And the second half of that sentence is "but you're not going to break mine". And, it is attributed in many an army to The Sergeant. A caricature of the work and approach to duty of non commissioned officers, especially of those whose task it is to break in new recruits to a life that is different from any occupation they may previously have had to get through to a bunch of people from various walks of life, people often of enormously varied educational background.
The NCO had, and still has one of the jobs which is at the heart of any efficient fighting force. "Our sergeant says..." one graduate recruit used to preface many a conversation to his civilian friends. Now An Cosanloir makes plain how the modern NCO has taken his place among the modern educated population of Ireland. For in September in Custume Barracks, Athlone, 27 members of the Defence Forces had conferred on them the National Certificate of Military Studies: all of them non commissioned Officers. This under the aegis of the NCEA, the National Council of Education Awards.
First the Military College in the Curragh was recognised, and later the Cadet Course was approved for the award of a National Diploma in Military Studies. Then it was the turn of the NCOs. To qualify an NCO must have fulfilled certain army standards through courses of one sort and another and must, and here's the high point, have participated, in a peace keeping mission overseas. So civilian academic recognition is given to military courses and what is termed experiential learning in the military environment."
In this case, all seemed to be men, but in a photograph of an Eastern Command FCA Potential NCO's course held in Cavan Barracks during the summer, the best student award went to Private Elaine Phelan, and in the group photograph, maybe a third were women.
Many good pictures and stories in this October issue, including a page on the Emergency Stand Down commemoration. One old hand swears that as the veterans marched back into Portobello sorry, Cathal Brugha Barracks after the Mass in the church of Our Lady of Refuge in Rathmines, the band played them in with "You'd be far better off in a Home."