On a summer's night recently, at a location in the Wicklow mountains, we watched as Ireland's Special Forces, the Army Ranger Wing, practised missions they could encounter on peace enforcement operations abroad.
AS THE GOVERNMENT reviews legislation which could lead to more frequent deployment overseas by Irish Defence Forces personnel, the elite Army Ranger Wing trains for scenarios that are likely to occur in peacekeeping or peace enforcement missions.
As the State is set to redraft laws which govern the deployment of the Army Ranger Wing and other units, its members look to those missions and other special forces around the world to keep on top of an ever-changing landscape. They have said this exercise demonstrates the methods that could be used in future missions should they be called upon to rescue Irish citizens abroad like they did in Kabul or Sudan – or in the midst of a dynamic peace enforcement mission when the security of the location is not assured.
Then a silent signal and they move forward with feet pivoting and guns moving back into their shoulders as the double tap of shots hit their targets. Over the two-week exercise, they have found themselves in observation posts gathering intelligence on targets and building up a picture of how the opposing faction is behaving.
Like all parts of the Irish Defence Forces they have struggled with resourcing issues and retention but the unit does have some of the most advanced equipment at its disposal. The group of Rangers, or Fianóglach, named in honour of na Fianna, quietly stood chatting and preparing for the operation. Known as operators – they are the tip of the spear while behind them is a much bigger crew of support soldiers who work on communications, flying the drones, maintaining their weapons and managing the needs of those operators.
There are some of the new recruits to the unit – just fresh from the nine-month terror of the selection process. Now one of them carries a marksman’s long distance rifle with a high powered night vision scope. They told us they are taking lessons learned by the other special forces units involved in recent engagement and using those to inform their own methods.
“For this exercise, the unit deployed in its largest formation and focused on re-sharpening the core SOF skills of the ability to manoeuvre, medicate, communicate and initiate under the protection of darkness over arduous and challenging terrain and atmospherics, the key and unique advantage that Special Forces provide to Military Leadership,” a senior officer explained.
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