IN 1991, a group of 50 women made history when they became the first female recruits in the Reserve Defence Forces, An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (FCÁ).
Now, two Limerick women, former members of the Sarsfield Barracks platoon, are organising a reunion of those trail-blazing women.
Helen Lavin from Galvone was one of the pioneering generation. She and her sister-in-arms, Debbie Benson from Groody Road, are organising a reunion for the platoon.
“I was one of the first women to make the rank of Corporal and then Sergeant. I’m very proud of that,” Helen told the Limerick Post.
The new recruits were put through the same gruelling training as the regular army recruits, but over a longer time frame.
“We did everything the Defence Forces did – weapons training, marching, but we mostly did it at weekends,” said Helen.
But unlike today, there was a line drawn in the sand about what women could do once they completed training and passed out.
“We had a choice of joining Signals, Military Police, or Supply and Transport. These were the only areas open to us then. Now women can join the bomb squad – anything that they are interested in,” Helen said.
While Helen joined the FCA with a full-time army career in mind, sadly that didn’t happen, but she did continue in the FCA training recruits for more than 21 years.
It wasn’t all gun cleaning and square bashing. Helen says there was “a lot of socialising and a lot of laughs. There was more than one wedding came out of it.”
“There were funny moments as well. We were the first women that the NCOs trained, so there were some different rules.
“For instance, they weren’t allowed to come into the barracks where we slept in the morning. They could go in to the men’s barracks and get them up, but they had to stand outside our door shouting at us to hurry up,” Helen joked.
The date for battle to commence is September 27 and the chosen field of engagement is a well reconnoitered venue, Charlie Malones on Wolfe Tone Street, from 19.30 hours until everyone is stood down. Or falls down.
The pair have started a ‘First female recruit platoon, Sarsfield Barracks’ Facebook page where old comrades can sign up for the event.
