An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 25 southern city of Tyre. I headed up to the Patrol Base for a seven- day stint on 11th July, said goodbye to my wife Clare and the kids saying I'll see you in a week. The following day the war kicked off between Hezbollah and Israel which lasted a very brutal 34-days. Where I was based, I could see the bombs landing in Tyre and Clare could look up at the distant ridgeline and see the smoke ris- ing from where I was. Eventually the UN decided to evacuate the families and as Clare was getting the kids into the lifeboat that would bring them out to a chartered ship, I rang her and said "I'll see you when I see you", which believe me is not the way to end a family mission to the Middle East. Thankfully they survived, unlike four very good friends of mine killed in an Israeli air strike on their Patrol Base and we had a further two more colleagues seriously wounded in separate incidents. In 2010 I deployed with the last Irish Battalion in Chad. Of inter- est during that mission was that I ended up with the removal of my appendix in a hospital tent! I was medevac'ed by a chopper on a Saturday morning, had my appendix taken out at midday and on 'coming round' the surgeon, after inquiring how I felt, says "you're Irish you'll have a beer" so thinking I was in dream land with the anaesthetic, I replied in the positive and when he came back with a large can of larger, I asked him if he would mind opening my bag, taking out my camera and taking a picture of me as no one in Ireland would ever believe that after getting my appendix out in Africa I was given a beer. The following day he wanted to discharge me but due to lack of choppers he waited until Monday! Africa became something of a passion with me then for a while as I ended up at very short notice in Western Sahara in 2012, which allowed me to indulge in my other great passion, which is archaeology. I could drive into the desert in any direction for any length of time, stop the car and find evidence of prehistoric activ- ity. Temperatures there often got as high as 58 degrees. My only non-UN mission was the following year in 2013 with the European Union Training Mission (EUTM) in Mali. This was of course the first time the Irish and British Armies deployed and worked together. It was really great to see them operating side by side in the training camp in Koulikouro. I was no sooner back in Ireland in 2014 when an opportu- nity came up to do a second stint in UNTSO so I deployed for 17-months in Lebanon followed by seven-months in Jerusalem and returned to Ireland at the end of 2017. As mentioned above, unfortunately I had to retire on age grounds but as one part of my life closes, another one opened and I flew back to Africa in January 2017, to the Central African Republic (CAR) to take up a temporary job offer with the UN as a Regional Security Officer. Nothing in my previous UN experience had prepared me for the scale of violence and ethnic hatred that was visible in Bria. Life in many cases was nasty brutal and short, and just outside my base was a camp of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP's) numbering up to 41,500 people. Every day in CAR was different and you could go from an idyllic calm sunny day to absolute mayhem, as some of the many-armed groups would decide to attack each other. One of the largest attacks I witnessed was in June 2017 when the Christian anti Balaka attacked the Muslim FPRC. Within three hours there was over 95 people killed. So, in January 2019, I completed my two-year contract with MINUSCA and as a going away gift from CAR I got my third dose of Malaria. Nothing is easy in Africa!! I am now home in Ireland busy searching for meaningful em- ployment; taking up golf was never going to be an option for me. In my 40-years wearing the uniform of that great organisa- tion that is the Irish Defence Forces, I have been privileged to meet with, worked with and served under, some of the most remarkable people. It has indeed been a privilege to be given the opportunity to do as much, travel as much and experience as much as I have and it's fair to say that I have a serious amount of memories. I have to mention that this was only possible because of an extremely supporting family, so to Clare, Ellen and Ben... as they would say in Arabic Shukran Jazelen... Thank you very much. Kevin in Western Sahara in 2012 Transfer of the remains from our UNTSO Patrol Base in 2006 Kevin working as Regional Security Officer in CAR, 2019.

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