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The Irish army is fighting in Afghanistan

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Comments

  • #2
    Gareth2011
    Closed Accounts Posts: 579 ✭✭✭Gareth2011


    The Irish army is not fighting in afganistan. Its a tipp man who wanted to be an Irish solider but didn't get in because she suffered with asthma as a child. So he moved to the UK and joined their army to get some real action. He is not the only Irish man in the british army their is thousands of us.


  • #3
    Lumbo
    Registered Users Posts: 2,113 ✭✭✭Lumbo


    Gareth2011 wrote: »
    The Irish army is not fighting in afganistan. Its a tipp man who wanted to be an Irish solider but didn't get in because she suffered with asthma as a child. So he moved to the UK and joined their army to get some real action. He is not the only Irish man in the british army their is thousands of us.


    Wasn't there a memeber of the SAS who was from Mayo killed in Iraq.


  • #4
    Witcher
    Registered Users Posts: 14,406 ✭✭✭✭Witcher


    The PDF actually are in Afghanistan as part of ISAF.


  • #5
    Morpheus
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 2,688 Mod ✭✭✭✭Morpheus


    Irish is as Irish does. fair play to them.


  • #6
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    Blay wrote: »
    The PDF actually are in Afghanistan as part of ISAF.

    7 of them doing IED research type of activities. Not on the frontline.


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  • #7
    MajorMax
    Registered Users Posts: 865 ✭✭✭MajorMax


    This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but is anyone else surprised that an Irishman would serve in the Para's?


  • #8
    helimachoptor
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 21,639 Mod ✭✭✭✭helimachoptor


    not really. was at a new years eve party in colchester with a load of paras a good few irish people there.


  • #9
    Witcher
    Registered Users Posts: 14,406 ✭✭✭✭Witcher


    tricky D wrote: »
    7 of them doing IED research type of activities. Not on the frontline.

    I never said they were frontline but they're still there.


  • #10
    tac foley
    Registered Users Posts: 5,504 ✭✭✭tac foley


    Fuinseog wrote: »
    at least according to the Indo, because the queen has just awarded an 'Irish soldier' the military cross.

    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/queen-gives-irish-soldier-medal-for-acts-of-bravery-2993717.html


    Hero.

    tac


  • #11
    FutureGuy
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 15,226 Mod ✭✭✭✭FutureGuy


    What a legend. That's some show of bravery. Well done James!


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  • #12
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    Blay wrote: »
    I never said they were frontline but they're still there.

    Never said you did. I merely mentioned it to counter the possible notion of us actively fighting that some people might take issue with. Their role also makes certain sense as some know-how has travelled from these shores all the way to the area.


  • #13
    Fuinseog
    Registered Users Posts: 5,371 ✭✭✭Fuinseog


    MajorMax wrote: »
    This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but is anyone else surprised that an Irishman would serve in the Para's?

    given their track record on this island it does seem like a strange choice.


  • #14
    Fuinseog
    Registered Users Posts: 5,371 ✭✭✭Fuinseog


    tac foley wrote: »
    Hero.

    tac

    a hero that is still alive and not missing any limbs. a very lucky boy.


  • #15
    Manic Moran
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,195 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manic Moran


    tricky D wrote: »
    Never said you did. I merely mentioned it to counter the possible notion of us actively fighting that some people might take issue with. Their role also makes certain sense as some know-how has travelled from these shores all the way to the area.

    They're generally office types, but the one list of duties I saw in an Irish paper only had one soldier in the counter-IED cell.

    I had an NCO who worked for an Irish officer in the Signals section.

    I also have a feeling that the Irishman in the IED cell is doing a lot more learning than he is teaching. The levels of innovation and sophistication of bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq have leaped ahead of what the PIRA was doing. I think the concern is that the techniques currently in use in the MidEast will travel to Irish shores and the PDF should be ready for them.

    NTM


  • #16
    Poccington
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,497 ✭✭✭Poccington


    MajorMax wrote: »
    This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but is anyone else surprised that an Irishman would serve in the Para's?

    Not really, I mean, they're one of the most renowned Infantry units in the world. I've always said if I was to make the jump to the BA, I'd be giving P Coy a crack.

    Sure, their actions up North were awful but in terms of soldiering, you can't get much better than the Para's before you start hitting the SOF side of things, IMO.


    Fair play to the lad.


