Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Reserves to be allowed join Army on Kosovo-style peacekeeping duties. Indo.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Reserves to be allowed join Army on Kosovo-style peacekeeping duties. Indo.

    A MAJOR overhaul of the FCA will mean volunteers being able to serve with the permanent Defence Forces on peacekeeping duties in countries like Kosovo.

    Also, Defence Minister Michael Smith is considering legislation which would safeguard the jobs of the volunteers while they are on duty tours abroad.

    The minister has approved in principle the major recommendations of the Reserve Defence Force Review Implementation Board report. The main changes involve replacing the FCA with an Army Reserve and replacing An Slua Muiri with a new Naval Service Reserve.

    Reserve personnel may in future be able to volunteer for tours of duty abroad in a move designed to improve morale among the country's 13,800 Army reserve.

    A Defence Department spokesman said that the possibility of tours overseas would be "thought out over the course of the implementation" of the report's recommendations.

    One of the most important issues to be looked at was guaranteeing volunteers' job would still be there for them on their return to Ireland, he added. Provision would have to be made in legislation to protect people's jobs.

    The Department says that, as well as being a major morale booster, if a situation arose where there was difficulty getting the numbers for a tour of duty abroad, it would be very beneficial to have the Army Reserve to draw upon.

    While this had never been an issue in the permanent Defence Forces before, allowing reserves serve abroad would be especially beneficial where he or she had special skills in the area of mechanics, ordnance disposal or medical expertise.

    "If we had a shortage, we could dip into the reserves, particularly in the skilled areas," the Department spokesman said. "There are times when specific skills can be hard to find, for example a dentist or a doctor. It can be hard to get a medic to serve overseas."

    Among recommendations to the minister earlier this year were that the traditional strengths of the reserve system be preserved, such as "the spirit of individual voluntary commitment and the close links with local communities."

    The aim, says the Department, is to achieve standardisation and inter-operability between the permanent Defence Forces and Reserve Force in respect of both dress and personal equipment being issued to individuals.

    Reserves have been issued with the new standard Army camouflage-style uniform and Steyr rifles.

    In districts where there are no reserve units, it is proposed to deal with this.


    Kathy Donaghy

  • #2
    Bring it on!!! :D

    Comment


    • #3
      Oh smithy bring it on quickly
      One thing with the legelisation dont make us unemployable. Do your stuff smithy and do it now. Lets the re-org on the way now not 6 years time
      Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

      "Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory" Proverbs 11-14
      http://munsterfireandrescue.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Reserves to be allowed join Army on Kosovo-style peacekeeping duties. Indo.

        Originally posted by yellowjacket


        .

        Among recommendations to the minister earlier this year were that the traditional strengths of the reserve system be preserved, such as "the spirit of individual voluntary commitment and the close links with local communities."

        Kathy Donaghy
        Read unpaid and not treated as legitimate units in their own right.
        This plan has changed us from a shadow army to a spare parts box.
        "It is a general popular error to imagine that loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for it's welfare" Edmund Burke

        Comment


        • #5
          Has anyone heard anything about job security if on service with the Integrated sub-units ?
          "Are they trying to shoot down the other drone? "

          "No, they're trying to fly the tank"

          Comment


          • #6
            There are a lot of issues to be sorted out before reservists go overseas, not least job security. There are also issues with regard to insurance and life assurance.

            Comment


            • #7
              and how about parity of esteem....guarantee we would be used as donkeys by the pdf elements
              Pussyand Gunsmoke.......live by one, die by the other, and love the smell of both in the morning!!

              Comment


              • #8
                reply

                Hate to halt your gallop here guys but I think you should look at this objectively before you start calling for smith to be the next pope.

                Walk into any barracks and get a RDF cpl to go over to a group of PDFers and give them an order. Wait for the response he/she will get.
                I believe that the integrated unit idea should be up and running a couple of years before the overseas svc thing kicks in.
                Only when the RDF show the PDF that they are capable of doing the job (and at the end of the day professional soldiering is only a job) will the PDF feel comfortable on overseas missions with them.

                I appreciate this view will probably enrage a few of the RDF troops but overseas missions aren't 6 mth holidays. Real missions with real dangers and real casualties.

                Food for thought...

                Comment


                • #9
                  "Walk into any barracks and get a RDF cpl to go over to a group of PDFers and give them an order. Wait for the response he/she will get." - MEDIC

                  It would be the same if a 2* Pte tryed to order a P.D.F. Guard party around.....
                  Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...

                  http://www.iamawesome.com/

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    not gonna happen for at least another 6 or 7 years,all this...

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      the original idea would have been that the reservist would drop a rank for the purposes of intergration and as a result he would not be taking up promotion oppertunities for members of the PDF.
                      as was said earlier there are many issues to be sorted before intergration can happen.
                      Covid 19 is not over ....it's still very real..Hand Hygiene, Social Distancing and Masks.. keep safe

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Hptmurphy, that situation was never suggested at any serious level

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          If we are ever allowed to go abroad it would probably be to aid in the repair of infrastructure in places such as Kosavo. This would mean that they would be sending skilled personnel such as medics, drivers, technicians, engineers etc. This means that would probably carry out a survey of skills in the rdf and offer these packages accordingly. Effectively you would be doing a specifically skilled task where rank may not be much of an issue.
                          Hate to sound pessimistic but I can't see the majority of us being sent overseas. If they do get around to setting this up many people would have to take a pay cut with respect to their civvie job for the six month duration of their tour anyway. Although I'd love the chance to go abroad, I agree with Thorpe but I have to say that as bravo20 has pointed out more issues have to be resolved until overseas service for RDF becomes a reality.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            We would probably end up using our civy qualifications in a military arena. Meaning the like of Medical, Engineering and so on will be the RDF personel in demand. But its 4-5 years away.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              They may end up with an agreement that you have to join the PDF temporarily for your tour. I'd have to say that 4-5 years would be a reasonable time for everything to be in place for the RDF to go abroad. This should give some people so thime to get some skills which the RDF may need abroad.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X