Irish Army Ranger Wing

Barry Badrinath

washman3 wrote: »

Almost as stupid as the carry on with the motorbike 'gangs' in Limerick at war with each other over a logo on a leather jacket and drinking in somebody else's turf.
Apart from costing the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of euro every year, what exactly do these Rangers do.

Well today is Wednesday so its a choice of paintball or yoga. Some of the more experienced lads are doing a 700 piece jigsaw in the afternoon.

tac foley

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

Well today is Wednesday so its a choice of paintball or yoga. Some of the more experienced lads are doing a 700 piece jigsaw in the afternoon.

It just might be a combat-related tactical jigsaw, too. I'mm sure you've seen them - all the bits are black.

tac

Eamonok

Maybe ye should have a little more respect for our SOF! They are currently working with An Gardai Siochanas ERU to stop any terrorism threats coming here. As well as that the majority of Rangers operations are kept out of the public eye by the government! They are one of the best trained SOF in the world with around 50% of the candidates dropping out voluntarily!

washman3

Eamonok wrote: »

Maybe ye should have a little more respect for our SOF! They are currently working with An Gardai Siochanas ERU to stop any terrorism threats coming here. As well as that the majority of Rangers operations are kept out of the public eye by the government! They are one of the best trained SOF in the world with around 50% of the candidates dropping out voluntarily!

If ISIS ever decide to do a hit here, our SOF would be about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
They should concentrate on our internal problems first.
There are no-go areas in Limerick city for example, where rapes go unreported.
Would be a good start to use their 'training'

cajonlardo

Here is an example of what the arw do:

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/africa/crack-troops-rescue-hostages-from-gunmen-in-daring-raid-26019636.html

Here is an example of 2 foreign qualified professional's ( as opposed to dippy internet comments) assessment of the arw

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rangers-praised-by-peacekeepers-26253143.html

Principally though, the arw exist because if and when a threat materialises they are ready and available.

tac foley

Isn't it odd that THE main detractor of RW is not a pesky furriner, but an Irishman?

I'd give a lot to see him spend a day with them, to see at first-hand what it takes to be a Ranger.

From my own POV, as a former soldier, I think it would have been a privilege to have served with them in any capacity.

tac

source

tac foley wrote: »

Isn't it odd that THE main detractor of RW is not a pesky furriner, but an Irishman?

I'd give a lot to see him spend a day with them, to see at first-hand what it takes to be a Ranger.

From my own POV, as a former soldier, I think it would have been a privilege to have served with them in any capacity.

tac

Tac you should know by now that the general Irish public show nothing but contempt for the DF.

It stems from a lack of understanding of the Irish military's capabilities and their proven capacity to intervene in seriously dangerous situations and de-escalate them.

We have a population that have grown up in relative peace and believe that because our military has never been involved in a major military engagement that they would not be able to hold their own.

All of which is utter bòllocks. There's a reason we have a UN peacekeeping school in the Curragh and our military continually outperforms against other militaries and SF units in competitions.

It's because we have a very well trained and internationally respected military. Just the fools at home have no idea, and would rather poke fun and make jokes than educate themselves.

source

washman3 wrote: »

If ISIS ever decide to do a hit here, our SOF would be about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
They should concentrate on our internal problems first.
There are no-go areas in Limerick city for example, where rapes go unreported.
Would be a good start to use their 'training'

As a former member of AGS who served in Limerick and as a resident of Limerick I can safely say you're comment about no go areas in Limerick is utter horseshìt.

Besides which, AGS have very capable and well drilled specialist units which were formed to combat the IRA. I reckon they are more than capable to hold their own against the threat of IS.

Larbre34

source wrote: »

Besides which, AGS have very capable and well drilled specialist units which were formed to combat the IRA. I reckon they are more than capable to hold their own against the threat of IS.

To be fair, AGS acknowledged themselves that much of the capability and experience built up to oppose the IRA has lapsed in recent years, both in terms of veteran officers and in levels of firearms training and intelligence links.

Having a close relative in the SDU who himself is a son of a retired senior C3 officer, there is a scramble to bring capability and interoperability to an acceptable level for all tasks, and that includes reorienting to have the skills available for domestic and foreign terror threats alike as well as organised crime and one-off incidents.

Both AGS and the DF do well in security tasks with meagre budgets, but I know Im personally reassured that should a very serious situation arise in the state, that several hundred Rangers trained to the highest international standards are available to intervene and take charge if needed

tac foley

Apart from the PDF, the British Army alone is home to many thousands of Irishmen - AND women.

They don't seem to have any problems carry out their military duties to the full. Totally accepted by mainlanders and Northerners alike as fellow soldiers, they are the 'green backbone' of many proud units.

tac

Esel

Do we have several hundred Rangers?

Barry Badrinath

Esel wrote: »

Do we have several hundred Rangers?

Several hundread? No.

tac foley

How many?

