50 Irish troops arrive in Chad

[earl]

The first large group of Irish troops to be deployed in Chad as part of an EU peacekeeping force has arrived in the capital N'Djamena.

The 50 members of the Army Ranger wing are likely to spend the next week in a transit camp at the airport until all their equipment arrives.

All of their weapons and supplies are being sent from Dublin on three cargo flights in the coming days.
The Army Rangers are expected to travel to their base at Abeche on Friday week. They will be protected on this 965km overland journey by French forces.

The Irish soldiers, who will eventually number 450, will be the second biggest contingent in the 3,700-strong EU force which is commanded by Lt Gen Pat Nash.

Their deployment was cancelled three weeks ago because of an outbreak of hostilities in the central African country.

400 additional Irish troops are due in Chad by the middle of May with the task of protecting hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled the turmoil in neighbouring Darfur.

[Blue Angel]

50 of the army rannger wing - that represent nearly half of it as there are only 120 people in it all told or about slightly more than 1 per cent of the permanent defence force.

[Wasp]

Apparently they couldn't get the supplies in time as they only had supplies for 92 hours or something and the delivery of further supplies will take longer. The country is meant to have only 500km of paved road even though it is the twice the size of France.

[Blue Angel]

which is why people keep telling the govt. to give the naval service the capability to supply missions by allocating a ship as a supply ship or by purchasing something like an airlfit capability for the defence forces.

[Wasp]

I remember a joke during the first gulf conflict in which a UDR soldier phoned saddam to warn him he would invade Iraq if theyn didn't pull out of Kuwait. When asked how many tanks he had the UDR man said about three but it would be four but the other tank that we were going to borrow belongs to the Irish army, sadly it has got a flat tyre.

[Blue Angel]

the actual number of tanks the irish army has is not much better -they have 14 scorpions and some people don't even view that as a porper tank just a recon vehichle - they have about 120 or so armoured cars and troop transport units and a few odds and sods ones on top of that.

[Wasp]

I am a bit surprized at that, considering ireland would be classed as a rich nation one would think their securtiy forces would be better equipped.

Hypothetically speaking if their was a UI tomorrow do you honestly think the Irish security forces could cope with the violence which would be on a scale perhaps never seen before, especially if Britain pulled out its troops.

For the record I always remember the Gardai chasing a republican into a river upto their wastes and batoned the hell out of him. Blonde hair guy with blood pissing from him in about 1985/86 or so. The police officer was like a raging bull and chased the lout for all he was worth and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of that baton and then batons.

This was probably the first time Unionists cheered for the gardai.

[Blue Angel]

the gardai have let us say a strained relationship with republicans ...., defence has never been a high priority or vote getter in Ireland. When my dad was in the army the situation was even worse, there was a point where there where only 6 tanks in operation in the whole country and 3 ex british minesweepers comprised the whole naval fleet - in fact at the start of the troubles for a time there were no seaworthy vessels as the naval service had been using world war 2 ex british corvettes which had long passed their prime.

And no I do not think the security forces could handle the climate of a UI ireland if violence errupted as even with their reserve forces (and the number is smaller in reality than on paper...) there are no more than about slightly more than 20,000 troops and only 8,500 in the regular army.

[Jim]

wasp said:

I am a bit surprized at that, considering ireland would be classed as a rich nation one would think their securtiy forces would be better equipped.

Hypothetically speaking if their was a UI tomorrow do you honestly think the Irish security forces could cope with the violence which would be on a scale perhaps never seen before, especially if Britain pulled out its troops.

For the record I always remember the Gardai chasing a republican into a river upto their wastes and batoned the hell out of him. Blonde hair guy with blood pissing from him in about 1985/86 or so. The police officer was like a raging bull and chased the lout for all he was worth and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of that baton and then batons.

This was probably the first time Unionists cheered for the gardai.

Ireland is a neutral nation (in theory), it doesnt need an army the size of the British army, its not invading places left right and center or got thousands of troops dotted all over the world which make Britain and even bigger target for crazies with bomb knowledge.

Why would Ireland need a large military? Todays inter-dependent international community, the only ones doing the invading are westerners.

I think the Irish army could cope with any violence from a united Ireland but we want conditions to create a united Ireland that will minimise violence, it'll happen, but on what scale? Also northern forces (PSNI) will be part of an island-wide police force so a lot will depend on them anyway, since the trouble will be up here, not down there.

[Wasp]

Jim I think you missed my question somehow by your rant about the BA overseas. Anyway do you think the Irish could cope with the onslaught of violence in the unlikely event of a UI. To think it would be minimal is just plain silly.

If Drumcree brought this country to a near civil war as setanta had previously stated, and the BA and the police were stretched to near beyond possibility how on earth will the Irish army and th psni cope in the event of a UI.

You shouldn't underestimate Unionist reaction, a church parade at Drumcree should give you some insight into what will happen in a UI.

[Harry]

It was cancelled due to hostilities??? Christ i'm glad we don't operate like this otherwise we'd never go anywhere. Protected by the French!!!! You better fucking hope nothing kicks off!! Good luck to them and hopefully all will return home safely

[Jim]

wasp said:

Jim I think you missed my question somehow by your rant about the BA overseas. Anyway do you think the Irish could cope with the onslaught of violence in the unlikely event of a UI. To think it would be minimal is just plain silly.

If Drumcree brought this country to a near civil war as setanta had previously stated, and the BA and the police were stretched to near beyond possibility how on earth will the Irish army and th psni cope in the event of a UI.

You shouldn't underestimate Unionist reaction, a church parade at Drumcree should give you some insight into what will happen in a UI.

I wasnt ranting about the british army I was only comparing.

TBH, they'll have to learn to deal with it. What army can deal with that sort of shite? Even the americans cant deal with it.

[Wasp]

I never said that about Drumcree. This is the second time you misquoted me recently WASP.

Yes you did Setanta, you said about the OO almost bringing this country to the brink of a civil war. If you didn't I have no problem apolgizing.

[Blue Angel]

Um, my feeling about our army is that it is fine at the size it is - I have no wish to see vast expansion as we don't need it - just perhaps some newer equipment phased in over a 5 to 10 year period. Mainly in the forms of getting rid of 40 year old armoured cars that are increasingly unreliable and replacing them with some newer models to support the guys who do UN tours. That's been partly adressed with the purchase of 15 newer machines -another 10 or 15 is more than enough as Jim points out we don't need a huge capacity. Apart from that some expansion in the naval fleet as the Irish have one of the biggest areas in the EU to patrol and one of the smallest fleet to do so with - they have 8 corvette size ships right now - make that around 10-12 depending on type and buy some more customs cutters to suplement the two already in service so the naval service don't have to handle those tasks. And the air corps needs more than 8 helicopters to be effective - give them 12-15 and at least airlifter such as an antonov or more unlikely a hercules and a few newer light general patrol aircraft and that would be more than sufficient for Ireland. No point or need for jets or loads of main battle tanks -all of which would be a waste of cash.

And yeah the ARW are tough bastards - the failure rate for trying to get in is huge - over 80 per cent of potential applicants don't even make it through the selection tests and of those that do the majority drop out in a few weeks.

Anyway in the evnet of an UI the UN could be called on to supply troops - i believe that should have been done in the north from early on to be honest.

[Blue Angel]

yep and i value irish neutrality- it's already compromised badly by the situation at shannon - i'd like to hang on to what's left of it.......I think our army should always be small but professional and no bigger than 11-12 thousand in any forseeable future at present.