Thinking of joining the RDF

Doylers · 22-09-2010 11:05am

concussion wrote: »

People who have filled in, or who will soon be returning, their paperwork.

I would go up to the barracks on a training night and talk to the recruiting staff there, they should give you a better idea. Another option, if you have transport, would be 31 Cav based in Clonmel. Either way, if you do go up and get paperwork, but think they won't call you back, just tell them you can't remember your PPSN or something. Once they have sent off the documents it could be tricky joining another unit.

So were they still taking forms even when recruiting was stopped??? So should I go get the forms and had them in and keep on at them

? Tbh Im a student with no job, I couldn't afford the petrol costs of driving to clonmel

concussion · 22-09-2010 11:43am

If you've no other options besides your local unit I would call up and find out. If they're unsure, ask to get paperwork sent off and see if you can continue training with them in the meantime. I have no idea if other units have vacancies for recruits and, if they have, how many applicants they have or what they are doing with them.

concussion · 23-09-2010 9:57am

Didn't get a chance to confirm last night, however we still have potential recruits parading so I'm assuming we have been approved x number of recruits this year.

mr tatz · 24-09-2010 5:32am

de5p0i1er wrote: »

Why are the taxpayers of this country been made fork out there hard earned cash to let a bunch of teenagers drink cheap booze and get free combats. The day there called up to defend the country I'll start flying the enemy flag there a joke.

i as a serving member of the RDF will be the first to admit that there are alot of eejits in the reserve who i wouldnt send for milk never mind ask them to defend a country! having said this i strongly disagree that we go for the drink or gear! the cheap drink is a bonus but the clothing we are issued is a "uniform" and not some fashion accesory we are there to take advantage of!

there are plenty of highly skilled members of the rdf! I myself am a 3*, marksman on steyr and usp, i also have an AF 154! there are plenty of other soldiers with these skills or status and more so as irishguy said, There is allot of highly trained extremely dedicated people in the RDF, I would gladly entrust my life with!

the_chin 58 · 24-11-2010 12:28pm

hi im in limerick at the moment and me and my friend were thinking of joing the army that is in limerick and we were just wondering wat is the pay like and what type of things happen during the years whenn we are there

concussion · 24-11-2010 2:56pm

Have you read this thread from Page 6?

Pay details can be found here
http://www.military.ie/careers/pay/index.htm

the_chin 58 · 24-11-2010 5:05pm

thank you very much for the link it helped alot

richy1 · 09-12-2010 11:50pm

hi.... I applied for the rdf last year, got a text to say i have hearing test and medical test on saturday. i was wondering when will i begin my training, just need a rough idea, and will it be weekends or evenings that i will be training

concussion · 10-12-2010 12:53am

Contact your prospective unit.

deise go deo · 12-12-2010 2:29am

Doylers wrote: »

Ok I see, and by applicants do you mean people who have handed in forms and stuff our just people who have shown an interest. I have gave in my name and number, but is there anything else I can do?

Hi Doylers, Are you in the City or closer to Dungarvan? I am in the Dungarvan Company, Best thing you can do would be to call into the center on a training night and have a chat with the Cadre staff, (Sargent who dose everything)

deise go deo · 12-12-2010 2:32am

richy1 wrote: »

hi.... I applied for the rdf last year, got a text to say i have hearing test and medical test on saturday. i was wondering when will i begin my training, just need a rough idea, and will it be weekends or evenings that i will be training

They started recruiting again? Great,

Training will be once a week, (Usually Tuesday/Wednesday night) With a few Saturdays now and again, There will be Full time training over the summer, Usually 2 weeks.