Enough to get it done.

tac

Fratton Fred

cajonlardo wrote: »

Here is an example of what the arw do:

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/africa/crack-troops-rescue-hostages-from-gunmen-in-daring-raid-26019636.html

Here is an example of 2 foreign qualified professional's ( as opposed to dippy internet comments) assessment of the arw

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rangers-praised-by-peacekeepers-26253143.html

Principally though, the arw exist because if and when a threat materialises they are ready and available.

As soon as they can find a plane to take them there.

I always wonder at the logic of creating the Rangers, but then seriously limiting their effectiveness by not giving them any form of transport that can take them off this island, or even across it rapidly.

tac foley

The PDF has a couple of helicopters, right? Capable of moving these gentlemen around the island, one hopes, in case of need?

tac

SpannerMonkey

worth a read . makes for sad reading

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/coveneys-promise-to-double-the-number-of-army-rangers-has-gone-nowhere-35644245.html

Barry Badrinath

tac foley wrote: »

The PDF has a couple of helicopters, right? Capable of moving these gentlemen around the island, one hopes, in case of need?

tac

We have no real troop transportation capability. The heli's we have are sufficient for a small team with limited kit.

They suffice for ARW infil and exfil but for standard Infantry....forget about it....no backpacks, just chest rig, daysack.

It's beyond ridiculous.

Barry Badrinath

SpannerMonkey wrote: »

worth a read . makes for sad reading

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/coveneys-promise-to-double-the-number-of-army-rangers-has-gone-nowhere-35644245.html

It has nothing to do with the Government.

AFAIK, just 2 people passed the last ARW selection course. It's long and it's intense then there are further courses to complete before you become a member.

Its not as simple as expanding the establishment....you have to get lads that are interested enough to go through sh1t and pass it.

Its a small minority that have the mindset, its a smaller minority that have the ability, its an even smaller minority who have no familiy commitment and are willing to serve.

Fratton Fred

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

We have no real troop transportation capability. The heli's we have are sufficient for a small team with limited kit.

They suffice for ARW infil and exfil but for standard Infantry....forget about it....no backpacks, just chest rig, daysack.

It's beyond ridiculous.

The AW139s are available as needed I guess, but they are only civilian aircraft painted green. They are not the military versions.

They were purchased to transport ministers to GAA matches, not soldiers with heavy kit

Barry Badrinath

leatherjacket wrote: »

The standard AW139 carries 8 fully kitted troops while the The AW139M (military variant) carries 10

Fully kitted?

In my experience, a small team of us were heli dropped somewhere.

We had to meet a truck at the landing point that had our backpacks as the heli couldnt accomodate them.

I have never flown in an aer corps heli fully kitted out. Maybe it was just the configuration those times or something else that I am not aware of.

Can they take 8 troops with backpacks?

ohnonotgmail

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

Fully kitted?

In my experience, a small team of us were heli dropped somewhere.

We had to meet a truck at the landing point that had our backpacks as the heli couldnt accomodate them.

I have never flown in an aer corps heli fully kitted out. Maybe it was just the configuration those times or something else that I am not aware of.

Can they take 8 troops with backpacks?

the civilian version has 15 seats. Surely it can handle 8 with gear?

ED E

If you want an idea of how cramped they are check out the show "Paramedics". In the EAS config they have Pilot/CoPilot up front, 1 Paramedic, 1 patient, 1 crew, 1 spare seat for relative and thats tight for space. Most of the medical stuff appears to be in one kit bag.

Dont know what kinda of LBE the ARW use as standard but wouldnt like to try and load/unload in a hurry with a full complement.

Barry Badrinath

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

the civilian version has 15 seats. Surely it can handle 8 with gear?

I would hope so.

I just know that when I did it, the packs were brought by truck to the landing point. I would have assumed if they can carry 8 with full kit.....then they would.

Im no expert in heli config so maybe it just wasnt set up for that role that day.

donvito99

Leonardo say that the M variant can carry 15 passengers "in light order" or "8 deployable troops in combat order" + 2 gunners. Don't know if the M variant's fuselage is a stretch over the civ variant.

ohnonotgmail

donvito99 wrote: »

Leonardo say that the M variant can carry 15 passengers "in light order" or "8 deployable troops in combat order" + 2 gunners. Don't know if the M variant's fuselage is a stretch over the civ variant.

the M version has the same external dimensions as the civilian version.

tac foley

So what the Ranger Wing REALLY needs is a few surplus MIL-24 HIND D/E. I'm told that they can be obtained quite cheaply these days, and having flown around in one, I can vouch for the amount of space for a goodly number of troops with full load-out.

Easy to fly, too, with clever stuff like auto-hover.

tac

Gatling

But surely if they ARW are deployed by helicopter to an incidence here they would fly with just the basic kit , molle vest ,with mags , weapons and side arms and Comms ,

They wouldn't need large bergins with enough gear for a multi day ,night excerises in the Glen or other training center with infantry units