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105 INF BN IN REVIEW AND MRE
Over the past several months 450 personnel of the 105 Inf Bn have been getting themselves ready for overseas deploy- ment to UNIFIL. During the month of October their prepara- tions culminated in a three week Mission Readiness Exercise (MRE) in the Glen of Imaal. The MRE tests all personnel in every scenario a peacekeeper may encounter during his six month tour of duty. The men and women of the 105 Inf Bn primarily come from the 1 S Bde with 3 Inf Bn as the lead unit. Lt Col Philip Brennan is the Battalion Commander. On November 8 in Kilkenny Castle the Battalion held
their Ministerial Review. In attendance was Minister of State for Defence Mr Paul Kehoe TD, Lt Gen Seán McCann (COS) and Brig Gen Paul Pakenham (GOC 1 S Bde). The Minister stated that, "the International Community continues to view Lebanon as a very volatile environment
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARMN NEVILLE COUGHLAN & ARMN PADDY REILLY (105 SQN)
requiring a robust and extensive international presence." During the early hours on the November 16/17, the first
chalk of the 105 Inf Bn departed Dublin Airport bound for Lebanon. They left on a chartered Air Berlin, Airbus A330- 200, the troops boarding the aircraft and the National Stores Reception Centre (NSRC) staff had to deal with torrential rain during the load. The NSRC are a little known unit which is currently embedded in the DFLB in the DFTC and as such provide an extremely valuable service to the DF on all deployments and extractions from overseas missions. All overseas luggage and freight is dispatched via the NSRC. This pool of expertise is often overlooked and unrecognised by the wider Defence Community. In all overseas deployments they are among the first to be deployed and the last to be extracted.
An Cosantóir December 2011
