Army Ranger Wing

The Army Ranger Wing roles are divided between wartime special operations ("Green Role") and anti-terrorism ("Black Role"), the latter known formally as military Aid to the Civil Power (ATCP): Military tasks (Green Role) Offensive operations behind enemy lines • Ambushes • Capture or kill high-value targets • Commando-style raids on military key targets (short-duration strikes or small-scale offensive actions) • Diversionary operations • Long-range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) • Military field intelligence gathering • Sabotage • Securing vital objectives Defensive operations • Counterinsurgency • Delay operations • Training in and conduct of black operations • VIPs' protection. Aid to the civil power tasks (Black Role) • Airborne and seaborne interventions • Anti-hijack operations • Contingency planning to counter terrorist/subversive threats • Executive protection • Hostage rescue operations • Pursuit operations • Recapture of terrorist-held objectives • Search and rescue operations - specialist tasks on land or sea ==Name and motto==

The unit's official name is Sciathán Fianóglach an Airm in the Irish language which translates into English as "Army Ranger Wing". The shoulder flash insignia of the unit uses Fianóglach. The motto of the Army Ranger Wing is taken from an old Fianna poem, in Irish it is: "Glaine ár gcroí, Neart ár ngéag, Agus beart de réir ár mbriathar", which translates as: "The purity of our hearts, the strength of our limbs and our commitment to our promise". ==History==

In the late 1960s, the Defence Forces established 'Special Assault Groups' (SAG) in the Army to meet security challenges on the border with Northern Ireland. A number of Army officers attended the United States Army Ranger School in Fort Benning, Georgia who returned to conduct Army Ranger courses in Ireland with the first held in 1969. Special Assault Groups were formed comprising 40 Rangers trained in all arms, engineering and ordnance techniques. The courses improved standards of physical endurance, marksmanship, individual military skills and small unit tactics. Following an assessment of the SAG, and Rangers receiving training from the M-Squadron, an elite counter-terrorism (CT) branch of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, in 1978 it was decided to consolidate the Rangers into a new special forces unit with a counter-terrorist capability following an increase in international and national terrorism, such as the 1972 Munich massacre in Germany (then West Germany) and a number of hostage-takings by the Provisional IRA (such as the Balcombe Street siege). The Army Ranger Wing (ARW) was formally established, in accordance with the Defence Act, by Government order on 16 March 1980. The ARW received its colours in 1981; Black, Red and Gold, signifying Secrecy, Risk and Excellence. On 16 January 2022, there were recommendations made for some ARW operators to be based in Cork to work alongside their colleagues in the Naval Service in improving its maritime anti-terrorism capabilities. In January 2022, the ex-ARW operator turned politician Cathal Berry said that he backed proposals to rename the unit as the 'Ireland Special Operations Force' (ISOF). ==Structure==

The Officer Commanding the Army Ranger Wing is responsible for the administrative, disciplinary and operational control of the unit, and is in turn directly under the command of the Chief of Staff at Defence Forces Headquarters (DFHQ). Information on the numerical strength of the unit and the identity of its personnel is restricted. Estimates variously put the strength at "well over a hundred" or between 140 and 150 personnel. The Wing is divided into operational task units each comprising several assault teams relative to each operator's area of speciality. Support elements provide expertise in bomb disposal, medical treatment, maritime and aviation operations. The Army Ranger Wing is headquartered at the Defence Forces Training Centre (DFTC) in the Curragh Camp, with Army Rangers required to live within a defined radius. The ARW is on immediate call 24/7, 365 days a year for operations throughout the state and abroad. The ARW is on 96 hours' notice to deploy overseas on special operations. The ARW is on a 1-hour alert for anti-terrorist operations to deploy anywhere on land in the Republic of Ireland using Air Corps aircraft and up to 200 miles out to sea via the Naval Service vessels. In the event of a major terrorist, hijacking or hostage incident, the ARW may be called to aid the Garda ERU, and in the past, they have been put on standby to assist the Irish Prison Service during major prison riots. The unit has on occasion been tasked for search and rescue (SAR) operations, as the ARW have trained Arctic survival specialists. Besides sanctioned international military missions, the unit may be deployed overseas to protect Irish diplomatic missions and diplomats (particularly in times of war or civil unrest in host countries), to provide close protection to members of the Irish government travelling overseas, to rescue kidnapped Irish citizens, to extract citizens in hostile or conflict zones, or to conduct intelligence operations. The ARW is equipped with SINCGAR ITT, Harris and Racal communications equipment, which have an inbuilt encryption and frequency-hopping systems. working with the Irish Military Intelligence Service (IMIS) and Army CIS Corps. ==Selection and training==

