An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 7 Our team is comprised of one Irish Captain, and two Irish Sgts, all of whom worked together previously in 28 Inf Bn. Both of the Irish Sgts, Sgt Shane Gallagher and Sgt Damian Reilly have served in the CIMIC Sgt role before 121 Inf Bn and 126 Inf Bn, respectively. We work closely with our Polish CIMIC colleagues, who have six personnel in total in their cell. One of the key functions of the CIMIC Cell is meeting with local leadership in the form of Key Leader Engagements (KLEs). In IRISHPOLBATT's AO, we have 14 municipalities, with 14 individual Mayors. These 14 municipalities are headed by the Director of the Union of Municipalities, who is based in the village of Bint Jubayl. We work closely with him, and indeed all 14 municipality mayors, to hear their needs and concerns. We in turn, with the assistance of our Polish S9 colleagues, endeavour to provide key life support projects to alleviate some of their concerns. Some of the projects completed by IRISHPOLBATT include solar power installation, waste management plant building, and streetlights systems. The mayors would often fondly recall in these meetings meeting Irish soldiers as far back as 1978 when the first peacekeepers came to south Lebanon. They share endearing stories from the years of cooperation with UNIFIL they have enjoyed and express their sadness at the looming mission drawdown in December 2026. In 127 Inf Bn CIMIC Cell, one of our priorities is community engagement and outreach. We attend the local market in Bint Jubayl every Thursday, where we are warmly welcomed by the local vendors. Here we purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables, nuts and the famous "manooshis". We have played several soccer matches in Debel (women's), Bayt Yahun (men's), Bint Jubayl (men's) and Kunin (men's). These are important outreach activities which the locals thoroughly enjoy. After these matches, we are in the privileged position where we can donate news sports gear, gathered in Ireland by the CIMIC cell during pre-deployment training, to the players and their children. We're due a few rematches, which we hope can go ahead during our tenure. Overall CIMIC is an immensely rewarding and eye-opening cell to be a part of. To see the locals in their own communities offers a unique insight into how UNIFIL is perceived by the communities and reinstates the importance of the role of peacekeepers in the region. As we say in almost all of our encounters with the local people, we as a nation will miss the people of south Lebanon dearly once the drawdown of the mission is complete.

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