An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May 2020 www.dfmagazine.ie 8 | BY CAPT (AR) DAMIEN O'HERLIHY A s a member of 2 Brigade Cavalry Squadron Reserve I have along with every member of the Reserve submitted through the chain of command to my Commanding Officer my availability should the need arise where the Reserve is called to help our colleagues in the PDF and our fellow citizens. Like everyone in Ireland at the moment I am listening to the advice and adhering to the recommendation of the National Public Health Emergency Team and practising social distancing and washing my hands regularly. I am also looking up https://military.ie/en/member's-area/ to get regular updates on information about how the DF is helping the nation during this time. It is a great source of accurate and up to date information. With a little bit more time on my hands having just about walked the legs of my dogs and now have my front garden fit for entry into Bloom in the Phoenix park I found myself with a little more time to spare and was delighted to get my April edition of the An Cosantóir magazine through my letter box. So with a cup of Barry's tea in hand and a seat in the sun- shine in my back garden I set about to enjoy and read for a couple of hours in the sunshine. The article by CQMS (AR) Michael Barret 7 Bn was very enjoyable and showed the commitment shown by many reservists who come in and train on weekends in addition to their regular parade nights during the week. These additional training weekends are to get in the prac- tice to be of a sufficiently high standard to compete in the 2 Brigade shooting competition as to quote CQMS Barrett "As in all worldwide military formations, shooting skills are held in the highest esteem by the Defence Forces. To represent one's unit in a shooting competition is a great honour for any DF member". This is so very true and the bonds of morale and dis- cipline developed by these teams with the hours spent together honing their skills and caring and cleaning for their equipment and rifle are absolutely worth it when they stand on the firing point representing their unit to compete to be the best. It reminded me of an article I had read earlier in the first edition of An Cosantóir that was published on 27th December 1940 that I have access to through the online ver- sion of the magazine https://www.dfmagazine.ie/dfmag_ pdfs/1940_1949/ Vol_01_1940/01_ Dec_27/ Vol_1_No_1_ Dec_27 _1940. pdf. In this copy of the original magazine there was an article about the LSF (Local Secu- rity Force) rifle. The LSF was a precursor to the Reserve Defence Force we have today. The article opens with the lines "The rifle issued to the LSF is one of the most modern and one of the best rifles, if not the very best rifle in use. With powerful propellant and streamlined bullet, the trajectory is flat. Consequently during combat compara- tively little adjustments of the sights is necessary." The comparisons to the Steyr AUG are almost the same, as the Steyr is indeed one of the best modern rifles in use by other militaries around the world. The article goes on to list the importance of proper care of the rifle as it states that the "Rifle is a piece of fine mechanism and it must be kept clean, free from rust and well lubricated if it is to do good work and remain in serviceable condition." These sim- ple words are so accurate and true that they are adhered to even to this day and will be adhered to for as long as there are rifles being used by the Defence Forces. It continues to list the Inspections that are to be car- ried out and goes onto speak about the Care and Clean- ing whilst in the Garrison, which we would know as daily cleaning. It then goes onto Care and Cleaning after Firing with the opening words "When a rifle has been fired the bore must be thoroughly cleaned not later that the evening on which it is fired" I'm sure the author will be glad to know that this is still the case today some 80 years after this article was published. The article goes onto speak about removing metal foul-

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