An Cosantóir

34 | what i do "a Reservist has to be committed to his family, his work, and still go out there and put on his uniform and serve his country" DAMIEN O'HERLIHY LIEUTENANT 62 RES CAV SQN I am a Support Troop Commander in the 62 Res Cav Sqn. In my day job I work as a Fraud Analyst in the Credit Control Dept in Eircom. I am originally from Knocknaheeney in Co. Cork. I moved up to Dublin in 1985. I did a degree in Computer Science and Software Engineering in Kevin Street, and then a degree in Computer Science in Trinity College Dublin. I started working for Eircom in 2001, as a Fraud Analyst we vet all applications for high ends or high value handsets that come in from either e-mobile or Meteor, or sub-vendors such as Carphone Warehouse. We have an early shift and a late shift so there is always continuity. So no matter what time of day a customer puts in an application they will be vetted and up and running as quickly as possible. We do catch up to 5-10 people a day using fraudulent documents or ID's. Sometimes this is a genuine honest mistake, such as a passport out-of-date, but there are offenders. There is what we call an intelligence share with the likes of the Garda Síochána and other licence operators. If there are well known repeat offenders we pass on that information. I really like my job, it's different every day, and it's very challenging. Some of the fraudsters are very very technically capable and have some fantastic documents and ID's. I joined the Resave in 1991. Back then with the 11 Cav Sqn we had a regular parade of 140 every week. Great unit. Over the years we have produced some high calibre people including TD's, doctors, ARW commanders, PDF unit commanders, and even the current Director of Cav Lt Col Gerry Brennan was a Trooper in 11 Cav Sqn. Getting a presidential commission was a great hon- our for me. The Spt Trp is the heavy armoured section of a cavalry squadron. Spt Trp consists of three Panhard AML 90's. Basically Spt Trp provides fire support for Recce Trp, which uses Panhard AML 20's, get in trouble. We lay down either heavy fire or smoke so the AML 20's can make a withdraw. As the tip of the spear it is vital that the Recce element get their information back to HQ. I took part in the reserve integration with the PDF. Our parent unit is 2 Cav Sqn. I felt the integration was a great success. The Cavalry Corps is small so we tend to work closely with our PDF counterparts on a regular basis. We had the benefit of that relationship already built. During the in- tegration I did courses on AML 20 gunnery, truck driving, the M203, the HK USP, CBRN. I told them not to treat me any different than a regular soldier I'll pass and fail on my own merit. They didn't. It was great. The camarade- rie that was built was brilliant. Our working relationship with 2 Cav Sqn is still fantastic. I am the person I am today because of what I have learnt in the Re- serve: team-working, teambuilding, team-leading, motivation, discipline, loyalty, problem-solving, and project-management. All these skills I apply everyday in my job here in Eircom. As an employer Eircom benefit from all these skills. I think all companies would benefit from having a Reserv- ist as an employee because they have an understanding of what it takes to stand up and step up to the mark. An Cosantóir April 2012 www.dfmagazine.ie WHAT I DO

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