An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir June 2015 www.dfmagazine.ie 16 | DCOS Ops maj gen ralph James by SGT WAYNE FITzGERALD an Cosantóir: What is the main thing you would view as your legacy to the Air Corps? maj gen James: The manner in which the Air Corps adjusted to ever chang- ing realities and mission profiles with a greater emphasis on its prime mili- tary mission in support of the DF and greater focus on operational outputs. This involved redefining roles, especially after the loss of SAR, selection and integration of new aircraft and modernising the legislative basis for mili- tary air ops in-line with current international best practice. an Cos: What were the main challenges you faced as DCOS Ops? maj gen James: I suppose the two key issues from an organisational per- spective, apart from normal everyday operational training, etc, would be the re-organisation of the Defence Forces, and the White Paper on defence policy, which is ongoing, and unfortunately I'm not going to see it through to fruition. However, the steering committee are well aware of my views of where its focus should be. In terms of the re-org, we didn't start with a white sheet. There where limitations in what we could achieve but I think, within those limitations, what we have achieved is very worthwhile. I also think, based on visits to all the barracks over the last year, that there's a sense of the worth of the project, and a sense of enthusiasm for the work required. There's a great attitude out there: places like Galway and Kilkenny are up at maximum numbers and there's a vibrancy that wasn't there before, because we were more dispersed and stretched too thinly on the ground. I think we are actually in healthier shape as an organisation. The organisation that finally emerges will be more concentrated and capable, with training in larger formations being the key to operational success. All these changes have contributed to us getting back to a stage where people know what section they are in, what platoon they are in, what company, and so on, whereas we had tended to lose that sense of identity in the past. an Cos: How is the integration of the RDF through the single-force con- cept progressing? maj gen James: To optimise the return from the RDF and for the RDF to feel they are playing a meaningful role within the Defence Forces, the single-force concept was the logical step forward. It does represent a seri- ous culture change, for both the RDF and the PDF, and while I think - again from visits to various locations - it is working better in some places than in others, it has generally been accepted by RDF personnel. We saw the single-force concept operating quite successfully in a number of company exercises last year, and this year hopefully we will see more of it in the bat- talion-level exercises. That's where confidence and trust are built; through training together and seeing each other's standards. So I think the single- force concept was a logical development. In addition, the White Paper may look again at the RDF to see what else they can bring to the table. an Cos: What are your views on our major overseas missions with UNIFIL and UNDOF? maj gen James: Both are going well. Obviously UNDOF went through a challenging period in the middle of last year, but our people came through that, and the main reasons we did were our commitment to training and the way we prepare our personnel. We continually change these to reflect changes taking place in the mission areas; the group going out to UNDOF now have been trained slightly differently to the previous group, who in turn had been trained slightly differently to the group before them. We keep a close eye on what is happening in the mission area and as people come home we involve them in training the next group. We also look ahead to try to identify likely threats. I can honestly say that we pre- pare our people very well. on 17th April 2015 An Cosantóir interviewed Deputy Chief of Staff (operations) Maj Gen Ralph James prior to his retirement from the Defence Forces to take up the position of Director of Safety Regulation with the Irish Aviation Authority. Maj Gen James joined the Defence Forces as a cadet in november 1973 and was awarded his 'wings' and commissioned as a pilot officer with the Air Corps in September 1975. he served in various command and staff appointments, including oC Maritime Sqn, oC training & transport Sqn, Wing operations of- ficer, oC Gormanston, Air Intelligence, oC no 1 Sp Wing, Chief Air Staff operations (CAS ops), and GoC Air Corps and Director of Military Aviation from 2002. In July 2010 he was appointed DCoS ops with responsibility for ops Section, Int Sec- tion, RDF Section, Combat Support Section, and Communications & Information Systems (CIS). During his career with the Air Corps, Maj Gen James was an operational pilot, a flight instructor, and an approved rating examiner, with over 5,500 flying hours. he has flown many aircraft types in various mission profiles, including maritime patrolling and ministerial air transport. he served overseas with UntSo from 1986 until 1988, where he served as an observer on the Golan heights (oGG) and South Lebanon (oGL) before serving as Chief Air Staff officer in Jerusalem.

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