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IRISH SOLDIERS HAVE discovered – on the back of a study of the artillery war in Ukraine – that they have just ninety seconds after firing their big guns to avoid being targeted by returning fire.
The Journal spent the day yesterday with the Artillery Corps as they trained four trainee gun teams in “quick action” tactics on how to avoid that incoming fire.
The teams have been sleeping in the cold in the Glen of Imaal for 72 hours.
We visited a camouflaged observation post inside a densely packed woodland high on a mountainside.
Lessons learned
As we reported previously the Irish army’s Artillery Corps has been studying the lessons learned from Ukraine, where artillery has played a key role for both sides.
Captain Brian Clarke told us on that occasion that the use of rapid movements to a firing position – known as shoot and scoot – is key to prevent loss of life.
Yesterday Clarke, who has written an internal military report on the topic, was present as they put that report into practice for teams of new gunners.
Those troops, living in tiny dugout style camps, call in the targets, while a convoy of guns wait below in the valley.
The practice for the young soldiers was then to move rapidly into position, set up their gun, fire four shots or rounds on to a target and then run.
Unlike other international armies the Irish do not use GPS systems.
They have also discovered, in the wake of the outbreak of war in Ukraine, that those systems are not working as they should due to high-tech jamming.
Officers told The Journal yesterday how the low tech Irish approach is now causing foreign artillery officers to make contact with the Artillery Corps here to revisit the old analogue methods using mathematics and grid lined charts. This is known as “first principles”.
Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Behan the head of the Artillery School in the Curragh Camp was watching on as the gun crews arrived, set up and fired their rounds.
“What we’re doing here today is quick action or direct deployment,” he said.
“That is what we are seeing in the Ukrainian battlefield – you have to get into action, get rounds on the ground and that has to be done very fast otherwise you will find yourself under counter battery fire.
Behan said that the report from Ukraine has confirmed a lot of what Ireland has been doing for the last 100 years.
He said the importance of basic artillery soldiering without the high tech solutions is critical.
Behan said that the current Defence Forces recruitment campaign is bringing people from all backgrounds into the Artillery Corps.
“We have a lot of recruits coming in and in a short period of time they find themselves going through their 25 weeks of recruit training and make their way on to an artillery gunnery course.
“The transition from civilian is short and sharp for them but the training is high level,” he added.
Corporal Darren Pardy, who is on the course, is in charge of a crew of six – he and his teams have spent three days and nights out in the cold and damp of the Gen of Imaal.
“The last 72 hours has been a big eye opener – it’s a combination of all we worked on in the classroom and worked through unforeseen stuff,” he said.
One of the officers on the course is Second Lieutenant Sive Byrne who is training in how to command a battery of six guns.
She said it has been “an enjoyable and challenging 72 hours”.
The day finished with a competition shoot in which the various new gun crews compete in a competition who has the best shot.
A large white boulder out on the mountain side is the target – those that are the quickest and most accurate win the day.
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