An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir November 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 38 | Cian Harte Cadet SCHool Cadet By SGT KARL BYRNE I grew up in Riverstown, Co Sligo, and I always had an interest in join- ing the Defence Forces even though the only family member I know of that served in the military was a cousin, Capt Charlie Lyons, who served in what was the FCÁ at the time in Athlone. After finishing school in 2010 I went to Queen's Uni- versity in Belfast to study history, a subject that gave me an even bigger interest in the military. While at uni- versity I wrote my first book, 'Soldiers of Sligo', which was published in 2014. My initial plan to apply for the Defence Forces was derailed by a cruciate ligament injury in my knee, suf- fered while playing for my local team, Arrow Harps. While this was a great disappointment, on the posi- tive side it gave me free time to start researching for my second book, 'The Lost Tales, Riverstown's Great War 1914 - 1918', which is the first of a series of books I plan to write. The second in this series, 'Riverstown's Troubles', was published in August this year. Researching and studying military history kept my hunger to join up alive and in the summer of 2014 I joined the RDF, serving with 28 Inf Bn, in Sligo Town. Although my injury limited my involvement, I still got involved in exercises and this taste of military life sharpened my desire to join the PDF. I finally got accepted into the PDF with 59 Recruit Platoon in Cathal Brugha Bks in February 2016. Recruit training was hard, especially the PT, but having lads from all over the country was positive, with so many different characters. The food was excellent, which was a surprise as you hear horror stories before you join. Cpl Dunne from 7 Inf Bn was one of the standout training NCOs for me: highly respected and someone you could always turn to for help and advice. After recruit training our platoon was split be- tween Athlone and Finner Camp for three-star training. I was sent to Finner, which was good as it was closer to home. The three-star course had a huge emphasis on PT, which was hard but also very rewarding. I enjoyed the weapons training too, but for me the most enjoyable part was the riot training. Compared to recruit training we seemed to have more freedom, yet more responsibility, and it felt like sometimes we were given just enough rope to hang ourselves! Our platoon sergeant, Sgt McMenamin, was very inspirational and his talks always gave us the drive to keep going. Finishing the three-star course was a huge achieve- ment and I have to say that I enjoyed it more than recruit training because of the variation. I have now moved into a new phase of my career as I successfully applied for a cadetship, which I started in September in the Military College. I was in the Glen doing Live FireTactical Training (LFTT) all day when I got the email. I was afraid to look at first but when I did I was delighted to find I had been successful. This is a very exciting time for me as my previous training means I'm a step ahead in many ways with the basic training and I'll use my experience as best I can to help my comrades. While I'm looking forward to taking up any role in the Defence Forces, my dream job in the long term would be to work in Military Ar- chives, as I developed a real interest in this area while researching for my books. you can follow Cian on Facebook at www.facebook. com/cianhartehistorian or visit www.cianharte.com to purchase his books.

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