Brave Defence Forces members from Co Kildare send Christmas greetings home to family

For some families in Co Kildare, there will be someone missing from the table for Christmas Day Dinner with brave service men and women from the county currently working overseas with the Defence Forces and United Nations. across Co Kildare.

The Defence Forces currently has 650 military personnel serving in 13 different countries around the world, and 2018 also marked the 60th anniversary of unbroken overseas service with the United Nations since first deploying in 1958.

Currently, the largest Defence Forces deployment is to South Lebanon with UNIFIL where over 460 personnel are deployed.

There are also over 130 personnel deployed as a Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan Heights, UNDOF, and in October last they completed a relocation from the Golan Heights to Syria.

Defence Forces members are also serving in missions deployed to Mali, Kosovo, Bosnia, The Democratic Republic of Congo and Western Sahara. For their loved ones this year, the brave service men and women from Kildare have sent messages offering seasons greetings:

Pics courtesy of Irish Defence Forces

Christmas Message from Captain Deirdre Carbery, Co Kildare

As myself and my husband spend another Christmas apart I just want to say Thank You to him; thank you for taking care of our dog, our house and our ‘real life’. I am looking forward to my leave in January and to spending some time exploring a little piece of Africa. I am also incredibly grateful to the Irish Defence Forces for the opportunity to serve in this mission and to develop myself both professionally and personally. This is the reason I joined the Defence Forces.

Without our partners and families at home keeping the show on the road we, as military personnel would not be able to commit ourselves to our mission. It is the families of DF personnel serving overseas who deserve the medals and accolades on our return from overseas deployments.[/caption]

Lieutenant John Nevin is one of 460 brave Irish men and women spending Christmas over 3,000 miles away in battle-scarred Lebanon.

The 30-year-old, serving with United National Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), is due to marry his fiancé Alice O’Donnell in August next year. Lieutenant Nevin is from Newbridge and based at the Curragh and he wishes his family and friends back home a wonderful Christmas.

And he tells what it’s like to be a peacekeeper in what has been one of the world’s trouble spots for decades.

He says: “This is my third deployment overseas, so being away from home at Christmas time is not a new experience. We are trained to deal with the stresses of the mission and to operate in dangerous environments, but the training doesn’t prepare you for being separated from family and loved ones at Christmas."

“As members of the Defence Forces we all understand that this is part of the sacrifice of service and as everyone is digging into their second helping of turkey on Christmas Day back home, the other Irish soldiers and I here in South Lebanon will be carrying on with the mission at hand. This is not to say that we won’t take a break here and there to enjoy a mince pie or two and send well wishes back to those at home," explained Lieutenant Nevin.