An Cosantóir

14 With a husband in the Army and her own role as a Naval Commander taking her away frequently, Cdr Roberta O'Brien thought a posting to Brussels would allow the couple and their three young children to be together as a family again. "My husband Peader – who is a Lt Col in the Army – is on the military staff in Brussels so I looked for a job where we could all be together. He was away a lot with his job and I was sometimes away too, so this was a great opportunity for us", Roberta recalls. She goes on: "I was to take up a post a Voluntary National Contributor in NATO HQ in Brussels but it fell through. So, I am currently on parental leave here in Brussels doing things like home schooling with our children, Saoirse (8) and twins Aishling and Antoine (6)." But typical of this dedicated Naval Officer, she continues to study for a Certificate in General Data Protection in Carlow IT while in the Belgian capital and remains hopeful that "something will come up." In the meantime, Roberta can look back on a very successful, groundbreaking 26 years' service with the Navy. She and Lt Cdr Orlaith Gallagher were the first women to join the Naval Service back in 1994. "I joined straight after school," she recalls, "I applied for a Cadetship when I was just 17. I was actually so young that my parents had to sign over my guardianship to the Naval Service. This was in 1995, the Naval Service had actually opened up to women in 1994 but they couldn't find anyone. It was all so new, they originally thought about sending us to the UK for training, but they changed their minds and we were sent off to the Curragh to join other Cadets from the Army and Air Corps. Being the first women to join didn't really concern Roberta at the time. "At 17 I didn't really know myself, so I didn't think too deeply about all of that, although I realised it was a bit of a novelty to be a woman amongst so many men. I just thought I had a job to do to get through the training, I was not thinking about being a woman." From the Glen of Aherlow in Tipperary, Roberta was sporty and CDR ROBERTA O'BRIEN By Tony O'Brien Photos provided by Cdr Roberta O'Brien outdoorsy. She played hurling with a male team in her home area, because they didn't have a camogie team and also played Gaelic football. "When I was trying to figure what to do, I looked at PE teaching but I had heard about the Naval Service and, coincidentally, it was just after opening up to women at the time. So that helped spark my interest, especially as I wanted to combine my love of the outdoors and sports etc with a job that was a little different. When I looked closely at the Naval Service, it seemed to meet that", she recalls. But it didn't really come as a complete surprise that Roberta would have an interest in the sea. Although she hailed from a land-locked county, her mother grew up in Haulbowline, where Roberta's grandfather had been a Warrant officer with the Navy. "So I guess there was a natural link to the sea." Even as a schoolgirl she showed an interest: "I remember on a school trip to the Port of Waterford, we went on board a merchant ship and I asked all sorts of questions. I asked what it took to become a ship's Captain and one of the things mentioned was maths - and I really enjoyed maths." So Roberta eventually found herself on the Cadetship course, beginning in the Curragh. "In the early days it was essentially military training, marching, weapons use etc. Luckily, we went back to Haulbowline after a while and we began what I call 'Navalised' training. Basically, they wanted us to get used to life at sea, to being sailors." Overall the Cadetship training was tough, mentally and physically, particularly in the Curragh. "You were settling into a military lifestyle, we were all strangers in a strange place. But you got to make friends, some I still have to this day." However, when training shifted back to Naval HQ, Roberta quickly knew that the job was for her. "Especially when we got out to sea and spent time on ships like the LE Deirdre and LE Eimear. Putting into practice what we were learning was all the confirmation I needed that I had made the right choice." v Cadets Roberta O'Brien and Orlaith Gallagher carrying out Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) training as Cadets in Cork Harbour back in 1996

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