An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir June 2015 www.dfmagazine.ie 18 | 'no Cost' by COMDT RORY ESLER, 47 INF GP UNIFIL 47 inf gp deployed to uniFiL in South Lebanon in two stages towards the end of 2014. the advance party, comprised of the main staff officers and nCOs, deployed on 11th november, followed by the main body on 22nd november. the Chief CimiC Officer (S9) was part of the advance group and was in theatre during the hOtO (handover/takeover) period with 45 inf gp, while SO S9 deployed with the main body. On 20th november, 47 inf gp took over from 45 inf gp and became part of 214 Finnirish Batt, composed of 181 irish and 325 Finnish personnel. the S9 cell has four staff members, two irish (commandant and lieutenant) and two Finnish (captain and lieutenant). CIMIC is commonly considered a force multiplier and one of the objectives of the S9 cell in FinIrishBatt is to assist in developing force protec- tion for the operational companies within the AOR. This is mainly achieved through key leader engagement (KLE) and local leader engagement (LLE), and by implementing projects that have been identified as being beneficial to UNIFIL, FinIrishBatt and local communities. Each of the 14 municipalities within FinnIrish Batt AO has numerous CIMIC project proposals and each mayor has a number of reasons why their village should benefit from CIMIC activity. It is up to the staff of the S9 cell to conduct proper analysis of all projects; consider the needs of the battalion and the municipality; and liaise with Civilian Affairs, and in some cases the qaimaqam (governor of the provin- cial district), to establish if there is a priority list for the region for that year and to identify which of the villages are most in need. Due to the naturally high turnover of military staff in UNIFIL, with two troop rotations most years, there is very limited 'mission memory'. Even with the best intentions only a limited handover of knowledge, procedures and processes can be achieved during a nine-day HOTO period. Maintaining the established relationships with civilian UNIFIL staff and local actors within the AO is therefore of vital importance. Such contacts are in a position to refer to works completed within a 12- to 24-month period, confirm how well, or otherwise, various projects were received, and identify which were of most benefit. When 47 Inf Gp's S9 cell deployed to UNP 2-45 all available funds from Irish Aid and Finnish Aid had already been committed to CIMIC projects for the 2014 financial year. Knowing that the next budgets would not be finalised and ap- proved until early March 2015, the focus of the cell quickly turned to 'no cost' Lt Ruairi Millane conducting English Language lessons in Ain Ibil

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