When you enter a barrack room and one man's bedspace has an Irish Tricolour on the wall and another has the red hand of Ulster, and the two are best of mates busy taking the p-ss out of each other, you know you are with the 1st Battalion the Royal Irish. To John and Alan, and all I once had the privilege of serving with, 'Faugh a Ballagh'. True warriors.
Sgt John Cronin at the start of this docu, was commissioned from the ranks and became an officer. He was able to get BA and MBA after his name, thanks to the British Army.
The Irish make first class soldiers, there is a long tradition of which stretches back the mercenary European armies of the 16th century. 30% of Wellington's Napoleonic redcoats were stout Irish lads, they were first class fighters. The tradition continued up to an including WW1, with many thousands of Irish serving. Read John Lucy's superb book, 'There's a Devil In The Drum.' Lucy was an Irish soldier who fought throughout the entire duration of WW1. He was involved in the first battles around Mons, he was a private soldier and eventually became a commissioned officer. He became a Lt. Col post WW1, remained in the BA, and served during WW2. His book makes for fascinating reading- including his account of the devastating effect of the, 'Mad Minute,' with the SMLE .303 against massed ranks of German infantry in the early stages of WW1. Paddy makes a fine soldier- tough, robust, bags of spirit, good humour, resilient. RESPECT.
I served with an Irishman in the RAF NCO and also knew a female Petty Officer in the 80’s, both of whom told me they got opportunities that they could never have got in the Republic.
Wonderful documentary, and the most upsetting part is; it was made 20 years ago and still I myself find that the same issues in this documentary are still being regularly faced. Not to as much but are still their and I fear will always be there.
What type fuckiing lunatic joins an army that has massacred 14 of his fellow countrymen in Derry in one day, helped blow up 34 of them in Dublin & Monaghan on another & kill over 100 civilians in Belfast?
I come from an Irish background and most of the fam serve in the Irish army and the UN. I serve in the British army and am proud of my Irish heritage but also proud to serve in the British Reme. Ppl should get over historic events ffs.
@@operationcreation5583 swearing to a foreign monarch that invaded us and still holds onto 6 county's of the North of Ireland is treacherous. fighting Britain's illegal wars is sickening especially from an Irishman.
Seen this one years ago, great documentary. There was few BBC NI documentary's which came out a few years before this one about the Royal Irish Rangers merger with the UDR, the Royal Irish Regt in Bosnia and the Irish ( more specifically Northern Irish) in the French Foreign Legion. All great documentary`s but have not seen then in almost 30 years.
Thank you to all Roman Catholic Irish veterans who served in the British Army, the Irish Army and the Garda Siochana with the good-humour, decency and honor displayed by the magnificent Irish soldiers in this video. It is the bigots and the haters North and South of the border who are the real traitors to Ireland's respective faiths and traditions and, ultimately, to the cause of a genuine and lasting Irish unity. Both traditions, Ulster Unionist and Irish Nationalist need to recognise and honour the service and the sacrifice of Irish veterans who served in the British Armed forces. And if doing so provokes a degree of historical confusion, well so what? 'Confusion,' as a wise man once said, 'is not an ignoble condition'. Better for Ireland to be re-united in confusion than divided (with or without a border) by its hate-filled certainties. Faugh a Ballagh.
Aged out of the Irish foster system in 1989, absolutely nothing for me in Ireland so went to the UK and joined the Royal Navy. They ended up paying a substantial amount towards my university fees. Spent some of the best years of my life there and owe them the life I live today. Living in France now so never did go back to Ireland
I served in an English infantry regiment I was from the 5th battalion RRF but I was mobilized to serve in Iraq but after 6 months infantry training to regular standard we then deployed to serve 6 month in Iraq attached to the 1st battalion royal Irish....great lads we RRF were platoon level with Platoon of 4 para and a platoon of ex regular and a platoon of a battalion of the old UDR that became with the royal Irish rangers to become Royal Irish regiment! They swear to the most high to serve the Queen......since brexit I hate the British government but if I was called back up as the British military is expanding in manpower and equipment ships planes tanks drones extra nuclear weapons etc i would serve as I swore an oath.....Henry the 8th had many Irish soldiers as did Edward the 1st before him etc (not braveheart nonsense ) the SAS might of been formed by a Scotsman but it it was created by an Englishman Gen Mike Calvert but he was sent to British biggest army of 4 million men and create the chindit's.....but the other creator was an Irish man who also led it Paddy Mayne
@@DublinDan No they're not. Many want to see action, Some joined after 9/11 to fight Al-Qaeda and ISIS, while others joined for good pay and to learn useful skills. The Irish Army is a non-offensive National Guard which is limited in it's capacities and does not provide the opportunities and skills the British Army does.
