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The Irish Times Magazine
Saturday 01 10 2005
SECRET
SERVICE
Each year, Ireland
“On my command,” shouts the instructor, “step off”. The young man in camouflage fatigues obeys without hesitation, plummeting 20m from the bridge into the icy water beneath. As he steps off the parapet he bellows “ranger”, the kind of soldier he wants to become .The bridge trial is the first of three confidence tests he will have to complete if he is to have a chance of joining the Army Ranger Wing, an elite unit of the Defence Forces.
Based in the Curragh, in Co. Kildare, the ranger wing has played a key role in the DF over the past 25 years, supporting national security at home and abroad. It prepares for numereous military eventualities, including the storming of hijacked aircraft and foreign deployments with the UN. The rangers are also trained to deal with urban-conflict situations, such as hostage-taking, and are trained in parachuting, combat diving, small boat handling and mountaineering. The unit has been mobilised during jail riots and for VIP protection.
The ranger wing was formed after a spate of IRA kidnappings
in the 1970s, and that of
The Dutch industrialist Dr Tiede Herrema, which led to a stand-off between the
Kidnappers and security forces. After that, the government decided it needed a full-time
Special forces unit, to help cope with such events.
Last year, it was proposed to increase the unit’s numbers from around 100 to 120, in
response to a heightened threat to global security and to the possibility of an attack on
embassies in Dublin , including those of the US , Britain and Israel
Any member of the DF can apply for the arw annual month long test of physical and
psychological endurance. Between 60 and 70 usually try out; perhaps only one in 10 will
make it through. The rest fall by the wayside from injury or because they fail a test.
Others cannot overcome their claustrophobia or fear of heights. Whatever the reason,
they have to accept that their ambition exceeds their ability.
Dealing with fear is a foundation for any of the tasks the wing are given. In 2003, for
example, rangers were deployed in dangereous parts of Liberia
their own resources to survive. Building the confidence they need for such missions
begins on the selection course.
The instructors are current rangers; most have served overseas, and some have trained
with other special forces units. As one of them puts it: “ We have first hand experience of
the selection course, so we know that, while it is tough, it is achievable. Everything we
teach the during the course will stand to them in service.” In fact, even candidates who do
not finish the course learn enough to benefit them when they return to their units. Many
of those who are unsuccessful first time around apply a second time.
The course’s fitness tests include running and marching on both roads and mountains.
These are frequently followed by tests of mental agility; in a real battle, rangers may,
After a long march, have to plan how to attack a target.
One of the wings’ core values is teamwork. In many of their tasks, candidates must work
together while suffering from mental and physical exhaustion, often running or
crawling with 15kg of kit. In one exercise they have to run up a hill with a stretcher
loaded with sandbags 
, to represent a wounded colleague. Their lungs scream for oxygen.
, to represent a wounded colleague. Their lungs scream for oxygen.The pace accelerates in the final week, when the remaining candidates demonstrate what
they have learned, from long range patrolling to ambush and small unit tactics. It
culminates in a late night attack on “enemy hq”, fighting soldiers drawn from a reserve
battalion. (The reservists are only too glad to take on the prospective rangers, not least
because they will be able to say that they worked with the Army’s elite).
Whoeever survives until morning faces one last challenge before they can become
probationary rangers. Before dawn they are tracked to the Glen of Imaal, in Co.
Wicklow. At 5am they begin a blistering 40km march to the ranger barracks, back on the
Curragh.
Less than six hours later, the march ends where it all began, five weeks earlier. As they
march proudly through the gates they are applauded by men in green berets- their new
colleagues in the Army Ranger wing.
By Aidan Crawley, with additional reporting by Declan Power, security analysist and
author of Siege at Jadotville
The Irish Times Magazine
Saturday 01 10 2005
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