Doylers · 13-12-2010 9:45pm

deise go deo wrote: »

Hi Doylers, Are you in the City or closer to Dungarvan? I am in the Dungarvan Company, Best thing you can do would be to call into the center on a training night and have a chat with the Cadre staff, (Sargent who dose everything)

Hi deise go deo, im in the city, I have all my forums in since October so im waiting for a call back now once they all clear.

richy1 · 14-12-2010 2:29am

whats the story with being in college and being in the rdf. is it ok to miss the midweek trainings

the monk5845 · 14-12-2010 4:09am

im in the rdf and in college and i miss alot of wednesday nights but its not too bad if you get down the odd night just to keep up with what is being done and go to any weekends or camps that are on and it should be fine

concussion · 14-12-2010 1:09pm

If you don't meet the requisites for Gratuity, you get put on the non-effective list. This involves a minimum of training nights. Talk to your unit about parading with a local unit while you're at college, that's what most people do.

Teangalad · 28-12-2010 7:42pm

Slightly o/t

Well, this thread brings back some great memories, 13 years ago I left Ireland and one of the things I miss the most was the FCA/RDF as it is called now.Despite all the jibes about the Free Clothes Association/ weekend warriors etc it was the best crack ever.As mentioned before there are a few knobs involved but what organization dose'nt have them, to this day though I am still in contact via my brother with lads that I served with.Luckily for my brother and I we happened to be in the 8th FAR 21bty Heavy mortars when they used to be based in Ballincollig,Cork.The reason I say lucky is because if any serving members of the RDF here are in the Artillery regiments then I am sure they would agree that there is nothing quite like a night shoot/exercise in the Glen in the summer in conjunction with the PDF and eventhough we were in the Artillery we were trained in a lot of the small arms,FN, Bren , BaP , Gustav and all the nessecary tactics ....If you are an adrenalin junkie then I suspect this will get the blood pumping.Also it is nice at beating the PDF at their jobs:)

In short any one even considering joining don't think twice about it but be careful choosing which Reg /Brigade you join, we were living in mahon at the time and it was worth it travelling to the other side of the city to get the extra kick.( luckily for us the Cadre used to organise a truck to pick us up)

Ah those were the Days!!!!!

phil devlin · 11-01-2011 8:57pm

does anyone know if any units in the dublin wicklow area are recuirting. Could anyone give some info was in the 62MP and had to leave cuz of collage and would love to get back into it

concussion · 11-01-2011 9:41pm

Were you discharged or did you simply not attend training for a while? Contact details for all units can be found on rdf.ie

Sean.F · 12-01-2011 12:50am

What age do you have be to join the FCA and is there any unit,regiment in Cork that do it sounds really good as I am thinking joining when I am older.

Cryos · 12-01-2011 4:07am

phil devlin wrote: »

does anyone know if any units in the dublin wicklow area are recuirting. Could anyone give some info was in the 62MP and had to leave cuz of collage and would love to get back into it

If you were discharged on legitimate grounds you might be able to get some stuff back (i think theres a two year limit). Security clearance at the moment is taking about 4/5 months. (if you've been out a year your clearance would of lapsed)

62nd MP's and 62nd CIS are still actively looking for people.

CIS Parade Tuesday @ 20:00 in Rathmines, i think MP's are Wednesday at 20:00.

Cryos · 12-01-2011 4:12am

Sean.F wrote: »

What age do you have be to join the FCA and is there any unit,regiment in Cork that do it sounds really good as I am thinking joining when I am older.

RDF (Army or Navy) is 17 with Consent.

In around cork there are:
HQ Company, 34 Reserve Infantry Battalion
No 1 Gun Battery, 31 Reserve Artillery Regiment
D Troop, 31 Reserve Cavalry Squadron
3 Field Engr Pln, Field Support Pln, 31 Reserve Engineer Company
Network Systems Platoon, 31 Reserve CIS Company
Provost Platoon, 31 Reserve Military Police Company
Transport Company, 31 Reserve Logistics Battalion

I would encourage if you want something different to look at CIS, MP's or Engineers. Nothing wrong with the rest but generally you get to do all the infantry training + the training relevant to the unit.

Have a look on http://www.rdf.ie/maps/ for contact details; Encourage you find out when the unit parades and call up and see what its all about.

I would encourage you if you are interested to have a serious go at it, i have found that i have got alot more out of the RDF than i have put in; Some valuable team building skills and tech skills i have gained have translated into more skill in my civi job.