helicopter in a maritime counter-terrorism exercise on the Irish Sea in 2011 Candidates must be serving members of the Permanent Defence Forces (PDF) from any of the three branches (Army, Air Corps or Naval Service). There is no age limit to attempt selection. Usually 40 to 80 candidates attempt selection annually. The SOFQ is conducted over 10 months (40 weeks). The Basic Skills course had been conducted over 5 months. The SOFQ is divided into 5 modules: Typically 85% of candidates fail Module 1. Further specialist training courses for Rangers include advanced combat medical skills, military freefall, combat diving (taught by the specialist Naval Service Diving Section) and boat handling, close protection and handling of advanced weapons. The average age of a Ranger is 31 years old with the eldest 44 years old. Other ranges are located in County Wicklow. These facilities are also made available to the ERU. The ARW has trained with other military and law enforcement special operations forces, including; • – Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) • – GSG 9 & KSK • – SOG & FJS • – 75th Ranger Regiment, Delta Force, Navy SEALs & Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance In 2015, the Irish Defence Forces signed agreements with their British counterparts to deepen joint special forces peacekeeping co-operation, extending from previous deployments with British special forces in a number of combat zones. ==Notable missions==

Rangers have seen active service in a number of peacekeeping missions around the world with the United Nations, European Union (EU) and Partnership for Peace (PfP) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (the Republic of Ireland is not a member of NATO, due to its policy of military neutrality). Individual deployments include Lebanon, Bosnia, Cyprus, Iraq and Western Sahara. Over 100 Irish troops took part in the mission. On one regular return journey, from protecting a food convoy/supply run to Mogadishu, Irish and Indian UN troops were ambushed by insurgents. Following an intense firefight, there were more than 10 enemies killed with no Irish or Indian fatalities reported. Following this, the Irish contingent was supplied with armoured vehicles as they had previously been relying on soft-skinned vehicles mounted with heavy calibre machine guns. The Australian-led mission had begun nearly a month earlier with an allied special forces coalition of Australian Special Air Service, New Zealand Special Air Service and British Special Boat Service (SBS) armed Response Force. No 1 IRCON was embedded in the reconnaissance company in the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Regiment (1 RNZIR) Battalion Group together with an infantry company from the Canadian 3rd Battalion, Royal 22 Regiment bringing the battalion to full strength. No 1 IRCON completed a four-month deployment followed by No 2 IRCON. In February 2000, INTERFET handed over command of military operations to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). No 2 IRCON completed its four-month deployment in June 2000 with subsequent rotations from infantry platoons. Liberia The ARW was deployed in Liberia in the aftermath of the Second Liberian Civil War as part of a peacekeeping contingent of more than 400 troops from the Irish Army, in turn, part of the mixed Irish-Swedish Force Reserve Battalion of the United Nations mission in the country, UNMIL (2003). The ARW's area of operations (AO) was "all of Liberia", consisting of 4.7 million people and 111,369 km2 (43,000 sq mi). Acting on intelligence, a team of twenty heavily armed Rangers were dropped via helicopters at the town of "Gbapa". The incident, which resulted in no Irish casualties, drew praise from the international community and boosted the reputation of the ARW worldwide. Ranger Sergeant Derek Mooney (33) of Dublin, was killed when his vehicle was involved in a motor vehicle accident during a transport convoy. Chad and Central African Republic SRV in Chad in 2008 In February 2008, a Special Forces Task Group of 58 Rangers deployed to Abéché in Chad as part of the European Union Force Chad/CAR based at Camp Croci. The ARW was an Initial Entry Force together with other EUFOR special forces that conducted special reconnaissance within the Irish assigned south eastern Chad area of operations. The ARW was later based at Multi-National Base-South at Goz Beïda known as Camp Ciara in the area of operations providing security during the construction of the base. The ARW conducted vehicle patrols along the Chad / Sudan border in their Ford F-350 Special Reconnaissance Vehicles. The ARW mission ended in June 2008 with the arrival of the 97th Infantry Battalion. Mali In June 2019, Dáil Éireann approved sending an ARW Task Unit and staff officers to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in intelligence and operational roles, on 4-month rotations for two years. The ARW were deployed in response to an upsurge in violence in north-eastern Mali, led by militants affiliated with al-Qaeda. The Irish contingent were primarily tasked with conducting long-range reconnaissance patrols (LRRP) and deployed as part of a German-led ISTAR Task Force, benefiting from the protections and medical support in place for the larger force. 14 ARW operators are reported to be involved per rotation. MINUSMA is the most dangerous UN peacekeeping mission. As of October 2019, 204 peacekeepers had been killed out of a total of 15,000 deployed uniformed personnel. It is the first overseas operational deployment for the ARW as a unit, in ten years. In February 2020, three ARW personnel were injured when an IED blast hit the armoured patrol vehicle they were travelling in, 70 km east of Gao. The personnel were airlifted to hospital but after two weeks were reported to be "back to work". Overseas extraction operations In October 2005, Rangers and Arabic-speaking intelligence officers from Military Intelligence (J2) were deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, following the abduction of Irish journalist Rory Carroll by al-Qaeda-affiliated militants. Following negotiations with Irish, British and American government representatives, Rory Carroll was released unharmed days later and returned safely to Ireland. In 2009, the ARW were involved in the evacuation of GOAL aid worker Sharon Commins who was kidnapped by Janjaweed in