The Volunteers / FCA

I shot...

Say someone wanted to get involved in the FCA, what's the story with it?

Also:

Say someone was only interested in getting involved for the basic training, the craic and the free clothes?

Steyr

I shot... wrote:

Say someone wanted to get involved in the FCA, what's the story with it?

Also:

Say someone was only interested in getting involved for the basic training, the craic and the free clothes?

Go to your local Barracks and say you want to sign up. BUT there is no point in joining if your just up for the "craic" and "basic training" oh and if your caught outside in your Military Gear AFAIK ( im open to correction here but some others on IMO have said its true ) you can be arrested, if your gonna join then do it for proper reasons like teamwork,Honour,and to serve the Country as the Integrated Reserve is coming online if you go serious about you might just find yourself Overseas in a few years time with the PDF, thats the way its going we were told ( Come on Legislation! ) so please dont be a mucker.

I shot...

teamwork,Honour,and to serve the Country

Teamwork, I'm down with that,

Honour, I don't think it exists,

To serve the country, I also don't think it exists.

I may be interested in joining the Volunteers, but just because I'm interested in taking part in a team effort, I enjoy the outdoors and I think a basic military training would be useful to myself and the wider community, and also i just think it'd be fun.

If i were in the states I'd join a militia, but since we don't have them here, I think my best bet for it might be the Reserves.

muletide

I shot... wrote:

Teamwork, I'm down with that,

Honour, I don't think it exists,

To serve the country, I also don't think it exists.

I may be interested in joining the Volunteers, but just because I'm interested in taking part in a team effort, I enjoy the outdoors and I think a basic military training would be useful to myself and the wider community, and also i just think it'd be fun.

If i were in the states I'd join a militia, but since we don't have them here, I think my best bet for it might be the Reserves.

Very strange opinions there maybe small minded, self centred militias are the place for you.

I shot...

muletide wrote:

small minded, self centred.

i somehow find it somewhat condescending for you to associate my inquiries with small mindedness and self centeredness. I am not small minded in the least, and don't see where this association is made. As for self centred, i again don't see the relevance of that particular jab. Yes, i would probably derive some personal sense of enjoyment from the teamwork and the training, and this may be a motivating factor for me to take part, but does this make me self centred? I doubt it, since i feel that any skills i aquire through the volunteers would be directly benificial to my communities.

I have no pride in this country, but i possess no animosity towards it.

I have no belief in "Honour" in the military sense, as it is just a moral standpoint furthered by morally questionable institutions.

I simply believe being a part of the Volunteers may be benificial to my development as a person, and allow me to be able to make a greater contribution to my community. If this makes me small minded and selfish, then that's a kind of moralism I want no part of.

Hagar

Steyr wrote:

oh and if your caught outside in your Military Gear AFAIK ( im open to correction here but some others on IMO have said its true ) you can be arrested,

How do people get to the barracks on a training night without wearing the uniform outside? My self any many of my friends lived within a few minutes walk of the barracks and it was quite a nice sight seeing uniformed lads walking down street and side-streets and gradually making up small groups on their way to training. The youth of the local community coming together to train to defend it. "A romantic view" I hear you scoff, but isn't it accurate? Isn't it what the LDF/FCA/RDF was always about?

Steyr

There are Military Transports available to all personnel and we are picked up at designated areas. If your due to be on Duty thats fine or are heading home from Duty thats fine but outside of those times is a big no no its the people who wear "civvies and mil" at the same time that are gonna be in trouble, its against the law AFAIK.

I shot....if you have no pride and honour in Ireland then the RDF/DF is NOT for you as you have to swear an Oath to Ireland there is also alot of Pride and Honour in the RDF as we do this on a regular weekly basis for no money whatsoever the only time we get paid is for paid camps and paid training weekends other than that we are very proud to wear that Uniform for pride and honour not money.

FYI people its the RDF not the LDF or FCA.

Why the hell would you want to join a Militia, do it right or dont do it atall.

