An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir July/August 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 46 | Luke O'NeiLL Air COrps Fire serviCe ArmN L uke grew up in Kilkenny. His first introduction to military life was when he joined the Naval Service in 2005, which was a long commute down to Cobh. He spent a year in the Navy and decided to leave and then reenlisted in the Army in 2006. He trained in the Curragh with the 1 1st Air Defence Regiment (ADR). He spent 6 years in the ADR where he learned a lot about military life and met some great people and friends. He com- pleted many courses like the lifeguard course, swimming instructors course, a military first responders course as well as various weapons courses, but the course he found most beneficial was his MT driver course as he has used it constantly through his career to date. While serving in the ADR he served overseas in Chad in 2008/09 then straight off the plane to Kosovo in 2009. "Doing back to back trips like that was tough but I'm glad I was afforded the opportunity to do the two of them one after the other." After the reorganisation in 2012 Luke was posted to the transport yard in the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC). During that time Luke was proactive in getting various driving courses, which brought him up to 50-seat coach level. In 2014 whilst serving in the transport yard, Luke completed an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course with the Emergency Services Training Institute (ESTI) on his own time in the evenings. "I thoroughly enjoyed this course and knew I could take it into my military career." In 2013 he joined a charity called, 'Children in Hospital Ireland'. With this charity Luke volunteers his time mainly in the oncology ward of Crumlin Children's Hospital on Wednesdays and some weekends. His time spent entertaining and playing with the kids is never wasted doing arts and crafts, paint- ing, and board games or even just keeping them company. After serving 4 years in Tpt Coy DFTC he decided he needed a change and applied for the 'Aviation Fire- fighter Initial Course' in July 2016. He suc- cessfully passed the course and transferred into the Fire Crew in Baldonnel, a decision he says he will never regret making. In May of this year Luke raised nearly €2,000 for 'Aoibhe- anns Pink Tie' char- ity by running a half marathon wearing full military kit with 40lbs of weight in the 'Searlait Tywang' memorial half marathon event. "As well as being very rewarding this kind of charity work can be very emotionally tough but I wouldn't do anything else." My day-to-day job is shift work, either on days or nights, 0800-2000hrs or vice versa on the night shift. The time is spent doing equipment checks on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) e.g. breathing apparatus, gloves, fire- suit, boots, helmet and flash-hoods. We also check the cars and trucks, specifically the water and foam pumps, fuel and general maintenance of the vehicles. As well as these tasks we are also responsible for doing inspections of the airfield, looking for birds, Foreign Object Debris (FOD) or anything that may obstruct or damage an aircraft on take-off or landing. Another task of the unit is to be vigilant of the Garda Air Support Unit (GASU) helicopter as it takes off and lands, that can happen at anytime of the day or night. An on going part of his job is the con- stant training, as a fire-fighter it's es- sential to keep up to date with current training and procedures. This is done by engaging in PowerPoint presenta- tions given by the NCOs, completing practical exercises on fire-fighting drills and tactics, which includes the use of the aircraft fuselage located in the 'fire grounds'. "Having and using that facil- ity is great to keep our skills relevant to our job as it has both a large and small type engine on either wing." They also keep their skills honed by the random alarm drills, which can happen at any time: "Hearing the alarm going off can be exciting and adrenaline pumping, be it real or an alarm drill." "I love my job; it's constantly chang- ing and updating itself with new drills and techniques for fire-fighting and I hope to stay here for the rest of my career in the Defence Forces." REPoRt AND PHotoS by SGT KARL ByRNE

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