  • #17
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    Manic Moran wrote: »
    I also have a feeling that the Irishman in the IED cell is doing a lot more learning than he is teaching. The levels of innovation and sophistication of bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq have leaped ahead of what the PIRA was doing. I think the concern is that the techniques currently in use in the MidEast will travel to Irish shores and the PDF should be ready for them.
    It's a bit of a moot as to which direction the net info flows. I would have reckoned that most C/R/P-IRA know-how had already been fairly well distributed at this stage. However then there's an episode where an MI6 walk-in, General Ali-Reza Asgari, of the Iranian VEVAK, provided information that a CIRA unit which had been tracked through Frankfurt to Iran around 2005-6, had supplied know-how for 'ultrasophisticated roadside bombs in three arms factories in the Lavizan suburb of Tehran.' From there, it was spread westwards to Iranian interests in Lebanon and Iraq, and eastwards, including Afghanistan. [Inside British Intelligence, 2009, Gordon Thomas, p34]

    However whether we would have had that info first in Ireland or whether it would have flowed back to us from Afghanistan is another matter. I'd bet on the former as they were active enough up North prior to the time.

    /wonders what ultrasophisticated means??


  • #18
    tac foley
    Registered Users Posts: 5,504 ✭✭✭tac foley


    tricky D wrote: »
    /wonders what ultrasophisticated means??

    Means that it is more likely to kill the intended person than the person planting it.

    'Own goals' have always been unpopular, whether you are talking about football or terrorism.

    tac


  • #19
    Delancey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,451 ✭✭✭Delancey


    Fuinseog wrote: »
    at least according to the Indo, because the queen has just awarded an 'Irish soldier' the military cross.

    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/queen-gives-irish-soldier-medal-for-acts-of-bravery-2993717.html

    ..... and a perfect example of the importance of reading and understanding a news article before commenting on it.....:rolleyes:


  • #20
    kabakuyu
    Registered Users Posts: 1,135 ✭✭✭kabakuyu


    Lumbo wrote: »
    Wasn't there a memeber of the SAS who was from Mayo killed in Iraq.


    Don't know if this is who you are thinking about but Robert McKibben from Westport was KIA and the band of the Royal Marines played at his funeral in Westport, another Irish hero.


  • #21
    cruasder777
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,332 ✭✭✭cruasder777


    Fuinseog wrote: »
    at least according to the Indo, because the queen has just awarded an 'Irish soldier' the military cross.

    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/queen-gives-irish-soldier-medal-for-acts-of-bravery-2993717.html


    Would about someone from the north in the BA, would you also class them as not being an Irish soldier ?


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  • #22
    cruasder777
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,332 ✭✭✭cruasder777


    kabakuyu wrote: »
    Don't know if this is who you are thinking about but Robert McKibben from Westport was KIA and the band of the Royal Marines played at his funeral in Westport, another Irish hero.


    He was in the Royal Marines Brigade reconassiance force and had just passed the first part of SAS/SBS selection.


  • #23
    goldie fish
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,195 ✭✭✭goldie fish


    tricky D wrote: »
    7 of them doing IED research type of activities. Not on the frontline.

    In a war where the enemy combatant is the native of the land where the fight takes place, where is the frontline?


  • #24
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    goldie fish wrote: »
    In a war where the enemy combatant is the native of the land where the fight takes place, where is the frontline?

    I refer you to post #12


  • #25
    analyst2
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 31 ✭analyst2


    Fuinseog wrote: »
    a hero that is still alive and not missing any limbs. a very lucky boy.

    Superman and Spiderman were heros, and they were not missing any limbs.

    What is more strange is your curious implied view that hero's usually have missing limbs.


  • #26
    DipStick McSwindler
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,460 ✭✭✭DipStick McSwindler


    This post has been deleted.


  • #27
    Canvasser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 290 ✭✭Canvasser


    Fuinseog wrote: »
    at least according to the Indo, because the queen has just awarded an 'Irish soldier' the military cross.

    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/queen-gives-irish-soldier-medal-for-acts-of-bravery-2993717.html

    An Irishman in the paras doing the dirty work of the British in Afghanistan. The paras shot 14 unarmed Irishmen dead in 1972 in Derry. They are nothing but thugs.


  • #28
    Canvasser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 290 ✭✭Canvasser


    kabakuyu wrote: »
    Don't know if this is who you are thinking about but Robert McKibben from Westport was KIA and the band of the Royal Marines played at his funeral in Westport, another Irish hero.

    Hero? A mercenary you mean.


  • #29
    It wasn't me!
    Registered Users Posts: 13,034 ✭✭✭✭It wasn't me!


    Canvasser wrote: »
    Hero? A mercenary you mean.

    I think you'd want to look at the accepted definition of that term.


  • #30
    Canvasser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 290 ✭✭Canvasser


    It wasn't me! wrote: »
    I think you'd want to look at the accepted definition of that term.

    I know the definition and my use of it is entirely correct.


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  • #31
    Happyman42
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,066 ✭✭✭✭Happyman42


    Canvasser wrote: »
    Hero? A mercenary you mean.

    Correct, he's an Irishman who is a British soldier, he has sold his services to a foreign country. That makes him a mercenary.


This discussion has been closed.
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