The main job of the RDF is now tasked with local defence and security, reinforcement of PDF units with trained manpower, and the replacement of PDF units in Barracks should the need arise. Also with the arrival of the new Integrated Reserve there will be more "intense" training leading up to eventual deployment of RDF Units overseas with the PDF.

Hagar

Steyr wrote:

FYI people its the RDF not the LDF or FCA.

Thanks for pointing that out. :rolleyes: FYI most people around here already know that. The uniform I and my comrades wore were FCA , so I don't need correcting there thanks all the same:D . Note that I gave LDF / FCA / RDF in chronological order, that was to emphasize a continuity of purpose which has been handed down. A bit of tradition sort off, something we lack in such a young Army.

GerryRyan

Steyr wrote:

do it right or dont do it atall.

Finally, someone said it. There's nothing worse than having a load of recruits coming in around the time of camp, just cos they heard of the cheap drink and free clothes etc, only to dissapear when it gets back to normal parade nights.
It's all or nothing IMO.

And on the pride, that is a side to it, and one of the reasons I joined up in the first place.

SpitfireIV

I shot... wrote:

I have no pride in this country, but i possess no animosity towards it.

I have no belief in "Honour" in the military sense, as it is just a moral standpoint furthered by morally questionable institutions.

I simply believe being a part of the Volunteers may be benificial to my development as a person, and allow me to be able to make a greater contribution to my community. If this makes me small minded and selfish, then that's a kind of moralism I want no part of.

I shot, your reasons for wanting to join the RDF are as valid as anyone elses, you dont have to have national pride or pledge some form of unquestioning faith to Ireland, those of ye that are currently in the RDF, can ye HONESTLY say that all ye're comrades/mates are in the RDF as a matter of national pride or wanting to serve there country?, be honest.

I shot wrote:

I may be interested in joining the Volunteers, but just because I'm interested in taking part in a team effort, I enjoy the outdoors and I think a basic military training would be useful to myself and the wider community, and also i just think it'd be fun.

Whats wrong with that as a reason for wanting to join??

I spent 3 years in the RDF, and seen my fair share of comrades that were only there for the uniform and to swell there own ego's, turn up for camp, get paid and then feck off, never to be seen until the following year or odd parade night.

I joined as I had an interest in the military, wanted to get out and about a little more and learn new things, so I served my three years, met some good friends, learned a thing or two and then got out, my perogative.

Before/or if anyone decides to jump down my throat, this was how I seen the reserves and what I experienced. Those that are putting down I shot because he doesnt have national pride or 'honour' should take a look at the members in there own centres and question them as to whether they really have such beliefs!

testicle

The Irish Volunteers were disbanded in 1919. The FCA was disbanded in 2005. You may have a small bit of trouble joining either organisation.

Steyr

CroppyBoy1798 wrote:

you dont have to have national pride or pledge some form of unquestioning faith to Ireland, those of ye that are currently in the RDF, can ye HONESTLY say that all ye're comrades/mates are in the RDF as a matter of national pride or wanting to serve there country?, be honest.

You have to swear an Oath on the Bible to Defend the Republic against all forms of aggression be it external or internal.

I am currently in the RDF and have been for the past 6 years as have my mates who i joined up with and yes it was pride and to serve the country and the honour to wear that uniform and everything that goes with it. Honest.

Steyr

testicle wrote:

The Irish Volunteers were disbanded in 1919. The FCA was disbanded in 2005. You may have a small bit of trouble joining either organisation.

You may get into the RDF though!:D

boneless

Steyr wrote:

You have to swear an Oath on the Bible to Defend the Republic against all forms of aggression be it external or internal.

I am currently in the RDF and have been for the past 6 years as have my mates who i joined up with and yes it was pride and to serve the country and the honour to wear that uniform and everything that goes with it. Honest.

I had fun when I joined the FCA many years ago... I refused to swear an oath on the Bible because I am an atheist. The compromise was an affirment to the Constitution. I think I was the first to do that in the unit in question.

testicle

There is no compromise. It is quite clear, in the Defence Act. Instead of saying "I do solemnly swear ..." one says "I do solemnly declare ..."

boneless

testicle wrote:

There is no compromise. It is quite clear, in the Defence Act. Instead of saying "I do solemnly swear ..." one says "I do solemnly declare ..."