Darfur, Sudan for more than 100 days before being released, although the government denied the involvement of the ARW at the time. With the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and the Libyan Civil War, the ARW, Air Corps and other Defence Forces assets were deployed in order to evacuate upwards of 115 Irish citizens from the country, mainly via the capital Tripoli. The ARW operated out of the British diplomatic mission in Malta. It was reported at the time that Irish officials printed fake boarding passes in order to bypass "tight" security at Tripoli airport, where authorities refused to allow a large number of aircraft to land or take off. Three Irish aircraft were involved in the operation. In October 2019 it was reported that the ARW were deployed to the Syrian border to extract Lisa Smith - a former Irish Army soldier who converted to Islam before fleeing Ireland to join ISIS - and her two-year-old child in a Non-Combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) after the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria resulted in Kurdish-held ISIS prisoners escaping, including Smith, although the Defence Forces or Irish government did not confirm this. ARW personnel were in plainclothes and "discreetly armed" for protection purposes. Smith was repatriated to Dublin Airport where she was arrested by Gardai and charged with terrorism offences. On 23 August 2021 in the aftermath of the Fall of Kabul to the Taliban, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Simon Coveney approved the deployment of an Emergency Consular Assistance Team (ECAT) comprising ARW personnel and a small team of DFA diplomats to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in order to evacuate Irish citizens. The options available to the Irish government to extract its citizens were hampered by Ireland's lack of an organic strategic airlift capability. The mission ended on 26 August, just 48 hours after the team touched down in Kabul and resulted in the evacuation of 26 Irish citizens. It was reported the last members of the ECAT team left minutes after a deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport. In April 2023, a team of up to 12 ARW were deployed to Sudan as part of the evacuation of foreign nationals during the 2023 Sudan conflict. ARW and DFA personnel travelled to Sudan via Djibouti to link up with and extract Irish citizens. The ARW provided medical & security support, secure communications and an intervention element. Other overseas missions During the War in Afghanistan, ARW personnel served in small numbers with ISAF and RSM from October 2006 to March 2007 and from September 2014 to March 2015, mainly as trainers, medical staff and IED experts. In 2012, it was reported that the ARW could deploy 30 Rangers in the Gulf of Aden, subject to Government, Dáil and UN approval ("triple-lock"), to protect international shipping lanes against Somali pirates as part of the EU's Operation Atalanta. As of 2014, Rangers were serving missions on three continents, including training foreign forces in Africa and the Balkans, protection duties in Lebanon for the United Nations mission and security and intelligence operations on the Israeli-Syrian border (Golan Heights). The ARW was chosen to spearhead the special operations task group (SOTG) for the EU Battlegroup rapid reaction force based in Germany, deploying in late 2019. This overlapped with the unit's rotations to MINUSMA in Mali. Reported domestic missions in 2011 In December 1983, the ARW was involved in an operation against a Provisional IRA "unit" on the loose in woodland in the South of County Leitrim. The group had been holding kidnapped businessman Don Tidey hostage for ransom.The ARW had been sent to assist the search effort. In the early 1990s, the ARW took part in operations in support of the Garda Emergency Response Unit against the Provisional IRA. In January 1997, two teams of 12 from the ARW were sent to Mountjoy Prison in central Dublin where three prisoners armed with knives had taken two prison officers hostage and barricaded themselves inside the Medical Unit where they were threatening to kill the prison officers. The ARW took up positions ready to blow down the steel door to the unit and eliminate the threat posed by the hostage-takers. The siege ended within a few hours of the ARW being called in after the hostage-takers were made aware of their presence during negotiations and surrendered. In May 2011, the unit had a major role in protecting Queen Elizabeth II on her state visit to Ireland, where "viable" assassination attempts by dissident republican terrorists were prevented. The ARW had airborne sniper teams in three AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters, counter assault teams in the motorcade and a number of ground teams, including 20 close protection officers. The two visits were the largest civil security operations ever undertaken in the Republic of Ireland, both ultimately successful. From January to July 2013, the wing formed part of the security apparatus for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, held by Ireland for six months, which included supplying sniper and spotter teams. Also in June 2013, they helped secure the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border on land and at sea as part of the security operation for the 39th G8 summit in Northern Ireland. In the early morning of 26 September 2023, an ARW Maritime Task Unit was involved in the storming of MV Matthew, a Panamanian-registered bulk cargo vessel, off the coast of Cork in what was described as an "opposed boarding operation". The ship had crossed the Atlantic from Venezuela; approximately 2,200 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of €157 million were found hidden on board the next day, in the largest seizure of illegal narcotics in Irish history. The ship, which had been monitored after entering Irish territorial waters, reportedly refused orders to halt for inspection and headed for international waters when warning shots were fired by the . This was followed by ARW maritime operators fast roping onto the vessel from an Irish Air Corps helicopter. After the ship was secured, it was escorted into Cork Harbour for further investigation. The 25 crew members detained for interview, with nine people arrested (of whom one was released) . ==Casualties==

