No room for nostalgia in modern military life

He gets into a jeep in a wetsuit to take a call from The Irish Times. He's spent the morning kayaking with 13 cadets on a lake near Tralee in Co Kerry. It's mid-summer. He's 19 years of age. It's another world.

Cadet Conor Ryan is having a ball. "The rest of the class is rock climbing," he says. He's on a two-week training course at an adventure camp. "As you can imagine, I'm very wet," he says, breathlessly. "The boat kept on turning over."

Ryan has been training for the past year. After his Leaving Cert - having passed the aptitude tests, the physical, the interview and satisfied all the various academic criteria - he joined up in early October. He is based at the Cadet School at the Military College in the Curragh, Co Kildare.

There's no typical day, he explains. They rise at 6.15 a.m. to shower and shave. Then they assemble in the square before breakfast to be checked by the cadet captain. After breakfast, they must prepare for the main inspection at 8.15 a.m.

At 9 a.m. they have lectures, ranging from tactics to communication skills. Later in the morning, they have physical training, which could be a 10-kilometre run or battle training where "we dress up and wear all our combat equipment - webbing, weapons, and we carry weights."

The aim is to build yourself up, he says. "They are trying to develop our fitness to a peak." It's all part of a process to "break us into military socialisation".

"I have to admit it was a big shock when I joined at first. But once you get into a routine it's easy.

"Lunch is at 1 p.m. Then there are more lectures or practical application of what we've learned in the morning." Dinner is at 5 p.m. "The night is really your own," he says. The cadets retire at around 11 p.m.

At weekends, they are given a local pass and they are allowed to go within a 12-miles radius. Once every three weeks, they get a weekend pass.

After completing the 21-month course, Ryan will be given the opportunity to go to university. He plans to study for a science degree.

"People have this nostalgia thing attached to the military organisation," he says. "If they just realised how rewarding a career it can be."

Ryan went to school at St Declan's College in Cabra, Dublin. He "never imagined a career sitting behind a desk" and so when he heard about a career in the Defence Forces, he investigated further.

"It definitely builds your skills as a leader. We are trained to be platoon commanders. When we are commissioned, we'll be given a platoon.

"The atmosphere is great," he says. Throughout the training "you are put under pressure to see how you will react, both mentally and physically". Then there's the opportunity to travel, he adds.

It's still summertime, and suddenly it's time to return to the lake and his kayaking exercises.