IRISH TROOPS ARE using high tech simulators to prepare them for the deadly tensions of South Lebanon where Hezbollah and Israel are trading heavy ordnance.
The Journal went to the Curragh Camp today to visit the Artillery School and the Cavalry Corps training facility to see the new kit in action.
The Cavalry use the MOWAG Armoured Personnel Carriers which can carry a team of troops into action and on patrols. They now have simulators built inside a classroom in the Cavalry school to train all ranks about how to operate in battle conditions and fire their weapons.
The second facility is close by inside the building that trains the artillery corps. It is a large lecture theatre with a huge screen simulator in which troops perfect how to call in heavy ordnance on enemy positions.
Banks of trainee Cavalry MOWAG crews call in the artillery to strike an enemy camp on a mountainous scene. As the initial shots fall short there are disappointed sighs but they correct the coordinates and then strike their targets.
The same room also has a capability to train multiple crews in combined arms operations – with space for drone operators and commanders.
Both scenes show the new method of training.
Commandant Joe Tynan said that the simulators will reduce the risks inherent in largescale live fire exercises.
He said that it reduces the potential for injuries to crews, the danger of damaging one of the small number of MOWAGS and the costs incurred in deploying a large number of soldiers.
Tynan joined the Defence Forces in 2003 and he said the simulator is now a major leap forward in how the soldiers train.
“Main thing with simulation is that it gives people as many repetitions of the various scenarios – we can get much more training and it just builds the muscle memory so to speak that will mean they will react instinctively.
“In terms of overseas there is a tight timeline to the point of them getting together and going out – they can come in here and run through multiple scenarios they will be faced with and we can test their skills.
“It is immersive with virtual reality and it really gets them into the scenario,” he said.
Trooper Niall Frayne is a crewman on a MOWAG and has been serving in the Cavalry for just under eight years.
He said that the simulation is “realistic” to what he would be doing inside the armoured cars.
“It is a good bit of training to keep myself up to par without have to take the cars out and we can do it more frequently,” he said.
Frayne said that the training is key to deal with unexpected outbreaks of shelling and violence in south Lebanon.
“What this gives us is the ability to know where everything is and by practising over and over again there is no panic trying to figure out. With this we know what to do instinctively and do my job at a good level,” he added.
Martin Ormond, from Waterford, is a former member of the Cavalry and is now employed as a civilian contractor training the crews. He served for 21 years and was an instructor before retiring in 2019.
“The simulator is a game changer, if I had this when I was in the military. You can come in here at 9am and five minutes later you can be anywhere in the world training for missions that if you did in real world would require a massive logistics movement.
“There’s a thousand troops have come through here training, right up to senior command positions. When they leave here there is a noticeable confidence in their skills and I know exactly what it does.
“If a mistake happens there is no injury and it can be practised again and fixed. That give great confidence going into the real thing,” he said.
In the artillery school lecture theatre, on the upper floors of one time British army stables, young soldiers, some are just out of training, were perfecting the difficult and dangerous act of calling in ordnance.
The scenario is that each team are either in a dug in hidden position on a hillside or in small reconnaissance vehicles.
Captain Brian Clarke is the instructor in the artillery training centre. In the real world the artillery crews operate a large howitzer gun with a devastating range of 17.2kms.
He echoed the views of the cavalry soldiers and said the new simulator gives the soldiers an opportunity to repeatedly practice without having to go to a range in the Wicklow Mountains.
The simulator, he said, can teach non-artillery soldiers to call in heavy ordnance. Clarke also said it gives individual soldier an invaluable knowledge about what the danger is as rounds impact near their positions.
Troops in Lebanon has seen a large amount of incidents as Israel and Hezbollah trade high explosive ordnance in ever escalating tensions.
“There is a lot of artillery being used at the moment in conflict zones. They are learning here, particularly on peace support missions, what the enemy is doing.
“This allows them, while in Lebanon, they know that if one round falls and other hits close by that someone is adjusting fire before they launch the full bombardment.
“Irish peacekeepers overseas know what they are seeing – they know what is happening because they were trained in the Curragh,” he said.
Trooper Conor Hughes from Newry, County Down who has been in the Cavalry for the last year and his colleague Trooper Anna-Mai Stafford who is just out of training.
“If I didn’t have this today I don’t think I would have the experience or confidence to go out into a real life experience.
“This is preparing me for Lebanon and Syria,” he said.
Stafford said the training has given her an insight of what she can expect when she is deployed on peace keeping missions.
“In a real life situation you don’t have time to think, you just have one or the other choice to make.
“Going overseas I don’t know what to expect, I am hearing loads of stories and this training does ease those concerns,” she said.
The Cavalry simulators are set to take a leap forward with data being gathered around how soldiers’ body behave under the pressure of dangerous fire. This will include heart rate and the movements of their eyes.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say