An Cosantóir

8| Farewell to the by Sgt Wayne Fitzgerald Photos Armn Neville Coughlan Chief O n July 25, 2013 a Stand Down Ceremony took place in McDermott Bks, DFTC in honour of the Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Seán McCann prior to his retirement from the Defence Forces. The ceremony included a parade of troops from all formations and brigades of the Defence Forces, a Cavalry Corps drive past and concluded with a 'lights out' ceremony in Plunkett Bks, DFTC. His military career started in 1970 as an army cadet and his rise up through the ranks has seen him hold the positions of DCOS Ops, D Ops and D Cav as well as instructing in the Military College and United Nations Training School Ireland (UNTSI). He is a graduate of UCG and of the United States Command and General Staff College (USCGSC, Fort Leavenworth). In October 2011, he was formally inducted into the International Hall of Fame at USCGSC, Fort Leavenworth as recognition of International Officer Graduates who have achieved the highest positions of command and authority in their respective militaries. He is the first Irish graduate to have achieved this award. He completed six tours of duty overseas seeing service in Lebanon (UNIFIL, 1981 & '87), Israel, Iraq/Kuwait border (UNIKOM, 1991) Former Yugoslavia (EUMM, 2000) and in 2002-03 he was Chief Operations Officer with UNTSO based in Jerusalem. In sport he captained the Defence Forces and the Curragh (now Newbridge Rugby Club) rugby teams and played for UCG and Connacht. The Chief of Staff is assigned authority and responsibility by the Minister of Defence in respect of all staff duties connected with the executive management of the Defence Forces. The Office of the Chief of Staff (COS) consists of his Personal Staff, a Strategic Planning Branch and a Public Relations Branch. Lt Gen Conor O'Boyle, formerly Deputy Chief of Staff (Sp), has succeeded Lt Gen Seán McCann, who retired on 12 August 2013. We would like to wish them both every success in their future endeavours. THE IMVG ANNUAL SHOW by Sgt Wayne Fitzgerald Photos Sgt Mick Burke & Sgt Wayne Fitzgerald T he Irish Military Vehicles Group (IMVG) held their 6th annual event at Naas Racecourse on the 22/23 June 2013. An Cosantóir was invited along to visit the show and meet some members of the group. The show is now in its third year at Naas Racecourse and included static military vehicle displays with bicycles, motorbikes, Land Rovers, ACMATS and Bedford trucks, APCs and an AML 90, trade stalls selling a wide range of military related items, re-enactors depicting different periods of history including WWII, Roman and Irish Civil War, it also had other activities like rifle ranges and paintballing. The racecourse is a great location to hold such a big event, with restaurant and toilet facilities on hand and a hard-core track around the fields where the exhibits are, which allowed for inclement weather. Ken Blair, the groups PRO met us and showed us around the show. He said "The IMVG is a club for Military Vehicle enthusiasts and is the largest group of its kind in Ireland. We have over forty members who An Cosantóir September 2013 www.dfmagazine.ie own nearly thirty vehicles between them. This year's show has seen the number of visitors and exhibitors grown from last year." The main ethos or mission behind IMVG is to Restore, Preserve and Educate others; they do this by attending shows and displaying their vehicles throughout the year as part of a Living History. Some of the main events we attended so far are: Athy St Patricks Day Parade, Naas Easter Parade, Listowel Military Tattoo, MVCI Curragh Show, Duncannon Military Show and most recently the War and Peace Show in Folkstone, Kent – the biggest event in the UK and Ireland. An Cosantóir would like to thank Ken Blair, Jennifer Kelly, Conor McDonnell, Mick Jones and all the guys and gals for the great reception and show – keep up the good work and we wish you even more success in 2014. If you are interested in knowing more visit their facebook page or website: www. facebook.com/IrishMilitaryVehiclesGroup/ or www.imvg.ie.

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