Our latest video episode is of an 84mm Anti-tank shoot, again from Pat Holohan’s collection and also probably from around 1987. The episode opens with some excellent scenes from the firing point showing impacts on the target and a splendid air burst of an anti-personnel round at 0:58.

We then settle in for a period of standing around doing nothing, and this takes up about 75% of the total time of the video. Par for the course on an FCA field day it seems! 3:10 minutes in and we see someone breaking the cleaning the rod in the barrel. Much investigative work has gone into trying to ascertain the perpetrator, but to no avail. The team at “All things 21^st” are pretty sure it is not “The Colonel” as he would have just looked towards the camera and laughed.

At 2:45 we see a group including Mick O’Toole, Deccy Phelan, Eamon Timlin, Paddy Whelan and most importantly Des Fitzgerald and Ciaran Giles. Giles can be seen to be actually almost on the ground as he tries to cope with effects of the hangover from hell. Des Fitzgerald and Ciaran, had been on the batter the night before, and thinking they had no duties the following day, had well and truly pushed the boat out. A closer inspection of the scene will show that Des has a Gustaf and is on security duty. We can only surmise that whoever decided to give him a gun and 84 rounds of ammunition had gone to bed early and not witnessed the copious amounts of alcohol consumed! At 3:34 we can almost smell their breath when Gilesy tries to wave away the camera and Des gives the “scowl of death”, I do note that the Gustaf is gone by this stage.

Following in the Hollywood tradition (as practised by George Lucas) of the “prequel” this scene is from just before the 81mm mortar shoot video posted previously. It begins with Aidan Teevan preparing the ammunition assisted by Joe Fitzgerald. Rossa also makes an appearance here but seems disappointed when the tube he opens does not contain a 12 year old Jameson single malt.

Aidan told me that he was once discussing mortar practises with a French army colleague who was amazed (étonné!) when he heard how much ammunition we were issued to practice a battalion. “Mon Dieu!” exclaimed Monsieur le Capitaine, in France they would practice a brigade with that quantity. Mortar practise there consisted of one crew firing a bomb, they were then replaced with a new crew whose number one re-laid, and they then fired a bomb and so on and so on!

35 seconds into the video Johnny Kelly is clearly demonstrating the correct way to insert the bomb in the tube, although from the previous video not everybody was paying proper attention.

After 1:08 we see Towser calling in the drinks order to Fentons, while wearing his helmet over his beret in quite a fetching manner.

This video is of foot drill on camp in Tralee. There are various quite complex manoeuvres shown so they require careful studying.

At first we see The Colonel instructing a group I hope are recruits. The last guy in line begins his “about turn” early, and afterwards the rest of the guys totally disregard him and fall into step on their own, leaving him out front, on his own, out of step.

Some better examples follow, together with some arms drill while calling out the time from the recruits. Rossa also displays excellent clipboard drill during the middle sequence. We are treated to some fine double time marching with rifles at the high port, followed again by Rossa with his clipboard at the slope (under his arm) as he talks to Deccy.

The final sequence is that most complicated movement – the Concertina Stad. The front rank of NCOs stop perfectly while the remainder pile up behind them until they get the spacing correct.

This weeks video episode is from Tralee camp when the 21st Battalion was honoured by a visit of the O/C. Southern Command, Brig. General F.D.O’Connell, a former O/C. of the 21 Inf. Bn.

In this clip he is introduced to the senior NCOs of the battalion who were not on training or other useful duties. The introductions are conducted by Peter Campbell and we see many absent friends. When I got the clip there was no dialogue on it, but it did have some other (copyright) music, which I have had to replace with Youtube canned music.