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gry but ultimately productive meeting with the CIMIC duty team. "When you look at the Scandinavian countries they are great at mixing up military, police and civilians in planning and training, so when they go overseas they are much more adaptable. An exercise like this is a great step forward." We also met 'Gerry Dooley' a spokesman for the local
minority, 'Pastor Lewis' and 'Fr Kelly' religious leaders in the local community, 'Capt Martin Logan' and his uncle 'Col Paul Logan', and of course 'Jude McGrath' the rebel militia leader. In reality; We also met Capt Gerry Gaulle, Coy Sgt Alan Lowry, Sgt Maj Christy Bourke, Capt Jack Fahy (all RDFTA), Prof Paul Walsh (UCD), and Kieran O'Loughlin (RRC) masquerading as various characters from community spokesmen to rebel militia. Media relations are an important aspect covered on the
CIMIC course and we were also given a part to play in 'Mis- sionPoint'. Along with Cpl Fergal Foley and Sgt Dave Rooney
An Cosantóir March 2012 www.dfmagazine.ie
(DFAVS), and MDP student Sinead Harris, Billy and I were roped in to play the part of a roaming media team, with a brief to 'make the job a little bit more difficult' for the CIMIC teams! Initially the teams couldn't figure out how the report- ers knew about, and got to, incidents before they did but then again the reporter of course has the skill of talking to everyone and promising all sides their story will be heard. Understandably, it is not easy talking in front of a camera
and being asked tough questions such as 'What is the UN doing about protecting the IDPs?' One wrong word and you could end up derailing the whole mission. At one point the CIMIC teams started to get irate with us as we were becom- ing a problem. Things came to a head when we ended up in the CIMIC house before a meeting they had organised between two religious leaders. Two students tried to use their rank, which of course meant nothing to us as civilian reporters, and we were finally escorted out at gunpoint by
