Jump to content

A movie about Irish peacekeepers in the congo


Marko

Recommended Posts

Shows how difficult and frustrating for the troops peace keeping mission can be.

 The Irish defence force mite be small but regularly gets asked to send troops for peacekeeping missions.

probably because Its a all professional defence force and Ireland is a neutral country,

 There's even a dedicated training facility for peace keepers to train and is attended by officers from other nations as well I believe.

My dad served with some of the guys who served in the Congo and were involved in the events in the movie.

Peace keepers really are the unsung heroes in todays world a thankless (most of the time) and dangerous job.

Edit its the right link.

 

 

 

Edited by Marko
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Grenny said:

As I'm in the comfy position of beeing able to choose; I wouldn't touch a blue beret with a ten foot FUBAR proof stick...

I have told its the opposite in the Irish defence forces if you want promotion its a unofficial requirement to have served overseas.

For officers NCO,s and enlisted men. Its very a popular thing to do in the Irish army because of the generous allowance's

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Marko said:

I have told its the opposite in the Irish defence forces if you want promotion its a unofficial requirement to have served overseas.

For officers NCO,s and enlisted men. Its very a popular thing to do in the Irish army because of the generous allowance's

 

Serving "overseas" is one thing...beeing under UN command is an other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep i am with Grenny on this one i trained one of the former teams that vent to the former yugoslavia under UN command in the early 90ties and when the serbs bombed and shelled the UN camp without end for 3 days because some croatian vehicles where close by, UN leardership told us that the US carrier aircraft  in the adriatic they couldn't fly because of weather while we at the same time had serb planes in the air above us we lost 4 guys on that account so no i would also skip anything to do with UN as well.

 

The only times the serbs respect us there was when our COY of leopard 1s showed up.

and it only cost them a small BTN to learn that!!!!!!!

 

MD

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Major duck said:

Yep i am with Grenny on this one i trained one of the former teams that vent to the former yugoslavia under UN command in the early 90ties and when the serbs bombed and shelled the UN camp without end for 3 days because some croatian vehicles where close by, UN leardership told us that the US carrier aircraft  in the adriatic they couldn't fly because of weather while we at the same time had serb planes in the air above us we lost 4 guys on that account so no i would also skip anything to do with UN as well.

 

The only times the serbs respect us there was when our COY of leopard 1s showed up.

and it only cost them a small BTN to learn that!!!!!!!

 

MD

 

 

 

 

I have heard stories of Irish peace keepers in Lebanon been deliberately targeted by Israeli Arty.

They would try to deny it then give a have hearted apology even though the Irish suffered casualties.

not sure if this bit is accurate but the Irish troops on the ground wanted to respond in kind but were denied permission.

 The Irish guys could see the Israeli UAV flying over there position just before the strike hit. they did this a few times with no real consequences.

I also spoken to a retired soldier who had his  APC,s rammed out of the way  by Israeli armour some guys were hurt in the process.

It seems the UN has no real teeth or stomach for a fight but what alternative is there, something like Kfor but weren't they seen as biased.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 I vaguely remember an incident when a Bosnian Serb T-55 tried to engage a French AFV  not sure think it was a ERC-90

The T-55 missed But the French crew scored a first round hit on the T-55 taking it out.

does anybody remember the details of that encounter was it a ERC-90 or a VBC-90

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

 

UN - noun.

 

A full and comprehensive lesson in what happens when self centered power playing politicians are given direct command over ground combat forces.

 

"Oh you can't shoot back! You might piss off the locals."

"Yeah? They're already pissed off. They're shooting at us."

"I don't like your tone."

"Fuck off, wanker."

 

and

 

"This shit'll go sideways quicker'n a rally car."

 

 

 

Commandant Quinlan made the right choice, if they'd have died to man the UN would have done jack fucking shit about it.

At least this way, same outcome, but they lived.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll have to check out this movie, thanks!

 

I remember reading the book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Roméo Dallaire, and the level of incompetence and bureaucratic red tape is absolutely maddening. I don't envy his (at the time) job at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 31.10.2016 at 9:35 PM, Gibsonm said:

It all depends on which Chapter of the UN Charter authorises your deployment.

 

Chapter VI and your powers are limited.

 

Chapter VII and you have far greater freedom of action.

 

The current UNIFIL II operation is under chapter VII... but still it's the same. The mandate would allow stuff, but UN will not act accordingly.

 

Nice movie about the Irish peacekeepers. Served with them in Lebanon, :) nice bunch

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Zipuli said:

 

The current UNIFIL II operation is under chapter VII... but still it's the same. The mandate would allow stuff, but UN will not act accordingly.

 

Nice movie about the Irish peacekeepers. Served with them in Lebanon, :) nice bunch

The Irish soldiers I have spoken to who served in the Leb

speak very highly of the Finns they served alongside  

But there not fans of pea soup. LoL 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...