Southern Brigade PSO

[spiderman]

I probably should know, but whats "an Eritrea" ?

[Llorrac]

Eritrea

A country of northeast Africa bordering on the Red Sea. Once part of the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum, it became an Italian colony in 1890 and was named after the Roman term for the Red Sea, Mare erythraeum. Captured by the British during World War II, Eritrea later became a federated part (1952) and then a province (1962) of Ethiopia, from which it gained its independence in 1993. Asmara is the capital and largest city. Population: 3,437,000.

(I think maybe barry sheehan was referring to a different 'Eritrea')

[barry sheehan]

was my spelling incorrect?if it was i apoligise for my gross illiteracy.bold barry.:D
last i heard there was only one country called eritrea(was i right that time?)

[Groundhog]

only for a 4 Bn man going there in a senior Nco Appt. the unit was finished.

Right

[Sluggie]

I belive that "having an Eritrea" is a coded reference, by those with more information, to a less than satisfactory tour in that country by a unit which was perdominantly made up of 4th bn personnel.

There were widspread disciplinary problems on this mission, possibly including the underage prostitution incident.

[spiderman]

right! pity they let themselves down like that, thanks sluggie. Thanks llorac for the Geog lesson! I was on the PSO with lads from the 12th too, and the 3rd from Kilkenny, all seemed to go pretty well. lessons learned though.

[hptmurphy]

apology accepted. No inference to any particulars of the rank and file ...poor training is brought rom the top. I've no real loyalties to either battalion .....I'm merely commenting on what i've seen over the past couple of years

[Steamy Window]

so, after that little slagging match- what sort of reputations do the otehr PDF bn's have, eg An Cead Cath, 2nd Bn etc...?

[Commando69]

Im pretty sure the 5th is known to those outside it as a 'creaser' battalion. Not including B Company of course. 27th in Monaghan looks fairly cushy, never anyone in that barracks!!

[Groundhog]

I belive that "having an Eritrea" is a coded reference, by those with more information, to a less than satisfactory tour in that country by a unit which was perdominantly made up of 4th bn personnel.

There were widspread disciplinary problems on this mission, possibly including the underage prostitution incident.

The 4th Bn has always consisted of an undisciplined rabble.

[Steamy Window]

Im pretty sure the 5th is known to those outside it as a 'creaser' battalion. Not including B Company of course. 27th in Monaghan looks fairly cushy, never anyone in that barracks!!

Creaser?

[Gunner Who?]

Jilty

[Truck Driver]

Jilty

"Creaser" I never heard before. Jilty is very familiar to me though....

[Steamy Window]

understood, cheers

[duck]

i was an (RDF) section commander on PSO 04, and my memories of it are these- 1st week we were trained from dawn till dusk to kill,kill,kill, and in the second week (the excercise), we were expected to know all about peace-keeping, of which we had actually done very little (and mostly when the PDF had gone home). The 2002 pso was way better from a peace-keeping point of view, but 04 was basically a (very good!)section comanders battle tactics course, followed by a whole lot of aimless wandering on the ground, and of course bitching. The PDF instructors, although excellent,seemed to have just shown up on the day and started hell for leather, without too much taught or planning as to what they were trying to achieve. Also they were oviously stretched thin, there was 4 of them trying to instruct a company!! That said, i learned a lot from the two weeks, and the craic was 90.....