A lieutenant colonel has said Irish soldiers have ramped up their training as they prepare to be deployed on a six-month peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
Soldiers from 23 counties across Ireland are represented among the 381 strong contingent deploying to UNIFIL in the coming weeks, with the majority coming from Co Donegal.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin inspected the troops today at Custume Barracks, Athlone before they travel to Camp Shamrock in south Lebanon.
The posting was struck by a rocket on Wednesday, understood to be travelling north to south towards Israel, but Chief of Staff Sean Clancy said all troops were safe and well.
Despite the development, troops preparing for deployment said they were ready and well-trained for the mission.
Father and son ready for ‘challenge’
Among the group is father and son, Sergeant Major Patrick Enfield and Private Adam Enfield.
Sergeant Major Enfield has been in the Defence Forces for 34 years. Meanwhile, his son is getting ready for his first tour.
“It’s a great privilege that my own son would take up a career in the Defence Forces,” said Sergeant Major Enfield. “It’s a great feeling.”
Asked if he felt apprehensive about his deployment, Private Enfield said: “No looking forward to the challenge, something different, something I sign up for and if I’m homesick, I’m there with my Dad – as well as him being the boss and Sergeant Major.”
Kelly McIntyre from Donegal was there to see her son Private Keenan Barrett on parade.
“I am nervous about it, naturally so,” she said. “So I’m doing a few prayers and throwing holy water.”
Private Barrett himself had no such worries.
“I’ve done the training so I’ll be ready to go…sorry Mum!”
“We will look after each other.”
The youngest soldier due to be deployed is Private Mairtín Heraty.
“I’m excited first of all because we’ve done the training,” he said.
“A lot of hard work and preparation went into it and it’s why I joined the army – to go on these overseas trips so I’m looking forward to it.”
Officer Commanding 125th Infantry Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Shane Rockett, who is on his ninth deployment overseas and his fourth to Lebanon, said there was some anxiety and worry among the troops.
Asked about the rocket hitting Camp Shamrock, he said: “We’re prepared for all incidents like that.”
He added: “This isn’t our first rodeo, we’ve done this before, we’ve done this for a number of years in Lebanon and we’ve seen kinetic activity like this in the past. The Irish army is well prepared for that.
“We will look after each other.”
He said that his “paramount” concern is for his troops but added: “We have a job to do when we go over there.
“Our job is to monitor, support the local Lebanese forces and we’re going to do that.
“It’s nothing we haven’t done before, we train for this stuff on a regular basis in the Defence Forces, but we’ve upped the ante in relation to our training.”
Asked about what they would do on Christmas Day, he said that they plan to have as normal a festive celebration as possible during the peacekeeping mission.
“We try and have a normal Christmas Day, as much as we can normalise it, there’s care packages that are sent out from Ireland, our families actually prepare them and (they) are handed in tomorrow.
“Nobody knows what’s in these care packages, but they’ll be opened on Christmas Day and that will be a little gift for everyone in the battalion.
“We’ll have our Christmas dinner all going well and depending on the operational situation out there and we’ll have a mass on the day of it as well.”
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