I think though that the Captain who inducted me was not aware of the proceedure... it was back in 1983 and there were very few who did not take the oath then.:) The poor man was shocked...

He insisted I held the copy of the Constitution...:)

Steyr

Its serious stuff these days though as opposed to 83', especially with the new Integrated Reserve ( IR ) coming online

boneless

Yeah, so I believe; my brother is PDF and is telling me the security checks are hotter than ever before too.

derokid

testicle wrote:

The Irish Volunteers were disbanded in 1919. The FCA was disbanded in 2005. You may have a small bit of trouble joining either organisation.

Testicle the FCA were never disbanded. Firstly because they were never "Banded" they were an "organised integral part of the Defence Forces Organisation"
secondly they were Re-Named.

testicle

No, they were stood down, and old units disbanded. The Army Reserve was "stood up" on the same day, with the creation of new units, which for the most part were amalgamations of the old units.

They were also "banded", as you put it, in 1941, when A Group of the LSF was transferred to the Army to form the LDF. This was renamed the FCA in 1947.

Steyr

Testicle thats true indeed also the RDF was active during the troubles. FYI go to www.bailerweb.com and click army and then the specific sections ( artillery, infantry etc ) and you wil get a page displaying all the crests of Units and under 1's that have been disbanded you will see the word "DMOB" meaning De-Mobilised all the other 1's that do not have "DMOB" are the new Units

Hagar

They were certainly active in the 70's.
I worked with a guy who was in an illegal organization and took part in the riots at the Kildare detention centre. He got his picture on the front page of the Sunday World after getting his head busted in a baton charge of combined Garda / FCA. He came into work on Monday with a head on him like a Mummy. I never got around to telling him that I was part of the unit that did him. Discretion being the greater part of valour and all that.

testicle

Steyr wrote:

Testicle thats true indeed also the RDF was active during the troubles. FYI go to www.bailerweb.com and click army and then the specific sections ( artillery, infantry etc ) and you wil get a page displaying all the crests of Units and under 1's that have been disbanded you will see the word "DMOB" meaning De-Mobilised all the other 1's that do not have "DMOB" are the new Units

I am quite well aware of all that, thanks.

derokid

testicle wrote:

No, they were stood down, and old units disbanded. The Army Reserve was "stood up" on the same day, with the creation of new units, which for the most part were amalgamations of the old units.

They were also "banded", as you put it, in 1941, when A Group of the LSF was transferred to the Army to form the LDF. This was renamed the FCA in 1947.

The Army Reserve has never been sttod up... The FCA are 2nd Line reserve Behind former PDF members who have retired and under a certain age known as The 1st line Reseve. These people can be called upon in times of a national emergencey and would be before FCA. The FCA/RDF DO NOT PARTAKE IN OPERATIONAL DUTIES THEY ARE NOT PROPERLY TRAINED TO DO SO

Nevyn

You do have to sign a contract I shot... it is not like the scouts that you can join and then start not turning up.
You have to give the comitment to be at training in order for them to agree to train you.

Some one joined up using my address and it was never checked.
They then started ditching training and aftet 4 weeks of no shows I had an officer and a drill sargent knocking on my door at 10am on a Saturday looking for him.

They seemed disinclinded to believe me until \I got grumpy at them and pointed out to the Sarge ( cos the officer was too refined to be talk to me in my pjs ) that he should take his rupert down to the local garda station and get him to order the desk garda to bring out the elctoral register which would prove there was no one of the name they were looking for living at that address and I would be writing to the barrack commander to complain I was not happy at being door stepped and being accused of lying after they had failed to ensure the address of thier recruit.

komsomol

testicle wrote:

No, they were stood down, and old units disbanded. The Army Reserve was "stood up" on the same day, with the creation of new units, which for the most part were amalgamations of the old units.

