Irish soldier on border duty 80s 90S

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At home, the Army was deployed to aid the Garda Síochána (the police force) along the border with Northern Ireland during the conflict known as the Troubles (1969-1998). In the early 1970s, it was suggested that the Army might cross the Border to protect the Irish nationalist community within Northern Ireland. This was never acted upon, although units were moved to the border region in 1969-70 during the Battle of the Bogside, in order to provide medical support to those wounded in the fighting.

[@paulkelly660]

Had the pleasure ( not at the time) of bumping into a number of your guys in 74. Bumped into the same officer in charge in Somalia many many many years later, Dorica Lee ( spelling probably wrong) you and your guys in Somalia were brilliant, thank you for the great time given. Hope you are all well, keep safe. If anyone knows him, please pass on my regards. 🇬🇧🇮🇪

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

that is very interesting thanks for the info

[@danielforrester5265]

Theres a retired Lt Col called Donnacha Lee who writes to many news papers and has his opinion pieces on Defence published in them. It may be that officer you met!

[@T-Cat311]

Enjoyed your video! Never trained with Irish forces but as a young sergeant in the USAF did joint training with the SAS in 1985! Ireland is a beautiful country me great grandfather came to the US from Ireland! I’d move there in a minute! 😁

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

you are more than welcome

[@T-Cat311]

@@eiremilitarycollectibles1238 thank you my friend and a Merry Christmas to ya! 🎄

[@padraigcurran3236]

Fantastic work John loved this new style of video. I believe myself and Niall have all the gear, we'll have set something up there. Keep up the great content.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

Go for it! yes the new style people seem to like it so will do more

[@nottsco]

Interesting, informative and concise video. All the best from Tony in England.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

Glad it was helpful!

[@gerandhismgb17]

Your missing the most important part of the uniform.
The flake jacket.
I wore it while doing border patrols out of Monaghan barracks. Early 80’s

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

yes sir you are 100% but they are like hens teeth to find

[@TheNinyo77]

Why??? More likely to be fired on by brits I suppose.

[@dhss333]

The Styr is a short range peashooter, like the current British Lego rifle.

[@michaelbevan3285]

the OG uniform was part of a full system, which had a jumper, a bodywarmer and wet gear and a poncho. The Irish Army used a commercially made green jumper which was not remotely as good as the "woolly pulley" of other Armies. The commercial jumper fell apart very quickly and people often bought Woolies in surplus stores before they were actually issued. The bodywarmer was highly prized as it was essentially a light,civvy one but it kept you very warm. The combat uniform was notorious for fading after washing and it absorbed water like a sponge so you always gained weight when training or on Ops. The wet gear was civvy gear and tore easily and you sweated like a pig when you wore it. The poncho was good and very like the American type, as was the flak jacket. The Rabintex helmet was very good but size range was small and it had to be fitted properly to work and not a lot of people knew how to fit it properly. The boots were not great and the Blackthorn version were appalling shite and did not last long in service.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

thanks for all the fantastic info

[@vanessalavin9871]

That's a very smart and stylish uniform. I like the colour and the slash pockets on the chest which would have easier to access with the webbing in place.

[@larryoconnor7094]

Please expand.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

the that was a very good thing when they moved the pockets

[@stevenbreach2561]

Almost the same kit as I had in 81,in Fermanagh.Also due to iffy map reading took a trip into Eire,and nobody caught us!!👍👍👍🇧🇴🇧🇴

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

yes did not change mush at all from the 70s to the late 90s

[@steelhelmetstan7305]

Excellent impression there John, well explained and wonderfully acted at the beginning....great stuff m8 enjoyed it 😀...BTW ,was that the loudest cow in Ireland?.....it seemed to enjoy your filming too 😀😉😄

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

Glad you enjoyed it that cow has a good set of lungs lol

[@heritage195]

That excellent Israeli helmet replaced the British helmet around '86, the webbing was introduced about '81 and the FN rifle was replaced by the Steyr in 1990. Good video.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

Thanks very much for the help

[@heritage195]

@@eiremilitarycollectibles1238 A pleasure!

[@dickyyz465]

58 webbing was issued in the 1950s.

[@heritage195]

@@dickyyz465 It wasn't. The Irish Army adopted it in 1981

[@padraigcurran3236]

@@heritage195 Hard one to know as I have seen it in use by exercise Humbert in 77, but you also see a lot of it by 79.

[@DMAC1966]

That was really good loadout. I was toying with the idea of (Trying to get) another Areas SLR and the selector that turns it fully auto then changing the flash hider. But the latter would be the difficult bit.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

the airsoft slr is hard to get

[@DMAC1966]

@@eiremilitarycollectibles1238 Seen a couple for sale but for lily money...

[@anthonyburrows2787]

Excellent video! Be great to see this impression at the Living History UK Festival if the event widens in to all militaries in 2023, especially alongside a British border patrol soldier of the same era.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

yes that is a good idea

[@davidbrennan660]

Back in the day huh ?......
Good to see you had your flank protection out as well.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

yes have to have that out

[@DavidSternburgYt]

Pretty sure the British used the slr variant of the fn fal which was semi automatic only?

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

yes you are right i said that in the video

[@DavidSternburgYt]

@@eiremilitarycollectibles1238 oh your right I misheard you! My apologies keep up the good work, really love your videos!

[@Drekavacmilitaria]

This has to be the most Irish video I’ve ever seen, you can even hear the cows in the background moo’n cheers man love that loadout 🍻

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@riflegreen3069]

Class. I did not know you had the 58 pattern webbing in the Irish Army.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

yes they had the 08pattern the 37. the 58 then plce

[@coldwarmilitaria6593]

Really nice impression!!

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

thanks very much

[@stukafaust]

Was the uniform itself unique to the Irish military or like the helmet did it come from another country? Anyway a lovely informative video and very good looking uniform that they had.

[@vincenzoferrara7072]

I liked this video very much.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

thanks very much

[@thatguye2829]

Can I ask where you got all these things?

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

most is from my time in the army

[@andrewjohnston4127]

Brilliant video 😀

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

Thanks very much

[@theirishpsychowolf7617]

Man I've been wanting to make one of these for airsoft but I only had pictures to go off of

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

uniform is the hardest to put together

[@historicmilitaria1944]

Might fine representation,looking forward to others......maybe your us kit perhaps.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

will do cj will do a ranger one for you

[@historicmilitaria1944]

@@eiremilitarycollectibles1238 look forward to it.

[@porsche928ireland]

Is there a source to purchase the service shirt, jacket, and trousers ?

[@padraigcurran3236]

Unfortunately, the only way to really get defence force kit is through known sellers, very rarely turns up on ebay.

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

ebay..ie from time to time maybe

[@ffspablo8739]

Header

[@eiremilitarycollectibles1238]

sorry don't understand

[@TheNinyo77]

Lol lol.