irish officers have risen through the ranks of international peacekeeping collectives.
The Irish Army is almost unrecognisable now from the ill-equipped, under-educated group of soldiers who began our overseas involvement in Lebanon in 1958. From that point to this, the Defence Forces has evolved into a highly trained, globally respected force, currently stationed with commanding duties in the volatile terrain of Chad and maintaining a presence in both Kosovo and Lebanon. The appointments of Lieut Gen Pat Nash as EU Operation Commander of the mission in Chad and of Brig Gen Gerry Hegarty to command the KFOR Multinational Task Force Centre in Kosovo are evidence of this evolution.
Currently, 811 Defence Forces personnel are contributing to 12 different missions across the globe and, as the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, says, "relative to our size, available resources and capabilities, both financial and military, Ireland is proportionately a very large peacekeeping contributor within the international community".
The celebrations this week focused on June 26th, a date representing a milestone in Irish military history.
"It marks the date when we first deployed to Lebanon," says a Defence Forces spokesperson, "but, more than that, we are also marking the enormous sacrifices made in the cause of peace by members of the Defence Forces, including 85 Irish soldiers who have given their lives in the course of duty abroad. We're looking to the future, all the while gaining inspiration from what has gone before."
Among those who attended were several survivors of that first group to deploy in 1958. One of them, retired Maj Gen Fergus O'Connell, has seen wholesale changes in the way our Defence Forces operate. He recalls a different era, when the Army emerged during a time of domestic political turmoil following the Civil War.
"My father had been a captain in the Army from the War of Independence and was retiring at about the time I became a cadet in 1948," O'Connell says. "The crunch came for the Army when it maintained a neutral stance in the 1930s amid the pro- and anti-Treaty sentiments. The Army stood by the electoral will of the people, then and now."
The reasons for joining the Army in those days had as much to do with economic circumstance as with long-term career ambition. Further education was a route closed to the majority, and many young cadets signed up out of necessity.
"Ireland was not in great shape back then, and the image of people leaving Dún Laoghaire with a fibre suitcase tied with string was all too common," says O'Connell. "There were eight in our family and I was the second eldest. We had to get out of home as quick as we could, and after my Leaving Cert I did a scholarship exam to try get into college to study engineering. I was a few points short of the required entry-level mark, so I joined the Army and went to cadet school."
ARMY LIFE IN the 1940s and 1950s was strict and rigid, and the standards expected were demanding. Further education was largely frowned upon, and the Army was a relatively insular collective.
"When I came to it in the 1950s, a lot of the senior officers were there from the Free State days and were great officers," says O'Connell, "They had devoted a lot of their time to developing the country and the Army. But there was little travel in those days and officers were not allowed go to university. I remember one soldier who was found out to be doing a Bachelor of Commerce degree, and was almost arrested for it. Then one day we were sent for and told there was a chance we would be going overseas, to work with a UN observer force in Lebanon.
"There were 23 different nationalities there, and I was mostly based near the border with Syria. That was a significant moment in both my own Army career and the future course of the Defence Forces as a whole."
The experience gained in those early missions fed into the advancement and modernisation of the Army in later decades. A more outward-looking, worldly-wise force was taking shape, which would play a key role in many international humanitarian and political situations.
Had those early deployments not taken place, then perhaps Cpl Jenny Grant, a 22-year-old from Dundalk, would not have looked upon life in the Army as an attractive prospect. As it is, she is currently in Kosovo and halfway through her first overseas mission, where she has fulfilled administrative duties as well as carrying out patrols and manning checkpoints.
"It's tough, but I am enjoying it hugely," she says. "Our equipment is top class, including an internet cafe in the camp and phones everywhere. The technology makes it a lot easier to be away from family and friends, especially for those soldiers married with kids. Our mission here is to keep safe and secure an environment for the locals, and to keep the peace. As an Irish soldier, the reputation we have abroad is incredible, and I myself didn't realise it until I got here. The welcome we receive is testament to the work we have done for other nations down through the years."
ALSO IN KOSOVO is 24-year-old Lieut John Boylan, from Salthill in Galway, who has responsibility for 31 men in his platoon, as well as for patrolling an extensive geographic area, incorporating 20 villages. In contrast to the days when Army life precluded further study, Boylan has recently completed a degree in civil law at NUI Galway, paid for and supported by the Defence Forces.
"The Army has certainly changed a lot," he says. "I know from talking to senior officers that the main focus of overseas missions in the past would have been checkpoint work and manning posts. Now, we are constantly on the go, gathering intelligence, and there is a lot more scope for initiative. Generally, micro-management has decreased and you can now decide what the specific focus of your mission is - whether it might be assisting humanitarian projects or building better community links and so on."
Coupled with all the advances, though, there is an acknowledgement of the past sacrifices and pioneering efforts of those who have contributed to the development of the Defence Forces since the initial overseas deployments.
"The tradition of Irish missions overseas is something we're told about over and over again," says Boylan, "From the first Lebanon and Congo missions, and on to places like Liberia and Kosovo, East Timor and Bosnia, our soldiers have made significant contributions to world stability and peace. In McKee Barracks, there is a wall dedicated to all the Defence Forces members who have lost their lives overseas, and it is something we are extremely proud of, to be part of that continuing tradition of bravery and international renown."
