6 BN to disband???

FANTAPANTS

Heard a rumour that the 6TH BN is to be disbanded. Anyone else hear of this??. I havent heard alot about it just got a phone call earlier

Milk & Honey

FANTAPANTS wrote: »

Heard a rumour that the 6TH BN is to be disbanded. Anyone else hear of this??. I havent heard alot about it just got a phone call earlier

In the proposed 2 brigade structure at least one Bn will be wound up.

FANTAPANTS

Milk & Honey wrote: »

In the proposed 2 brigade structure at least one Bn will be wound up.

6th it is then Mullingar to be head boys in athlone now id say

wildfowler94

Well seen as the Cav from Longford are in Athlone longer then Mullingar lads id doubt they will be head? and what unit will the 6bn be integrated into? because we all know they wont be leaving Athlone so..... :rolleyes:

FANTAPANTS

From what i hear is galway is gonna be getting 6th bn troops, mullingar SGT MAJOR is going to be barrack MAJOR and any thing with 4 in front off like 4th lsb 4th cav is to be down scaled, but only time will tell the country is ****ed and money is drying up in the defence forces rapid

thefishone

And another one,Limerick and Galway are to be merged,which would be a split Bn.
So many rumours.........hard to know.

FANTAPANTS

money is drying up for wages and pensions so it looks like a way to drive people out of the job by making them travel serious distances that it wont pay them to work but we will see by the end off the year or b4 that!!!

goldie fish

Nobody knows at the moment. Everything you hear is just ballhops and rumour. None of it is true.
The only one who knows is the CoS.

He doesn't post on Boards.ie.

Milk & Honey

thefishone wrote: »

And another one,Limerick and Galway are to be merged,which would be a split Bn.
So many rumours.........hard to know.

That's an old one. Galway going into the South.

thefishone

Milk & Honey wrote: »

That's an old one. Galway going into the South.

Which it will,under the new 2 brigade structure*;)

Edit. *or possibly not

Milk & Honey

If what this article describes, there would be no General, or Colonel, North of a line between Dublin and Cork and only about 1,500 troops spread between 4 or 5 installations. It seems absolute madness to concentrate everything into the South eastern quadrant of the State.

http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2012/06/06/4010767-over-600-army-posts-to-leave-athlonebr/

goldie fish

That article is bollox. "An informed source " is someone making guesses on the internet. Possibly someone in the Army, most likely a private.

Dogwatch

"an informed source"........that would be "Investment".........:D

wildfowler94

If anything Galway will be moving not athlone, and even at that I cant see it happening yes the 4th western may be disbanded but after that I doubt any more installations will shut.

here you go http://www.advertiser.ie/athlone/article/52423/future-of-4th-western-brigade-hq-under-question

Praetorian Saighdiuir

I heard on Friday that the West is completely gone, it is being amalgamated with the South. The 5th Bn in the East is going to be amalgamated with the 2nd Bn and DFHQ will be taking control of McKee Bks.

goldie fish

I heard the Army is to be disbanded completely and made a marine corps element of the Naval service.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

benwavner wrote: »

I heard on Friday that the West is completely gone, it is being amalgamated with the South. The 5th Bn in the East is going to be amalgamated with the 2nd Bn and DFHQ will be taking control of McKee Bks.

This came out of the weekly conference on Friday, It is the most "up to date" proposal from the office of the CoS........not from some spa that heard it from an old sweat.


Although, it is a believe it when I see it scenario, God only knows what the real plans are.

SIRREX

goldie fish wrote: »

The only one who knows is the CoS.

He doesn't post on Boards.ie.

Yes I do, but Shhhhhh, it's a secret;)

goldie fish

SIRREX wrote: »

Yes I do, but Shhhhhh, it's a secret;)

Sorry Chief.:cool:

Milk & Honey

benwavner wrote: »

This came out of the weekly conference on Friday, It is the most "up to date" proposal from the office of the CoS........not from some spa that heard it from an old sweat.


Although, it is a believe it when I see it scenario, God only knows what the real plans are.

That would be more consistent with the East being shut down and Dublin and the Curragh controlled directly from GHQ with the rest divided between the South and West (re-named the North)

Jo King

Milk & Honey wrote: »

That would be more consistent with the East being shut down and Dublin and the Curragh controlled directly from GHQ with the rest divided between the South and West (re-named the North)

Closing Athlone is much more politically sensitive than closing any of the other Brigade HQs.

Sierra Oscar

Story doing the rounds in political circles at the moment is that Athlone Barracks is gone. Story is likely to break in the next short while.

