An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir July/August 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 28 | Award, which was awarded to An Cosantóir's best contributors. (The award fell into abeyance in 2006.) In 1981 An Cosantóir switched to an A4 format, and increased its use of colour images. More commemorative issues followed, 1983 alone having issues devoted to 3 Inf Bn, 4 Inf Bn and 4 Fd Arty Regt. Articles tended to reflect the Defence Forces' role in defending against an external threat, with some tacit references to the growing ATCP role. The January 1984 issue included a tribute to Pte Patrick Kelly, the first Irish soldier killed in action on home service since the Civil War. By this time the PDF strength was 18,000 with 15,000 FCÁ. Many items feature barracks and posts which have since ceased operations. Articles featured the first female personnel and the growing practice of adventure sports in the Defence Forces. CPO JE Lucey contributed a series of high quality short stories about the Naval Service. The Irish deployment with UNIFIL was also covered extensively. By the journal's 50th anniversary in 1990, monthly circulation had reached 5,200. In 1992 PO Ray Slattery became the first NCO editor and the magazine adopted the lavishly illustrat- ed 'glossy' format that continues to this day. In the same year, Connect, a wide-circulation freesheet began publication and in 1994 An Cosantóir Review was launched to cater for more scholarly military articles (later relaunched as the Defence Forces Review). By 1995, An Cosantóir could comment that, "regular readers will have noticed the change in the contents of the magazine...a conscious decision was made to target subjects of general interest to the reader." An Cosantóir covered 5 Inf Bn marching out of Collins Barracks in April 1997 was covered, having already covered the barracks' future role as part of the National Museum. Griffith Bar- racks' new role as a university also featured. In 2000 the magazine covered the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and the deployment of Irishbatt up to the Israeli border. The following year saw the withdrawal of Irishbatt from UNI- FIL. At the time it was presumed that this marked the end of the Defence Forces' long associa- tion with Lebanon and An Cosantóir produced a landmark 100-page commemorative edition. The next decade saw coverage of the final years of the FCÁ and the emergence of the new Reserve Defence Force in 2006. Overseas missions were featured, in particular the deployment in Liberia. There was increasing use of vox pops (voice of the people) to provide views from the ground, which reflected increasingly higher standards of training and equipment across the Defence Forces. Many proud units were disestablished during another major reorganisation in 2012; many stretching back to the foundation of the state. For units such as 4 Inf Bn, 5 Inf Bn, 2 Inf Bn, 2 Fd Arty Regt, 4 Fd Arty Regt, 4 Cav Sqn, and 1 ADR, the months of November and December saw them fly their colours, standards, and pennants for the last time. Recent innovations have included An Cosantóir's increasingly informative website, which includes an impressive online catalogue of back issues. Few Irish journals have attained a 75-year lifespan and it is no exaggeration to state that it is difficult to imagine a Defence Forces without An Cosantóir. Here's to the next 75 years!

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