Sean.F · 12-01-2011 6:12pm

Crap I'm only sixteen yet but would they refuse me for that even with parental consent. And what would be the practices of the HQ Company, 34 Reserve Infantry Battalion and is there any requirements for the RDA.

Cryos · 12-01-2011 7:27pm

As far as i am aware, you would have to be 17 filling out the forms with consent; Talk to the people in the baracks and see.

Infantry is where alot of people start, there is some great info in general here:
http://www.62infantry.com/Useful_Info.shtml

Im not sure if there is a specific website for 34th (alot of corps dont have websites, my own included), but all training would be the same. You can always transfer if you find Infantry not to your liking or not challenging enough.

shanec1928 · 12-01-2011 7:28pm

Sean.F wrote: »

Crap I'm only sixteen yet but would they refuse me for that even with parental consent. And what would be the practices of the HQ Company, 34 Reserve Infantry Battalion and is there any requirements for the RDA.

yes. only when your over 18 for it do you not need parental consent.if youl be 17 in a few months they will probably send your forms trough as by the time they come back you will be 17

richy1 · 13-01-2011 12:41am

Hi.. I have now been recruited into the RDF. Have my army number and all that. when roughly will the training begin?

concussion · 13-01-2011 12:44am

This is another question I have to answer with - contact your unit. You should be starting your syllabus immediately though.

Cryos · 13-01-2011 1:16am

richy1 wrote: »

Hi.. I have now been recruited into the RDF. Have my army number and all that. when roughly will the training begin?

As with concussion, the only way to find out is with your unit. which i presume you should be attending weekly anyway ?

RMD · 13-01-2011 1:18am

Lads anyone have a regiment they would like to recommend from Brugha barracks? I'm interested in entering one of the infantry regiments, I do know there is the stereotype the RDF is nothing more than a bunch of idiots shooting guns and playing soldier in the fields, but if there any is any particular regiment that has a name for professionalism and it's soldiers taking what they do seriously, please point me the right way.

I'm in no way saying everyone is like this, it's a small minority. I just don't want to end up in a regiment full of idiots and people who couldn't care to be there other than that they might get to fire a gun.

Cryos · 13-01-2011 1:34am

richy1 wrote: »

Hi.. I have now been recruited into the RDF. Have my army number and all that. when roughly will the training begin?

RMD wrote: »

Lads anyone have a regiment they would like to recommend from Brugha barracks? I'm interested in entering one of the infantry regiments, I do know there is the stereotype the RDF is nothing more than a bunch of idiots shooting guns and playing soldier in the fields, but if there any is any particular regiment that has a name for professionalism and it's soldiers taking what they do seriously, please point me the right way.

I'm in no way saying everyone is like this, it's a small minority. I just don't want to end up in a regiment full of idiots and people who couldn't care to be there other than that they might get to fire a gun.

There is a small % of full times that give a hard time, i dont think anyone in the rdf expects to be as good as or better than the PDF (there are people in the RDF that do expect this), the skills at using the equipment are relative to the 2 or so hours a week training is provided. By and large your experience will be positive.

Infantry is fine; But have a look at the following if you have any of these interests:

Interest in Policing or law enforcement - Military Police
Interest in Technology / Radio / Communications - CIS
Interest in Engineering - Engineers
Interest in Medical - Medical Corps

Other options are logistics and Cavalry

http://www.rdf.ie/maps/

have a look on the website, read what each corp does and see if any are of more interest to you. Keep in mind with each of the corps your normally do most of infantry training then alot of the core unit specialties (Policing and law in MP's; Radio Apparatus in CIS etc...

davetherave · 13-01-2011 1:37am

Since you are looking at Cathal Brugha, have you considered any of the non-infantry companys, MP's, Signals, air Defence or the Cav?
I can't speak from personal experience not being in any of those myself, but as you put it people who just want to fire a gun I think would be less likely to join one of them.

Thinking of joining the RDF

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