An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May 2019 www.dfmagazine.ie 20 | BY SGT MICK BURKE WITH RSM MURRAY R SM Johnny Murray grew up in Newbridge and was educated by the Patrician Brothers and thereafter went to the Techni- cal School where he competed his intermediate certificate. Being one of 11 children and living in a council house, he left school in 1976, to contribute to the household, and got a job as a store- man in the then new Dunnes Stores supermarket. In December 1977 three of his workmates decided to join the Defence Forces: RSM Joe McGann RIP, Sgmn Stephen Fogarty RIP and Sgt Willie Smith recently retired, and RSM Murray followed them a few months later. RSM Murray says, "I cycled to the Curragh and got sworn in, I was issued with fatigue's on the same day. I worked in the dining hall/ kitchen doing dixie washer until the platoon was filled. In those days there were three platoons in training at any one time, a busy place for a shy 18 year old." January 1978 recruit Murray started training with No 1 Platoon along with 39 others, 13 from Dublin and the remainder from Kildare, Cork, Tipperary, Wexford, Waterford, Clare and Meath. "In those days we were 16 to a billet - we survived the other platoon raiding our kit, room inspections and keeping a glass like polished floor by doing regular shifts on the lead swinger. As it was winter the pot belly in the centre of the billet was kept lighting 24/7. Fuel was acquired at all costs with regular raids on the turf shed. Friday's were payday, we paraded in McDonagh drill shed, and were paid £23.00 (approx.) in cash." Pte Murray passed out on 11th May 1978 and was assigned to the newly formed 6 Fd Sig Coy, Curragh Camp. During his 41 years service to date RSM Murray completed numer- ous courses in the Defence Forces. He started out on a wireless opera- tors course followed by the linesman course. He then completed a commop conversion course, but he mainly followed the telecoms route. He then completed an exchange manager's course, and a City & Guilds certificate in fibre optic cable and Cat5e/6 infrastructure installation course. Outside of those courses he completed a riggers and an advance riggers, a Mowag commanders, an ECDL, a military first responders, gymnastics, PTI and a PTI refreshers course. RSM Murray has served overseas on 15 tours and one tour with a Battlegroup. His first tour to Lebanon was in 1980 with HQ Coy's Signal Platoon of the 47 Inf Bn and his last tour to UNIFIL was in 2000. "I completed nine tours to UNIFIL, seven with the Battalions and two in UNIFIL HQ, Naqoura." His other overseas missions included: "In 1990 during the First Gulf war 'Desert Storm' I was part of a convoy of 168 vehicles and 328 personnel that travelled to Kuwait by road. There were six Irish per- sonnel who were there to provide communications for the move. We left Naqoura crossed into Israel and drove across Israel to the Allenby bridge and into Jordan. Onward we drove across Jordan, staying in a refugee camp in Amman, crossing into Saudi Arabia and hooking up with the pipeline then driving for two days making camp in the des- ert. We arrived six days later when we drove into Doha, Kuwait. The mission UNIKOM was established. As we drove into Kuwait the oil fields were still burning with plumes of black smoke making night of day. We witnessed the carnage of the war, lines and lines of burned out Iraqi tanks and other military vehicles." In 1994 the then A/Sgt Murray served in Somalia with No 2 Tpt Gp, "We arrived as the US Military were pulling out after the 'Black Hawk Down' incident. Our task was transporting food for the Indian contingent, which was a two-day convoy from Baidoa to Mogadishu." In 1996 Sgt Murray was seconded to the Dept. of Foreign Affairs during Ireland's presidency of the European Commission. "I was the Operations Manager of the European Commission Monitoring Mis- sion (ECMM) in Sarajevo." In 2004 Sgt Murray completed his first trip to Kosovo. "I served in KFOR HQ's Psyops Branch as the printed media editor. Psyops ran campaigns like 'support the local police force' or 'crime does not pay'. During this mission we had the Kosovo riots, where 19 people lost their lives in a 48hr period - this was a testing time for KFOR." In 2007 Sgt Murray was part of the first EU Nordic Battlegroup. "We got to deploy in Northern Sweden and took part in a live logisti- RSM JOHNNY MURRAY, CIS GROUP, DFTC A young Johnny Murray passing out as a 2-star private on 11th May 1978.

• Cover