Wow, really mixed comments on this topic! My take is that our Irish brothers that serve have my maximum respect without question. Whether it is monetary or voluntary is insignificant. Their sacrifice is exactly the same as any other soldier. Thank you for the informative and interesting upload. Brave Irish soldiers have been doing this for many, many years. Let's call it traditional and be proud of them.
I am from Offlay Royal Artillery 1999-2013 I know a guy in the Royal Marines from Dublin and a guy from Cork in 2 Para I meet 6 lads from ROI in my corp RA
The Irish Regiments in the British Army included Irish Guards Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Royal Dublin Fusiliers Royal Munster Fusiliers Royal Irish Fusiliers Royal Irish Rifles Royal Ulster Rifles Connaught Rangers Leinster Regiment Royal Irish Regiment (Victoria's) Kings Royal Irish Hussars Royal Irish Lancers Royal Inniskilling Dragoons North Irish Horse South Irish Horse Plus many milita Regiments from most counties in Ireland.
Lol, the cat whistle at 19.47 at the sergeants in parade dress, prooves they really do get away with alot there!! Alot more than other regiments anyhow, that would have usually ment a beasting and got you written up....
I personally know four PIRA members who joined Brit army to learn there systems and gain knowledge of tactics. This has been the way for hundreds of years my own uncle was released under the GFA he was 11 years into a life sentence. He was known as the Jew because he betrayed the Brit military.
I know a lot of lads who went over, it was never political, most were nationalists, some were outright republican. It was always economic, the Irish army pays terribly and hundreds are leaving every year, those who look for a career, or want the adventure, while getting a decent wage often find the British army better.
@@wayneabel5421 The "family" where one of the members murderered, raped, and stripped the people and culture, and to this day still have impacts in a quarter of the island
Okay you want a career or a bit of Rambo witch the Irish army can't give you, theirs the Foreign Legion,US forces and propaly loads of others,I'll not judge you,you had your reasons,do you know the history of Ireland & england the things they done to our ancestors and still today 🇮🇪
Well seen these Irish lads never lived in the north because you wouldn’t let your dog join the British army……shame on them all for joining the British army and hopefully they have few friends back home in Ireland
Fucking armchair republican over here😂. Don’t think you realise just how many Irish served in the British military. At the height of the empire a third of the soldiers and sailers were Irish.
@@geordiewishart1683 would rather be a proud paddy 🇮🇪 than live under the butchers apron…..as a famous MP once said Our revenge will be the laughter of our children…….Bobby Sands MP
@@geordiewishart1683 Do you really believe that everyone in Ireland speaks Irish ? Surely you don’t think that …you should be happy for Irish people to live in the uk rather than the thousands of the small boat tourists
@Yoda we'd rather spend our money on more important things like health and education, about 99% of military equipment is never used, what a waste of money.
@@frankbyrne2286 Frank You're 100% correct ,the lowest form of Irish joined these shitty regiment's " tradition " ffs wtf are these fools like ,they where rejected by the Irish army because of criminal records etc but the BA will take them , I NEVER heard an Irish accent in the 30 yrs of the war here in the north !!! Not one !!! So I wonder is this just another propaganda bs film they made ,how could ANY catholic join the UDR, the biggest bunch of bigots to ever get used by the Brits ,they HATED Catholics ffs ,didn't matter If ye came from the roi or Timbuktu ffs ,they despised Catholics.
@@6Tghma There are Protestants and loyalists and Brits up north that were born there, their parents and grand parents and great grand parents were born there and you can't just erase that, so we have to live with the fact that there are two Ireland's. And if someone from the South wants to serve that Ireland then all power to them. And as far as the majority of Ireland goes? Well the majority voted to change the Irish constitution and voted in favour of the Good Friday agreement.
There was more sectarianism in the Irish Defence Forces and bigotry when I was there as a Southern Irish Protestant, it was disgusting but today in the Irish army you dare not say boo as someone would get offended....Being a protestant in the Irish army was for example made to stand attention outside the chapel on sunday when mass was on...Look it up as that was a fact right into the 90's
