An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 5 Manager Comdt Colin Lawlor info@military.ie +353 (0)45 44 5306 Editor Sgt Wayne Fitzgerald magazine@military.ie +353 (0)45 44 5307 Connect Sgt Karl Byrne connect@military.ie Photo/Journalist Cpl Lee Coyle journalist@military.ie Photographer Cpl Neville Coughlan photo@military.ie Subscriptions Cpl Kelly Gallagher +353 (0)45 44 5312 subs@military.ie DF/PR Information Cpl Lynn Ryan admin@military.ie +353 (0)45 44 5308 DF Webmaster Sgt Mick Burke +353 (0)45 44 5309 webmaster@military.ie Magazine Archivist Mr Sean Shinnors Designer/Advertising JM Publishing & Media, Arklow, Co. Wicklow,Ireland Tel: +353 15331911 Tel: +353871344135 Web: www.jmpublishing.ie Email: info@jmpublishing.ie Printer Turner's Printing Co., Ltd Earl Street, Longford, Ireland Tel: +353 (0)43 3350500 The fact that an article appears in this magazine does not indicate official approval of the views expressed by the author. © Published by OiC Public Relations Branch for the Defence Forces at DFHQ, Block 5, Ceannt Bks, DFTC, Curragh Camp, Co Kildare, Ireland. Tel: +353 (0)45 445312 Front Cover Pictured are some images with the Defence Forces providing aid to the civil authority (ATCA). For more Defence Forces photographs, checkout: www.flickr.com/photos/ dfmagazine Editorial H ello, and welcome to our April issue, in which the main focus is on providing aid to the community through aid to the civil authority operations and training for public order operations. As usual, your photographs from home and overseas stand tall On Parade, and are followed by our first In Focus piece, which looks at the An Cosantóir/JM Publishing- sponsored Lt Gen MJ Costello Awards 2017 for contributions to the magazine. Our other In Focus feature is on Engineers Week with 2 Bde Fd Engrs Coy, from Custume Bks, Athlone. Veterans News looks at recent awards to an off-duty garda and a taximan who saved the life of a member of the Naval Service Association. Our front-cover feature, Manpower & Mobility, reports on the activities of the 1,814 DF personnel and 533 vehicles deployed in support of the civil authorities during Storm Emma. This is followed by a short piece on Seimineár Gaeilge 2017 by Capt Cillian de Brún (2 BAR), which took place in the NMCI in Cork in December. (The piece is also reproduced as Gaeilge in our online version.) Next, CPO/ERA Ruairí de Barra and L/Sea Donnach Curtain continue our look at the Naval Service with Muscle & Blood, which focuses on the ship's crew, without whom our ships would never leave the quay. In Fight Light – Fight Right BSM Mick Smyth (7 Inf Bn) and Comdt Gavin Egerton (OiC NCOTW) look at a new infantry fighting concept that is evolving internationally and is being developed in the DF by the NCOTW. This is also the focus of Fighting Light by CQMS (AR) Michael Barrett (7 Inf Bn), from an RDF perspective. Cpl Lee Coyle is up next, speaking to members of the Naval Service Reserve (NSR), who train men and women to supplement and aid their Naval Service colleagues. Shields Up, Visors Down! continues our main theme where Capt Sarah O'Regan (2 BTC) covers a recent public order training instructors (POTI) course, which culminated in a multi-agency exercise carried out with An Garda Síochána and the National Ambulance Service in Gormanston Camp. In our first History piece Sgt Robert Delaney (Ordnance Base Workshops), looks at a First World War 18-pounder field gun discovered in the US and which is believed to be one of nine guns the British gave to the Free State army in 1922. In our second History feature, American author, Joseph EA Connell Jnr, looks at the extensive use of IEDs by Irish rebel forces during the Irish War of Independence. Our first Sports feature looks at the Defence Forces Association of Mountaineers (DFAM) team who participated in a recent climbing meet on the Costa Blanca in Spain. This is followed by Gnr Pauric O'Sullivan's who's who of the Defence Forces Indoor Track & Field Championships 2018. All this plus our regular features: Tac-Aide, Gear Review, Noticeboard, Book Reviews, and What I Do Now. Sgt Wayne Fitzgerald - Editor Congratulations to members of 146 Pln, seen here receiv- ing their three-star rank markings from Comdt Waters (OC Comp B, 1 Cn Cois) on completion of their training. Photo: Cpl John Greene (1 Cn Cois).

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