'While John F. Kennedy and the Russians were contemplating nuclear war , we were being trained to charge around the bogs with fearsome bayonets uttering blood curdling war cries'

'While John F. Kennedy and the Russians were contemplating nuclear war , we were being trained to charge around the bogs with fearsome bayonets uttering blood curdling war cries'

Mike Mahon remembers his time at the Military College.

Mike Mahon

Trinity College Dublin

1955

This item is protected by original copyright

This content may be downloaded and used (with attribution) for research, teaching or private study. It may not be used for commercial purposes without permission.

Mike Mahon

Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Life Story

Curragh, Co. Kildare

1950s

It is often said that the best years of your life were schooldays,, but in my case the most enjoyable and interesting were the years I spent as a Cadet in the Military College, the Curragh , County Kildare. I joined straight out of school and on arrival was greeted by a tough drill sergeant with the words, 'the only thing you'll find here are sheep , shit and soldiers. ' The Government had just decided that in future all commands and courses would be conducted in Irish. This led to some rather strange words being introduced into the Irish Language, for example all the parts of the Bren gun had to be renamed 'as Gaelige' which to some linguist tongue twisters. Our uniforms were of course material which was called 'bulls wool' and guaranteed to absorb any rain that fell. They were adorned down the front with a row of brass buttons that had to be polished every day till they gleamed even on the dullest day ensuring in the event of war or another ' Emergency' we would provide good targets for enemy marksmen. Our boots and leather belts were of a reddish brown colour , but God only knows why, it was decided that they should now be changed to black. Now any other army would have issued new boots, but presumably to save money we were ordered to dye the boots we had black at our own expense and energy. While John F. Kennedy and the Russians were contemplating nuclear war , we were being trained to charge around the bogs with fearsome bayonets uttering blood curdling war cries guaranteed to put the fear of God into any invasion force. Our communications were large back pack HF radios called '88's, we were dispersed around the surrounding areas and told to set up a radio command network. This we had reasonable success with this unfortunately some of the conversations were picked up by local TV 's and a string of complaints about the language used were sent in by shocked locals . As transport we were issued with ancient bicycles, usually referred to as 'high nellies' by country folk. This was the Irish Army's version of a Rapid Deployment Force. Indeed they were very useful in getting to the local dances in Kildare, Newbridge and Naas, but the local females were not very impressed with this form of transport and most nights we cycled home alone.

00:05:24

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)