They were also "banded", as you put it, in 1941, when A Group of the LSF was transferred to the Army to form the LDF. This was renamed the FCA in 1947.

Yeah thats fact im afraid.


Though it is very easy to just see it as a name change at times

Although i seen my first pair of new tactical boots issued this year nevermind being on 2 tactical camps and one enemy party camp this summer.

So that to me is a massive change and not just the changing of the name to me. Though im sure not everyones experienced have been as pleasent so far.

Dontico

i'm considering in joining but cant this year cause i'm injured but maybe next year. but not sure if i can join cause i'm apart of a political parties youth group. is that allowed?

reasons to join would be for health reasons. i'm sporty enough to join a team so the army would be forcing me to get in shape at particular times.

also i'm very nationalistic.

also i'm interested in how our army functions. i think the president should have a bigger role on what it does for our defense. we probably are not going to invaded anytime soon so i think the denfense forces main priority should be anti-terrorism as well as making sure corrupt politicians are cept out the goverment.

Hagar

Dontico wrote:

i'm apart of a political parties youth group.

That won't be a problem if it is one of the mainstream political parties i.e. something like Young Fine Gael. However if you are currently a member of Fianna Eireann you may well fail the security checks

Dontico wrote:

reasons to join would be for health reasons.

You will certainly become fitter in the DF but if that's your only reason for joining you might be better off in a gym

Dontico wrote:

also i'm very nationalistic.

Not a bad thing in the Military, why do I get the impression that it's going to cause a problem?

Dontico wrote:

we probably are going to invaded anytime soon so i think the denfense forces main priority should be terrorism

I can only assume you mean "we probably are not going to invaded anytime soon so i think the denfense forces main priority should be anti-terrorism".

Dontico wrote:

i think the president should have a bigger role on what it does for our defense...as well as making sure corrupt politicians are cept out the goverment.

It is not part of the remit of the Defence Forces to decide who runs the country nor is it normally the role of the President of Ireland to actively lead our Defence Forces.

I'm not sure you have a handle on the role of the Defence Forces, I would read up on them a bit more before you consider joining.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Steyr wrote:

as the Integrated Reserve is coming online if you go serious about you might just find yourself Overseas in a few years time with the PDF, thats the way its going we were told ( Come on Legislation! ) so please dont be a mucker.

Good god I hope not!.

Although it looks likely in the distant future, thankfully I'll be back in civilian life then.

Steyr

Its gonna happen. Fact.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Steyr wrote:

Its gonna happen. Fact.

What "fact" do you base this on?.

Have you ever been oversea's?.

If the answer is yes, you'll realise the huge amount of training (forming up) is done prior to the mission. With this, the time oversea's and then UN leave (four weeks) on your return your looking at a civilian being out of the workforce for eight months minimum.

Its not a nice thing to say, and this is coming from someone with five year's FCA experience prior to joining the PDF 21yrs ago. But the reserve are still looked upon as somewhat of a joke by PDF personnel.

Granted their training has come along way in the last few year's, but a few hours per week doesn't begin to catch up on the FCA man's PDF counterpart.

ANyway, if the reserve ever serve oversea's (and I don't think we'll see it anytime soon) it'll only happen when there's a dire lack of PDF volunteers. And with the 'new contracts' guys that issue will never arise as oversea's serve is mandatory now.

Jeeze we can't even get them to do a barrack guard!.

Nuttzz

Reservists going overseas will be in the form of Doctors, cooks, drivers where the army has a shortage currently, the chances of a reservist with an inf bn going overseas is a long way off, and while there is no employment protection laws in place is a non runner for most reservists anyway.

Sputnik

Granted their training has come along way in the last few year's, but a few hours per week doesn't begin to catch up on the FCA man's PDF counterpart.

Their is no suggestion that a member of the RDF, integrated or not, is simply going to stroll into an overseas mission. At the moment the thinking is that members who wish to serve overseas will sign a contract with the PDF for a year. Six months to bring them up to standard then six months overseas.

