An Cosantóir

course. As we often say to students on day 1 – while there is a lot of climbing over the next 2 weeks, this is not a climbing course. The aim of the 3 weeks is to build students up in their confidence, their abilities and their systems. This is so that when they go on to run adventure camps, they will ensure that the troops that they have running through their ropes, top rope or abseil are confident in themselves and come away from the activities feeling better than before they started. The mountain skills course has been resurrected and ran over the last two years. Both years it has been ran out of Killorglin, Co. Kerry. The mountain skills course is a strenuous course but also extremely rewarding. Over the course of a week, students will do various routes over the MacGillycuddy Reeks, learning the importance of route selection, contingency plans, appropriate dress, kit and equipment, an intro to navigation, taking a group out and pacing. Each day students will be given the chance to 'lead' a walk and put the skills they're learning into action. Each year the Defence Forces will send 4 members of DFAM that have met the qualifying criteria to Switzerland to participate on the international Swiss PfP course. The course is ran over 2 weeks in the Swiss Alps. Over this time, we learn mountaineering, crevasse rescue techniques, ice climbing, short roping, sports climbing and navigation. The course is highly sought after and has personnel from different international militaries. On my course, we worked with Canadian pararescue, US Army Mountain Warfare School, Polish Cadets and US National Guard. The knowledge and skillset that we learn on the course is brought back and implemented to our future planning for courses, making it a vital course to participate in. The Swiss military instructors are highly trained and full of expertise. It's a privilege to work alongside them for the 3 weeks and to gain the knowledge they have. It is also a great opportunity to engage with other militaries and help our mountaineering network grow. Rescue In the past year, thanks to CQMS Noel Shannon, DFAM has also gotten more deeply involved in rescue elements. Last October we participated in the first on island multi agency rope rescue workshop run by Dublin Fire Brigade. Each team was given various different scenarios in which we had to rescue people from, each one more challenging than the last. There were various different teams participating including Dublin Fire Brigade, Sligo Mountain Rescue, Water Rescue Ireland, Garda ERU, and Malaga Rope Rescue. After various training days and work shopping techniques, we went into the grounds of the DFB training center expecting to have a bit of fun and enjoy the day. What we didn't expect was to win best overall team. For those on the team, this was a huge boost of confidence in our abilities and has pushed us to focus an element of DFAM on learning rescue techniques. Members of DFAM have previously been called in to assist with SAR operations on Blacksod and Slieve League, further cementing the need for a rescue element and skillset in DFAM. Notable Achievements DFAM has various members that have completed some monumental feats. Some of these include: An Expedition to the Himalayas without porters/ sherpas (Comdt (Retd) Kevin McDonald) Summiting Denali (6190m) in 2019 (FQMS Fran Whelan & Sgt Paul O Connell), Mt Blanc (4805m) (Comdt John O'Brien), Mount Toubkal (4167m) (Cpl Patrick McDonald & Lt Ronan O'Neill) Contact and joining If you are interested in finding out more on DFAM or courses, you can check out the IKON or CONNECT page and find your local brigade rep. alternatively you can contact: • treasurerdfam@gmail.com • Sarah.nolan@defenceforces.ie Treasurer • Noel.shannon@defenceforces.ie Secretary • Richard.griffiths@defenceforces.ie Chairman | 25 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE Swiss summer PfP 2023, on Rhone glacier. Capt Tim Quinlan, Sgt Sarah Nolan, Cpl Kady McKenna and Cpl John Sharkey along with Polish military, US rangers & mountain warfare school and Canadian pararescue Swiss summer PfP outside Andermatt Barracks FQMS Fran Whelan and Sgt Paul O'Connell, at Gran Paradiso, Italy FQMS Fran Whelan and Sgt Paul O'Connell on Denali, Alaska in 2019 Sgt Erasmus at the bottom of Mirror wall waiting for a student on the most recent CTI course Rope rescue team from DFB workshops. CQ Emmet Powell, Sgt Sarah Nolan , Cpl Patrick McDonald , Cpl Kady McKenna, FQMS Fran Whelan, Sgt Erasmus, CQMS Noel Whelan (not pictured Capt Richard Griffiths)

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