THE OFFICER LEADING 381 Irish soldiers preparing to deploy to war torn Lebanon has said that his troops will be the eyes and ears of the international community.
Lieutenant Colonel Shane Rockett was speaking in the Glen of Imaal where the 125th Infantry Battalion are undergoing their final training ahead of their trip to replace the Irish troops in the UNIFIL Peacekeeping mission.
Rockett told The Journal that the training and exercises being completed by the troops has been redesigned to fit incidents that the 124th Infantry Battalion has experienced on their current deployment.
Israeli forces invaded South Lebanon in early October and for a time occupied ground outside an Irish manned outpost known as UNP 6-52. Images obtained by this website showed Merkava tanks and other vehicles apparently using the compound for cover.
Rockett said 24 of the troops already in Lebanon will stay there to assist his soldiers who are planning to deploy in the middle of November. He admitted that is depending on the situation on the ground and that a decision may have to be taken depending on the security situation at the time.
The officer said the focus of the training has been around “force protection” measures — in other words, the specific practices and procedures used by the soldiers to keep each other safe.
The Irish soldier’s primary job in South Lebanon is to patrol a demarcation line on the de facto Israeli and Lebanon border known as the Blue Line. Their mandate is to monitor breaches of the international agreement, which was established by the UN following the withdrawal of Israeli troops in the early 2000s.
Rockett said that the situation on the ground means that the Irish have had to change how they operate in the country.
“Our posture has changed and our normal patrolling of the Blue Line, monitoring of the Blue Line and activities along the Blue Line still occurs, but it probably occurs in a more restricted environment now. We had access and freedom of movement throughout UNIFIL’s area, but that freedom of movement is now very much restricted because of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon,” he said.
Rockett, who is from Carrick on Suir, Co Tipperary, said that he has been discussing with the troops the reality of serving in an area where there is active war fighting occurring.
“We are human, and we’re also family members, we’re also people outside of uniform back home in Ireland.
“There is some kind of trepidation about deploying overseas, and we’ve spoken at length with the soldiers here about those concerns.
“If there’s fear, if there’s anxiety about deploying, and I’d be lying if I said nobody in that unit has anxiety or fear about deploying overseas, they absolutely do given the current situation, but what we’ve done is we’ve tried to lay that fear through our training with positive training back home here in Ireland,” he added.
One key aspect of the preparations, Rockett said, was to get daily updates from the Irish troops already in Lebanon about what is happening and brief the troops on the situation on the ground.
“They know exactly what they’re going into. They know exactly what to expect, and that gives them the confidence then to deploy,” he added.
Rocket sought to allay the fears of the soldiers’ families and said that his troops were “ready, we are prepared, and we know what we are going into”. He added that young Irish soldiers in observation towers could gather the key evidence needed for action by the international community.
“We’re going out there to contribute to the uniform mission, which is to provide a safe and secure environment in South Lebanon, but we’re going out there to be the eyes and ears of the international community, and that’s important.
“If Irish soldiers have to be there on the front line to do that, then we’re prepared to do that, and we will do a good job,” he added.
Some of those soldiers deploying will be three siblings from Donegal.
Privates Breena (22), Sean (31) and Declan Diver (26) from Moville near Malin Head, have volunteered to go on the trip together and will deploy and work in the mission in the coming weeks.
“I am nervous and then excited,” said Breena, who will be in the force protection platoon.
“We are hearing from the lads out there that they are in bunkers a lot of the time. This is my first one so I am looking forward to going, I want to get it done.”
Declan, the eldest of the siblings has experienced foreign service before and has served in Syria where there were a lot of moments of being in “groundhog” also known as bunkers as there was fire falling nearby.
“I’ve been to Lebanon a few times too, and things are not always going to be easy. It is part of the job, get through it. The morale will be there and everyone is in the same situation,” he added.
All three siblings said their parents are worried about their children going to Lebanon.
Sean, who is also on his first trip, said: “It’s the same questions we’re getting from our family and friends – they’ve all told us they think we’re mad to be going but we know what we’ll be experiencing.
“We have the training done, we know what we’re capable of and we are ready to go and do the mission.”
Another soldier making the trek is the youngest on the mission, Private Máirtín Heraty (19) who is from Killybegs, Co Donegal, who is just weeks out of his training and is not even one year in the military.
He was working in a fish factory before joining up in March after his Leaving Cert and just eight months later he is now destined for the hills of South Lebanon.
“I am excited with a wee bit of nerves but I am looking forward to it. I am keeping up to date about what is happening out there, it is important. I always wanted to join the army and going overseas is a big part of the life of a soldier so I decided to do it as early as I could.
“My friends are excited hearing about it but my family are nervous but they know it what I want to do but my Mam is nervous,” he added.
Sergeant Major Paddy Enfield and his son Adam, who is a Private, will also deploy together to South Lebanon.
The Sergeant Major has completed 13 trips, and ten to Lebanon – he said it is an “honour” to serve with his son.
“It is a privilege to go out on deployment with the Defence Forces and to represent your country.
“We are going out to Lebanon where the situation has changed dramatically over the last few months and it is reminiscent of the earlier trips I was on. We have a very good combination of younger along with more experienced soldiers, and my message out to the families is that they are in safe hands,” he added.
Earlier this week, Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin said discussions between the UN and Israeli forces were ongoing ahead of the rotation of Irish peacekeepers into Lebanon.
He said the priority for the government and the Defence Forces was the safety of the soldiers. Sources have said that one option for a rotation of troops if the coast road south is blocked or too dangerous could be to move them in by ship into the historic city of Tyre.
The issue with that option is that the port in Tyre does not have the capability to handle freight. Parts of the city were bombed in recent days.
The Tánaiste insisted that any operation or movement by UNIFIL troops, including the Irish resupply mission, would only go ahead after extensive communication between UN officials and the Israeli military.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say