An Cosantóir the official magazine of the Irish Defence Forces and Reserve Defence Forces.
Issue link: https://digital.jmpublishing.ie/i/1513398
| 29 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE food and catering requirements for the Irish Defence Forces continued in 2023. This included the sourcing and supply of fresh rations and Operational Ration Packs, the payment of overseas rations and for the provision of Front of House services for the Defence Forces. There are currently ten different food categories for the DF to source and supply from including bread, cooking oil, dairy, eggs, fresh fish, frozen foods, fruit and vegetables, meat and poultry and ambient products. The Daily Ration Rate was increased to €8 in 2023 to allow for greater flexibility and efficiency from all involved in the food cycle. Throughout the year, the Corps and in particular the Ordnance School when not engaged with teaching the next generation of Ordnance personnel endeavoured to maintain strong and established links with both academia and Industrial partners, including Science Foundation Ireland and Defence Research, Technology and Innovation (RTI) in its capacity to incorporate new and emerging technologies. All of the above would not be possible without the dedication and continued effort of all personnel within the Corps and the constant feedback from the end user / soldier, the single most important capability in any Defence Forces. INFANTRY CORPS BY LT COL DAMIEN MURPHY 2023 proved to be yet another busy year for the Infantry Corps and all three Wings of the Infantry School. The Corps, despite many challenges, continued to develop and enhance capabilities, while also continuing to deliver its operational outputs. The education and development of our personnel continued at both officer and NCO level. The Infantry School conducted the full spectrum of career courses including the Land Command and Staff course (LCSC) and an Infantry Platoon Commanders course as well as a Senior NCO, Infantry Platoon Sergeant and All Arms Standard courses during the year. This resulted in a total of 271 pers completing career courses necessary for promotion in 2023. The LCSC and the Senior NCO courses also benefited from the increasing use of Blended Learning as a means of course delivery, with both courses now having a significant proportion of their respective content delivered remotely. It is intended to further develop and enhance the use of blended learning on all career courses within the Infantry School over the coming year. Also in 2023 four of the DFs' seven Infantry Battalions assumed the role of "Lead" Battalion for overseas deployments, and underwent the associated Mission Readiness Evaluations before their deployment. Indeed, the deployment of the 6 Inf Bn is significant as it will be the final DF Battalion to deploy to UNDOF, with the withdrawal of the Inf Gp from UNDOF scheduled in 2024. The IWW continued to ensure the maintenance and development of Support Company competencies throughout the year. In 2023 a Javelin Instructor course, LFTT course and a much needed Mortar Instructor course were successfully conducted by the IWW with further courses planned for 2024. The Mortar Instructor and LFTT courses in particular were critical in ensuring the maintenance and development of our competencies for these critical capabilities. In 2023, The Inf School continued to contribute to the professional development of the Army Reserve (AR) by supporting an AR Senior NCO Course. This course was conducted over a number of weekends and culminated in a two week Field Training Exercise in Kilworth where pers were exercised in a number of areas including ammunition resupply, casualty extraction and the Field administration of a coy. In total 25 AR personnel completed the course. In terms of development the Infantry School has also recently received the approval of the doctrinal committee for its proposal to update DF Land Doctrine thereby establishing an updated bedrock for Officer and NCO training and education in Land Operations and Activities. In September, an Infantry Tactical competition was conducted by the NCOTW in Kilworth. This year the competition took the form of a section- in-attack and after a highly competitive competition, 1 Mech Inf Coy emerged victorious. The IWW also conducted an international sniper competition in September during which 19 Sniper teams competed including 10 international teams, with the 27 Inf Bn emerging as overall team winners. ENGINEER CORPS BY COMDT BRIAN COUGHLAN 2023 has once again been a busy year for the Corps of Engineers, with the Corps celebrating its centenary with a parade in McDermott Barracks, DFTC on Thursday 9th November. This event saw serving and retired members of the Corps parade, catch up and reminisce on Corps activities both at home and overseas over the last one hundred years. The primary focus of our Combat Engineer Units has been on the NATO Operational Capabilities Concept (OCC), with 2 Field Engineer Company undertaking the Self Evaluation (SEL) in July and the National Evaluation (NEL) in November. Under the stewardship of Comdt John Murphy as Company Commander and CS Brian Donnelly as Company Sergeant, the unit have undertaken extensive training in preparation for both evaluation periods. In addition, the Corps has supported two training missions to Cyprus as part of the EUMAM (European Union Military Assistance Mission) assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, training Ukrainian personnel in military search, demining and UXO disposal. This training mission has seen our Officers and NCO's build on the Corps extensive ESSC experience at home and overseas, while also gaining an insight into the current explosive threats being faced in this conflict. In addition, the Corps has recently taken delivery of a new Medium Girder Bridge (MGB), which will enhance the Corps' bridging capabilities as well as new generators to support our deployed troops in UNIFIL and the upgrade of our ESSC equipment as part of the Equipment Development Plan. The Corps of Engineers continued supporting the Defence Forces with its Infrastructure delivery through both the Infrastructural Development Plan (IDP) and its Delegated Annual Procurement Plan with an expected delivery of €42.1M worth of construction this year. To date, nine IDP projects have been completed at a cost of €10M, 12 projects are ongoing valued at €34.3M, four projects have been carried over from 2022 valued at €18.1M, 16 new projects started in 2023, valued at €26.3M and 15 | 29 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE Inf: Recruit on a recent training exercise Inf: Students firing the Carl Gustaf 84 anti-tank weapon Inf: Students on a recent shoot firing the 12.7mm HMG Engr: Recent NATO exercise testing CBRN skills Engr: Students on a Combat Engineers course learning to build bridges