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Irish army compared to other armies?

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  • Irish army compared to other armies?

    How do the pdf compare to other armed forces for example the british army, or america. Obviously budget-wise ireland is nowhere near but as far as the skill of the personal is concerned how do we stand.

  • #2
    From anybody I have spoken to who served in Kosovo alongside the Brits and Americans we have nothing to worry about man-for-man.
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    • #3
      Does the same apply to the ARW in comparisment to other special forces units

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Groundhog
        From anybody I have spoken to who served in Kosovo alongside the Brits and Americans we have nothing to worry about man-for-man.
        Was this our own opinion, or the opinion of the other forces?
        Meh.

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        • #5
          Comparisons

          Comparisons between armies are always difficult, do you consider individuals, overall size, weapons etc.

          The closest I heard, was from the Australian commander of the original force in East Timor, General Peter Cosgrove, when asked a similar question, responded by saying he found little difference between the Brits, Kiwis, Irish, and Australians, all were highly trained professionals.

          But then maybe it was the Irish blood in him?


          IAS

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          • #6
            Paddy's on Par with the best of them!

            Cosgrove said that the "Canadian's, Kiwis , Aussies, Irish and Brits" were poured from the same mould he never said anything about the Americans or any other force in Timor I have that article in Janes Defence weekly if you'd like to see it i'll post it?
            There could not be a major difference between our Special Forces and that of the UK except to say that they have had more operational experience, the training would most likely be the same!

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            • #7
              Could you post it?

              thanks

              -Y
              Meh.

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              • #8
                Tomorrow when I have time

                I'll post it tomorrow

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                • #9
                  OTA in Britian

                  My best friend is a student in Scotland where he joined the OTA, making him an officer in the Territorial Army, the equivalent to the RDF. He also used to be in the FCA and I was telling him where we were where going for camp this summer and he laughed.

                  He will be spending 2 weeks in an army base in Wales before going to Uganda for a month to build a water system in a village. In the past year his unit had gone to France for 3 weeks and they were just back form doing winter tactics in the Alps. They are also paid for weekly field days and training.

                  The Reserve in Britain is better equipped and trained than the PDF in this country.

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                  • #10
                    The Reserve in Britain is better equipped and trained than the PDF in this country
                    How do you make that out? They're only part-time soldiers like the FCA, how can they approach the same level of training as full-time professional soldiers?
                    "The dolphins were monkeys that didn't like the land, walked back to the water, went back from the sand."

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                    • #11
                      The Reserve in Britain is better equipped and trained than the PDF in this country.

                      I'm sure it nearly is, how often do the PDF train for large scale operations, once a year on a PSO operation. Officers or NCO's would have little experience of C4 on a large scale with assets such as Naval based fire support and air strikes or air mobile troops. How many PDF go on winter training or mountaineering abroad ever year ARW that's about it !

                      Jungle training - forget it !!

                      Jesus we don't even have enough manpower to cover barrack duties.........

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                      • #12
                        Comparisons between the Irish DF and the British aren't possible for a number of reasons. Firstly, we have a defence force which by nature is small in peacetime and is proportionate to the population. The British have a larger army as they have a more aggressive foreign policy masked by their mirroring of America's "the Worlds Policeman" image.

                        If we wanted to go invading countries 1000's of miles away and cling on to a long gone empire we would have an army of that size and equipment as well.

                        Comparisons between Irish and UK (or any other forces) should be based on individual soldiers and their training, not the overall equipment, budget and size of each army.

                        The reason the TA get to do foreign training is because in the UK there is a better public attitude to their Armed Forces and it isn't percieved by the public as a waste of money.

                        To say that part time TA soldiers are compareable to the PDF is incorrect. Maybe they have a lot of equipment but they are still part time and don't have the professional training that a full time soldier gets.

                        Your TA friend may laugh at where RDF might go on camp in comparison to the TA but from a training point of view the location of where you go makes very little differance (unless you are doing specialised training such as Desert warfare etc.) If I do an infantry tactics course in Cork or in some exotic foreign location, what is the differance going to be besides the climate? I am sure a section in attack in one is the same as a section in attack in the other.

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                        • #13
                          Do TA soldiers in Britain attend the same Basic Training and other schools as regular recruits, or does the TA have their own schools, like the PDF vs RDF in Ireland. In US, Reserve Component soldiers attend the same schools with regular component soldiers. Could this ever happen in Ireland?
                          No-one, I think, is in my tree...

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                          • #14
                            Think about it. How old is the British Army, have a stab at it coz I haven’t got a clue. They have a huge history behind them, they have gone to war with half the world. The experience and scale of their activity alone should reflect on the Reserve/Part-timers.

                            How old in the Irish Army (officially) I would guess less than 70 years. And the Irish Reserve?? We have never gone to war, with the exception of peacekeeping missions with the UN.

                            In Britain the Part-time soldier is just that, a Part-timer. They are used in war just like the US Army. In Ireland we have the Reserve Defence Force, something that is there, trained but not used, I don’t know of any FCA men or woman who have gone on peace keeping missions (you don’t count Eagle Eye).

                            As far as I know the TA train with the full-time Army and are certainly not looked down by their counterparts. They go to what we call camp and train to a level equal to that of the British Army.
                            Does anyone remember seeing ads on the telly for the TA, they have been promoting them for years. We’ve just started, and only on the back of the army's €2.5 million campain.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by iron arse
                              In Britain the Part-time soldier is just that, a Part-timer. They are used in war just like the US Army....
                              ...As far as I know the TA train with the full-time Army and are certainly not looked down by their counterparts. They go to what we call camp and train to a level equal to that of the British Army.
                              The TA do separate, shorter courses than the regular army. Their training would certainly not be to the same level as the regular army. Normally only TA support units are mobilised, though individuals can and do volunteer for attachments to regular units.
                              The TA are indeed looked-down at by regulars, the same as every other army in the world.

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