One of Alan Kavanagh’s more bizarre games.
R and R is one of those acronyms which seem to have multiple meanings in the military. It seems to be either “Rest and Recuperation” or “Rest and Relaxation”, but in the case of the FCA on annual camp it certainly was Rest and Recreation. It was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon and each evening. In the words of Gerry Paley, at least it kept us out of the pubs until about 9PM.
Photos and more after the break…
Sports
During camp most R&R centred around sports. It was on my first camp that I was first introduced to volleyball. It seemed particularly popular with the regular cadre and of course it is very suited to playing on the square. I played it for many years with a plastic regulation size 5 soccer ball, with its attendant stinging on the wrists and forearms, before I was introduced to a real volleyball. It was then I realised that pain formed only a small part of the enjoyment. On the square of course there was none of the diving around that brings so much enjoyment to the real game.
Roy Briggs
Roy Briggs’ shorts (shown left) were a fore-runner of the beach volleyball costumes which bring such high viewing figures during the Olympics. The picture on the right shows volleyball after 14th July 1993 in the 21st Bn.
A more soldier-like pastime was the miniature range and firing the .22. We used re-bored Lee-Enfield mark III rifles and although it had a U-shaped and not an aperture backsight it was still fun. The miniature range was also a useful place for getting lost after pay parade. Usually there were lots of jobs going about to keep idle hands busy, but an enterprising platoon commander could “disappear” his charges into the range until most of the work was handed out. It was during one of these hiding out episodes with one of Rossa Lyons’ platoons that I taught a foot drill lesson on “New York, New York”. The guys so bought into the “Taking you a stage further in your dance drill” routine that the echoes of “Dah dah dah-de-dah” could be heard across the square. The high-kicking “iompaigh thart” at the end of the range was worthy of Broadway!
Five-a-side soccer was also very popular and would throw together some interesting teams as players could be on duty at any particular time, and so team selection could be pretty fluid.
Brian O’Toole, Tony Darcy, Bernard Swan, Richie Mahoney, ??
John O’Toole, Roy Briggs, Eamon Doyle, Mick Mooney, Vinny Roche
What’s the movie tonight Major?
I think it was usually Pat Holahan who would provide a movie in the mess as an alternative to drinking or going down the town in Waterford. It seems to have passed into folklore that the movie was nearly always Ghengis Khan and members of my generation can still correctly answer the question (with the correct accent and intonation), “What’s the movie tonight Major?”. Can anyone remember the names of any other of the movies shown?
Battalion Sergeant Major Tom Byrne always had our best interests at heart and so after pay day, when we were about to be let loose with money in our pockets in a strange town, without our parents close by, he would take a particular paternal interest in us. BSM Byrne explained we may be tempted into the fleshpots of Tramore, or Traaaaah-more as he pronounced it, we could even be tempted to partake of some adult beverages, but his advice to us was “Save your money and send a postcard home”.
Serious fun
The officer in charge of R&R would take his task very seriously indeed. I remember us all being paraded on the square by, I think, Arthur Plunkett RIP, and being berated that not everyone was participating fully in the R&R program. We were left under no illusion that it was not optional and furthermore anyone caught not having fun would be disciplined. “You are here to enjoy yourselves and anyone not enjoying themselves is in for it”. I am reminded of the old saying “Beatings will continue until morale improves”.
Trophies
At the end of camp trophies were presented to the various winning teams. For many years these were sourced by Timmy Doyle and Paschal Foley. By their own admission on the C Coy Facebook page, they were very difficult to find in Waterford as none of the pubs they visited stocked sports trophies. Finally one year the barman in Egans went and got them.
Johnny Byrne and Gerry Paley