EDIT: FF's Robert Troy has stated in the Dail that he belives a closure announcement is imminent and has asked the Minister for Defence to clarify. Government has said that no such decision has been made but has clarified that there will be a reformation of the army into two brigades down from three. Briagde HQ's to be in Cork and Dublin.

triskell

I won't be surprised, but what's your source for this, anything concrete?

Morpheus

Custume wont close but it will lose its HQ status as the 2 Bde HQ's will now be cork and dublin. numbers at Custume will be about 1000 total.

Welcome to the Eastern Bde Westies.

Infact theyll probably just have a northern and southern brigade now so its probably bye bye east too.

triskell

Morphéus wrote: »

Custume wont close but it will lose its HQ status as the 2 Bde HQ's will now be cork and dublin. numbers at Custume will be about 1000 total.

Welcome to the Eastern Bde Westies.

Infact theyll probably just have a northern and southern brigade now so its probably bye bye east too.

Ok,so there's really no new info. as we had heard just 4 Bde hq disappearing and bde bodies retiring or absorbed elsewhere

Sierra Oscar

triskell wrote: »

Ok,so there's really no new info. as we had heard just 4 Bde hq disappearing and bde bodies retiring or absorbed elsewhere

One thing of note is that the Minsiter has stated that Custume Barracks will have no more than 1,000 soliders attached to it.

Apparently there are 1,400 attached to the barracks at present when you take into account soliders serving abroad? One would fear that this would be trhe beginning of a long process of downgrading for the barracks now that it will not be a HQ.

triskell

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

One thing of note is that the Minsiter has stated that Custume Barracks will have no more than 1,000 soliders attached to it.

Apparently there are 1,400 attached to the barracks at present when you take into account soliders serving abroad? One would fear that this would be trhe beginning of a long process of downgrading for the barracks now that it will not be a HQ.

I don't think it's a fear, more of a certainty it will go the same as columb bks, if 6 btn no longer have parent they will surely be absorbed elsewhere e.g finner Limerick. IMO it's only a matter of time till we see another decommissioned.:(

wildfowler94

triskell wrote: »

I don't think it's a fear, more of a certainty it will go the same as columb bks, if 6 btn no longer have parent they will surely be absorbed elsewhere e.g finner Limerick. IMO it's only a matter of time till we see another decommissioned.:(

I heard its cav boys,arty, signals and engineers that will be moving again!! east and west will merge and thats that! but then the minister said when he was opening the air ambulance in the barracks abot 3 weeks ago that knowone would be moving from athlone, but we know we will loose our HQ status. how long will Limerick last until they too are sent too cork? galway? who knows?

triskell

wildfowler94 wrote: »

I heard its cav boys,arty, signals and engineers that will be moving again!! east and west will merge and thats that! but then the minister said when he was opening the air ambulance in the barracks abot 3 weeks ago that knowone would be moving from athlone, but we know we will loose our HQ status. how long will Limerick last until they too are sent too cork? galway? who knows?

The air ambulance have been training in there the last few weeks so thats a good sign, but then that thing could be based any where in the country it don't look great. Time will tell.

wildfowler94

No it was based in Athlone for its central location. no it doesn't look great, in fairness the west has taken its fair share of closers and the like? Fine loose HQ status but why move troops who have just moved there?

Sierra Oscar

It's depressing to see the Defence Forces being messed about with so much.

goldie fish

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

It's depressing to see the Defence Forces being messed about with so much.

Messed about with, or given an overhaul that was long overdue? The shake up that should have happened when the commands became brigades didn't. We were left with lots of unit formations that do not reflect the needs of the modern battlefield, and most are not sufficiently equipped to carry out their theoretical battlefield role.

Sierra Oscar

goldie fish wrote: »

Messed about with, or given an overhaul that was long overdue? The shake up that should have happened when the commands became brigades didn't. We were left with lots of unit formations that do not reflect the needs of the modern battlefield, and most are not sufficiently equipped to carry out their theoretical battlefield role.

The decisions being made at the moment are becoming largely political - the Department of Defence has deviated from the Green Paper.

Interesting to note also that the famous PwC report in the 90's explicitly made it clear that should a situation arise in the future whereby the army needed to be reduced from a formation of three to two brigades, then it was recommended that HQ status be removed from Dublin and retained in Cork and Athlone to allow for an effective operational army.

Of course that was never going to happen considering Minister Shatter's geopolitical location and his inability to recognise the existence of life beyond the pale.

goldie fish

There has been no green paper yet, so how can the government be deviating from it?

Sierra Oscar

goldie fish wrote: »

There has been no green paper yet, so how can the government be deviating from it?

