A show of force
Dramatic year for brave service personnel from diffusing bombs to keeping peace
THESE are some snapshots which prove it’s been a very dramatic 2018 for the Defence Forces.
They capture a range of domestic and foreign assignments which included overseas peace missions, bomb call-outs, gorse fires during the summer heatwave and medical emergencies.
One of the images show a row of armoured tanks during a NATO evaluation, taken on October 24.
In another picture we can see three personnel marching with two armoured jeeps in a forest in a “mission readiness exercise” ahead of their deployment to Lebanon.
In its summary of 2018 released yesterday, the Defence Forces said more than 310 emergency medical missions were carried out by the Air Corps in rural communities this year.
Our troops also played a significant role in the inauguration ceremony of President Michael D Higgins on November 11.
Nearly 2,900 members of the Army helped civil authorities in various operations including combating gorse fires in counties Dublin, Wicklow, Limerick, Tipperary and Wexford.
The Air Corps provided 44 inter-hospital air ambulance services to the HSE for critical medical emergencies.
Additionally, nearly 200 operations supporting the An Garda Siochana were conducted by the Army this year, including bomb squad call-outs, prisoner and major cash escorts and search operations.
More than 1,200 members of the Army, including the Engineer Specialist Search Teams, had been deployed to assist in a number of searches.
Meanwhile, nearly 1,700 personnel were sent on UN mandated peace support operations in 14 countries around the world.
There are 650 members of the Defence Forces serving on these peace support operations.
The Naval Service conducted around 740 boarding operations and detained seven fishing vessels for alleged infringements of fishing regulations this year.
Nearly 500 recruits and 89 cadets were inducted to the Defence Forces this year.
Around 1,700 Defence Forces personnel also underwent overseas pre-deployment mission readiness training ranging from counter IED to medical first responder training, radio and communications skills to armour vehicle driving.