The detail of that will almost certainly change but you get the idea.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Nuttzz wrote:

Reservists going overseas will be in the form of Doctors, cooks, drivers where the army has a shortage currently, the chances of a reservist with an inf bn going overseas is a long way off, and while there is no employment protection laws in place is a non runner for most reservists anyway.

Most Doctors are already on short term contracts.

Logs personnel are still considered riflemen/women in a battalion/component serving oversea's.

If we're stuck for personnel for oversea's service, let the reservists take over the support rolls in the barracks at home and free up PDF per's from their operational rolls here to travel.

Steyr

Mairt wrote:

What "fact" do you base this on?.

We got told during a meeting in Barracks that the whole point of the Integrated Reserve is to train RDF personnel to the standard of the PDF to enable them to do the same duties that the PDF do right now and that includes Overseas Service, Interviews and Assesements for the IR will be starting in Jan 2007.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Steyr wrote:

We got told during a meeting in Barracks that the whole point of the Integrated Reserve is to train RDF personnel to the standard of the PDF to enable them to do the same duties that the PDF do right now and that includes Overseas Service, Interviews and Assesements for the IR will be starting in Jan 2007.

You know how many times I've been told the army was getting this, that or the other in my 21yrs service?.. More times than I can ever count.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to think that someday the army reserve would be on a par with the PDF, but going on past experience in the army it ain't gonna happen in your lifetime, or mine.

I'm not trying to cross swords with you on this. I appricate that you put a huge amount of time and effort into your soldiering, but I know what the Dept.of Defence is like too. Just don't hold your breath thinking that someday your going to travel thats all.

Steyr

I wont but i also dont think im doing an interview for nothing and i also dont think my opposite ( PDF Unit ) would put on a Tac demo etc for nothing on a cold sunday at 9am when they were supposed to have that as their day off.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Steyr wrote:

I wont but i also dont think im doing an interview for nothing and i also dont think my opposite ( PDF Unit ) would put on a Tac demo etc for nothing on a cold sunday at 9am when they were supposed to have that as their day off.

Don't for a second think their volunteering for it!.

Its easy for your brigade training centre to detail a PDF unit for an exercise on any Sunday, their not on the ground with the lads.

Maybe your right, and my many year's in uniform have just turned me cynic, who knows.

Either way, best of luck in the reserve. I enjoyed my five years FCA prior to joining the PDF.

I was actually in 21 yrs on the 13th of this month, seem's like only yesterday I was doing my medical in Bricins hoping to get into the PDF.

Infact (getting off topic for a moment). I was down doing a PDL medical two weeks ago and looking at some fresh faces doing their signing on medical. Seem's strange how things go round in circles like that!.

Banditboy_irl

CroppyBoy1798 wrote:

I shot, your reasons for wanting to join the RDF are as valid as anyone elses, you dont have to have national pride or pledge some form of unquestioning faith to Ireland, those of ye that are currently in the RDF, can ye HONESTLY say that all ye're comrades/mates are in the RDF as a matter of national pride or wanting to serve there country?, be honest.


Whats wrong with that as a reason for wanting to join??

I spent 3 years in the RDF, and seen my fair share of comrades that were only there for the uniform and to swell there own ego's, turn up for camp, get paid and then feck off, never to be seen until the following year or odd parade night.

I joined as I had an interest in the military, wanted to get out and about a little more and learn new things, so I served my three years, met some good friends, learned a thing or two and then got out, my perogative.

Before/or if anyone decides to jump down my throat, this was how I seen the reserves and what I experienced. Those that are putting down I shot because he doesnt have national pride or 'honour' should take a look at the members in there own centres and question them as to whether they really have such beliefs!

Here Here ... Well said!! Aresholes turning up outta woodwork to go on camp! Shame bloody shame it was/is

btowner

What's the story with colourblindness?

I have red/green colourblindness so will this stop me joining

testicle

yes

cork1

on signing a contract how long is it before the contract is up and if i decide that this isnt for me can i get out before my contract is up.

Bam Bam

Army Reserve contracts are for 3 years, but you can request a discharge whenever you want.