MEMBERS OF the Reserve Defence Forces (RDF) will serve overseas for the first time by the end of the year in Kosovo, and may be posted to Chad next year, the Defence Forces Chief of Staff, Lieut Gen Dermot Earley, said.
Speaking on the final day of a three-day visit with Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea to Irish troops in Chad who are serving with the European Union’s peace enforcement mission EUfor, Lieut Gen Earley said the first group of 12 reservists had already been selected for overseas duties.
They would go to Kosovo to help overcome shortages of skilled personnel in areas such as heavy vehicles maintenance, the provision of medical treatment and in information technology. Cooks and drivers might also be needed.
“The next stage is to get agreement that they will be available to undergo the predeployment training, which is about three months,” Lieut Gen Earley said. “They’d need to undertake the overseas tour of duty and then they’d need to have the wind-down when they come home, so it’s the best part of a year.” He said it would be left to reservists to arrange with employers to take such a long period off work. In some Scandinavian countries, legislation protects people’s employment while they serve as overseas reservists.
Lieut Gen Earley said it was doubtful if, given the economic climate, similar legislative provisions would be a priority for the Government. However, he was hopeful reservists would have understanding employers. He had met some reservists who had secured agreement from their employers that their jobs would be kept open.
The RDF was reorganised three years ago with a view to enhancing its contribution to the Permanent Defence Forces (PDF).
“One of those elements was to give them the opportunity to serve overseas,” Lieut Gen Earley said. “To allow that to happen, we had to get a commitment from them to take part in what’s described as integrated training.”
The frequency and intensity of the training deterred some, but while only small numbers were making themselves available, they were more committed now.
Lieut Gen Earley said it was possible reservists would be drafted into the PDF. This would ensure they were subject to the same regulations as their full-time colleagues. “How big it will go depends on the reserve; how many will come forward for training, how easy it is to get off [work] to do that.”
If the Kosovo deployment went well, it was possible more reservists would be sent to Chad next year, as long as the Defence Forces remains on beyond the withdrawal date of March 2010.
Lieut Gen Earley did not rule out reservists participating in patrols that went into remote areas of Chad to assess the security threat and deter heavily armed rebels. He said reservists skilled to maintain heavy duty vehicles would be invaluable on such patrols.