An Cosantóir

February 2020

An Cosantóir the official magazine of the Irish Defence Forces and Reserve Defence Forces.

Issue link: https://digital.jmpublishing.ie/i/1206165

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An Cosantóir February 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 22 | The difficulty of the operation and the sensitive nature of the issue of homelessness made this a very hard needle to thread. The project, titled Rough Set, was an attempt to do everything I love all in one go: stand-up comedy, adventure, survival and feel- ing somewhat useful. It involved walking from the Salthill diving boards in Galway to the Forty Foot in Dublin, performing stand-up comedy along the way. It required me to cover over a marathon a day and perform a comedy show in every major town along the way: Galway, Ballinasloe, Tullamore, Athlone, Kinnegad, Maynooth and Dublin. The first 24 hours consisted of giving an interview to Galway Bay FM, a dip in the Atlantic, collecting money in buckets, coor- dinating an ongoing documentary highlighting the great work of the Simon Community shop, all while covering 42.7 miles between stand-up shows, on just 30 minutes sleep! Luckily, I had Irish comedy legends like Owen Colgan (Hardy Bucks) Joe Rooney (Father Ted), Karl Spain and Allie O'Rourke to hold the fort on stage while I was slurring my words. My military training and experience helped me with the task. I used the pain and difficulty as a type of meditation, and I used the niggling cold, wet, and blisters to focus. I employed the military mindset of 'no excuses', and I accepted there was no way out and only one option: 'Execute the mission!' When tiredness set in I doubled down on discipline and em- ployed survival techniques to avoid hypothermia and hypogly- caemia. I layered up and layered down; took on calories whenever they appeared; tended to the blisters on my feet; and when I was at my weakest and needed to lie down I took a few extra seconds to find that warmer, dryer spot. When I shared videos online hundreds of serving Defence Forces members of all ranks got on board. Many colleagues I hadn't seen in 15 years came out to shows, to walk a few miles, encourage me, and to donate hard cash to the Simon Community. I'd be walking along and BOOM! the best of the best was standing there in front of me with some treats, having found me via the tracking link I shared on social media. It was testament to the bond we can build with those with whom we serve and a tribute to the kindness and good nature of Defence Forces personnel. The final show before the Christmas morning swim was sup- posed to be busking with Bono and Glen Hansard on Grafton St on Christmas Eve. Alas, Bono was just back from India and wrecked, so instead I managed to sneak on stage and sing The Pogues' Fairy Tale of New York with Glen, Mundy and The Hothouse Flowers. I joined the Air Corps at 18, straight after school, for no obvi- ous reason other than I felt like I'd done enough sitting still to last me a lifetime. A chance conversation with legendary Armn Myles Mooney at a mate's house party sparked my interest. He had mon- ey, a motorbike, and the enviable ability to sleep on a stone-cold kitchen floor after a bottle of whiskey, yet somehow wake up fresh enough to do the dishes the next morning. He seemed optimistic, driven, and never complained. Within months of finishing my leaving cert, I was quivering in a handball alley, building up my tolerance to profanity. I loved it. The relentless pressure from the NCOs, and incred- ibly brutal nights getting debriefed in icy rivers while living on the ground created a bond so strong that to this day many of the 11th recruit platoon wear a 'Psycho XI' tattoo. Except for one that got 'IX' – he wasn't great with Roman numerals! I had the privilege of serving with the Quick Reaction Force on the UN peace-enforcing mission in Liberia, where we carried out some pretty epic long-range patrols on which we encountered tribes who had never seen white people, yet alone an Irish ginger. As well as being the Q's driver I was also put in charge of burning the camp's rubbish. A job you might think most people would hate, but with my fire-fighter train- ing I found it fun and it made sense. Before I knew it, I was ordered to run fire safety drills with all the ranks. This was new to me - an airman barking orders at NCOs and officers. The beauty and kindness of the ordinary Liberian people was in stark contrast to the devastation in the eyes of ex-child soldiers who had been violently muti- lated and stripped of their innocence. I was part of an Irish patrol who reconnoitred the ground extraction route for Charles Taylor to The Hague for war crimes. We had the machinery and the manpower to bring death and darkness, but we brought light…

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