Whilst the Green paper has not been published yet, it does not mean that it is non-existent.

Indeed it is still being formulated, but considering the fact that it now seems that the Minister has already clearly made his mind up on the reconfiguration of the army it makes a mockery of the entire process of public consultation and public submissions towards the plan itself.

goldie fish

I disagree. The change to 2 brigades was decided outside the green paper process.

Sierra Oscar

goldie fish wrote: »

I disagree. The change to 2 brigades was decided outside the green paper process.

The prospect of a transition from a three brigade structure to a two brigade structure has been flagged for months now, but many believed that the Green Paper would seek to determine how this transition would occur and help formulate the future defence policy of Ireland.

I think any such decisions should have been held off until the public consultation process could have begun.

goldie fish

Being honest about it, all the 2 brigade re-org is doing is putting the army at an ORBAT level that actually exists. There was never enough equipment for 3 fully equipped brigades.

Morpheus

Agreed Goldie, but he shouldnt have caved into these f**kers. he should have told them to f**k off until the green paper was finalised and then announced everything. Christ irish poiticians make me sick. that bo!!oxology of "What has this government got against west-meath" as if its a personal vendetta and not a militaryy/political decision.

An outside body should come in, look at ireland strategically, select the locations to set up 2 full Brigade HQ and training areas and then when the dust settles we drive that through. strategical decision. tactical considerations. not political maneuvering and parish pump politics.

OS119

Morphéus wrote: »

Agreed Goldie, but he shouldnt have caved into these f**kers. he should have told them to f**k off until the green paper was finalised and then announced everything. Christ irish poiticians make me sick. that bo!!oxology of "What has this government got against west-meath" as if its a personal vendetta and not a militaryy/political decision.

An outside body should come in, look at ireland strategically, select the locations to set up 2 full Brigade HQ and training areas and then when the dust settles we drive that through. strategical decision. tactical considerations. not political maneuvering and parish pump politics.

while thats entirely true, we also have to remember that everything is political and that nothing any government does is soley based objective and empirical evidence. if the Govt has to fcuk about with military reality for political expediency and retain the 1st (Loamshire) Bn even though it can't recruit for toffee and is considered one of the worst Bn's in the Army in order to placate the Loamshire electorate because you've closed their hospital and not built the road you promised, they they'll do it.

the same thing happens over here - in reality, the Royal Regiment of Scotland would be toast in Force 2020: it has a massive recruiting problem in relation to other Regiments like PARA, Rifles, Yorkshire etc... and most of those in the CS and CSS units attached to the RRS Bn's would rather be anywhere else - even Tidworth - but the RRS will be saved because to bin it, or take it down to the 3 regular Bn's it could actually man would be political suicide in the run up to Scotlands Independence referendum.

i'd happily volunter to do your re-org - but if i did it, the two Combat Bde structure would face an 'uncertain future'...

Morpheus

dont forget the new marine corps.... (",)

goldie fish

It is clear the only reason this announcement was made was because of the panic caused in westmeath due to rumours such as the OP.

Morpheus

panic by a couple of officers maybe!

gullya

the west is gone and im afraid the rest of the stories are wildfires started from the daysacks of fearful soldiers not knowing which barracks the rops will drop them off to next for good

goldie fish

gullya wrote: »

the west is gone and im afraid the rest of the stories are wildfires started from the daysacks of fearful soldiers not knowing which barracks the rops will drop them off to next for good

The west is still there, it always will be. Unless the poles reverse, which is a possibility, in which case the west will be east, and no electrical items will work any more...

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Standing by for an anouncement on the 29th of this month. Apparently whatever is announced has to be implimented by December 2012.

goldie fish

benwavner wrote: »

Standing by for an anouncement on the 29th of this month. Apparently whatever is announced has to be implimented by December 2012.

An announcement by the FF TD who cries wolf, or an announcement from the DoD?

Praetorian Saighdiuir

goldie fish wrote: »

An announcement by the FF TD who cries wolf, or an announcement from the DoD?

DoD, Minister and the CoS.

It will be interesting to see how the rumours have faired out.

goldie fish

benwavner wrote: »

Standing by for an anouncement on the 29th of this month. Apparently whatever is announced has to be implimented by December 2012.

Well?

Praetorian Saighdiuir

goldie fish wrote: »

Well?

Yeah, thats exactly what I said too!

If anything was mentioned, it hasnt filtered through yet. I will PM when I hear anything.

FANTAPANTS

Any update yet??? Its to quite i think its going to go off like a bomb!!!!