An Cosantóir

March 2013

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

Issue link: https://digital.jmpublishing.ie/i/112287

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| 35 book Blood, Sweat and Tears Author: Tom Clonan Publisher: Liberties Press (Jan, 2013) www.libertiespress.com Pages: 256 Price: RRP ���21.50 (Eason ���14.99) ISBN: 978-1907593550 Blood Sweat and Tears is a short, punchy account of a young Irish officer���s experience in Lebanon. The author, Dr Tom Clonan, served as a self-confessed ���inexperienced��� lieutenant in the Battalion Mobile Reserve (BMR) during ���Grapes of Wrath��� in 1995/96. What started off as a fairly quiet tour exploded into a cycle of attack and retribution that UN personnel and Lebanese civilians were caught up in. The book is set in a time of Irish Defence Forces��� history that is still in living memory for a lot of serving soldiers. It���s honest, funny and insightful in equal measure. Dr Clonan���s writing style is concise and to the point and from his brutal honesty, it���s clear that he is still exorcising some demons that remain from his tour. The characters he mentions would ring a bell for anybody used to hearing stories from older NCOs and privates and, as such, it is an enjoyable, thoughtprovoking read. Dark Times, Decent Men Author: Neil Richardson Publisher: O���Brien Press www.obrien.ie Price: ���19.99 Pages: 368pp ISBN: 978-1847172976 From Irish Book Award winner Neil Richardson, who writes about Irish men and women, who fought in WWII, this book brings the reader from the Battle for France to the Battle of Britain, from North Africa to the War against Japan. On the way Neil opens our eyes to the heavy involvement of the Irish in WWII. Not only does he bring us along their path through the war but his in-depth research also tells us about how they came to serve in the armed forces. Each chapter gives an account of the battles and areas the soldiers fought in, and how they fared. Individual stories are very detailed, and sometimes graphic, like that of William ���John Pat��� McCready who avoided being murdered in cold blood by a German officer on a beach in Dunkirk by ���playing possum���. Many of the stories contain pictures, which are a great help in visualising the individual soldier���s story. Neil also brings the reader into the ���dark times��� with his accounts of Irish Jews involved in the fight against the Nazis who had inflicted almost incomprehensible horrors on their fellow Jews. These include the story of Belfast-born Chaim Herzog (later president of Israel) who identified Heinrich Himmler, the architect of ���the Final Solution���, as he tried to escape detection by passing himself off as a regular soldier. This great, easy-readable book should make the reader proud to be Irish after finding out about the exploits of so many ordinary Irish men and women who fought in WWII. dvd Zero Dark Thirty Director: Kathryn Bigelow Writer: Mark Boal (screenplay) Starring: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Ehle and Chris Pratt Runtime: 2hr 37min Cinema Release: 25 January 2013 A fictionalised account of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of Navy SEAL Team 6 in May 2011. CIA operative Maya���s (Chastain) first experience in intelligence gathering involves participating in interrogations of prisoners following the al-Qaeda attacks against the US on 9/11. After several years trying locate al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, her work finally pays off in 2011, and a US Navy SEAL team is given the go-ahead by President Barack Obama to kill or capture Bin Laden. Much of the film���s tension comes from Maya trying to convince her doubting colleagues that Bin Laden is where she believes him to be. Bigelow���s movie is also controversial in its portrayal of extreme interrogation techniques and the fact that Maya, albeit reluctantly, believes that these techniques are necessary for success. www.zerodarkthirty-movie.com game BioShock Infinite BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter game that introduces an entirely new narrative experience, lifting players out of the familiar confines of Rapture and rocketing them to Columbia, an immense city in the sky. What begins as a brand-new endeavour of hope turns drastically wrong as the city soon disappears into the clouds to ���whereabouts unknown���. The player assumes the role of former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, sent to the lost city to rescue Elizabeth, a young woman imprisoned there since childhood. DeWitt must learn to fight foes in high-speed, skyline battles, engage in combat both indoors and among the clouds, and harness the power of dozens of new weapons and abilities. (www.bioshockinfinite.com) Genre: FPS - Platform: Xbox 360, PS3 & PC ��� PEGI: 18+ - Price: ���49.97 (PC ���34.97) (gamestop.ie). Released: 26 Mar 2013. �� 2012 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Developed by Irrational Games. All Rights Reserved. www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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