Three Rangers are known to have died while serving in the unit since its foundation in 1980, one of them overseas. Sergeant Derek Mooney, aged 33, of Blackrock, Dublin, died after the Land Rover Defender he was driving in a convoy overturned due to poor road conditions, 40 km south of Monrovia, Liberia on 27 November 2003. Sgt Kevin Mayne (1987) and RQMS Patsy Quirke (1998) also lost their lives while serving in the unit, however no details regarding the cause of their deaths are publicly available. No other losses have been publicly disclosed. In Paul O'Brien and Wayne Fitzgerald's book Shadow Warriors, it states "four operatives losing their lives while on active service" with the ARW, however, their names and details are omitted at the request of the Irish Defence Forces. They are remembered on a memorial located within the ARW compound at the Curragh Camp. ==Equipment==

Weapons In addition to standard weapons of the Irish Defence Forces, weapons used by the ARW include:- Personal weapons Support weapons used by the ARW as a 'mothership' to resupply Ford F-350 SRV • M203 grenade launcher • Denel Vektor M1 60mm Mortar Commando mortar – including M2 and M3 variants • AT4 Short Range Anti-Armour Weapon Vehicle-mounted weapons • FN 7.62mm GPMG • 3 x ACMAT VLRA tactical support vehicle (to re-supply SRV) • Nissan Patrol (armoured) • Ford Ranger (T6) • Mitsubishi Pajero • Range Rover (modified for counter-terrorism duties) • Yamaha 660 All-terrain vehicles • STIDD Diver Propulsion Device (DPD) • Klepper MK13 kayak Parachuting • High-altitude military parachuting (HALO) & (HAHO) equipment • SOV/MMS-360 advanced MFF training rig • SOV/MMS Silhouette operational 1 man/ Tandem sigma 2 man HALO/HAHO rig ==See also==