A TD and former member of the Army Ranger Wing has said he was saddened by proposals to change its name – but concedes now may be the right time.
“I would be sad to see it changing,’ Kildare North independent Dr Cathal Berry – who was a commander in the secretive unit – told The Mirror.
He was reacting to media reports of plans to rename it Ireland's Special Operations Force or IRL-SOF.
The proposals are said to be one of a number of recommendations from the Commission on the Defence Forces, an international body set up to carry out a root and branch assessment of the Irish military - and propose fixes to the problems.
Ireland has one of the lowest defence budgets in all of the European Union – and the Sunday Independent yesterday reported that our military told the Commission it was not adequately prepared to protect the country from outside aggression.
We spend around €1 billion a year on defence, but it’s claimed the Commission is set to recommend we treble that budget in the next 10 years.
It is also set to recommend more equipment for all three branches: the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps, including new ships and aircraft
It is also set to call for two of branches of the Defence Forces to be renamed to The Irish Air Force and the Irish Navy - as well as the Army Ranger Wing to be called IRL-SOF.
But speaking to The Mirror, Deputy Berry said now may be the right time for the ARW to change its name.
And he revealed that when it was set up in 1980 – as a unit to fight the terror threat during the troubles – it was called Army Ranger Wing to hide its true purpose.
Dr Berry said although it had Army in the title, it was actually a unit drawn from all three services in the Defence Forces – including the Air Corps and Naval Service.
Deputy Berry said: “I would be sad to see it changing.
“The ARW stood for Army Ranger Wing. But it was not really an Army unit. It is a tri-service unit, it is a little bit of an unusual name.
“The background is in 1980 it was actually used as a cover story, they did not want to call it a counter terrorism unit.
“They wanted to create the unit in secret, so it was called the Wing because it was another army wing in the Infantry School in the Curragh (Camp in Kildare).
“It was called the Army Ranger Wing so as to conceal its true purpose.”
But he said now that everyone knew the real mission of the ARW, it probably made sense to rename it - especially as most international units like them were simply referred to as SOF.
He said: “The fact that it was meant to be a secret unit back then and it was called a name that would not betray its real purpose – it probably makes sense, everyone knows who they are now.
“It wouldn’t be a big issue to, I suppose, standardise the name, in line with international peers.
“They will probably see the logic behind it, things have to move on.
“Obviously there is an emotional connection to it, but I can see the logic to it.”
He added: “And the fact that it is a tri-service unit probably makes sense to drop the army name anyway.”
The ARW is the Defence Forces' most elite unit - and its men are on call 24 hours a day.
The unit, based in Co Kildare, is on standby every single day of the year to respond to any crisis that may arise anywhere in the state as aid to gardai.
That could mean hostage rescue, undercover surveillance of dissident republican terrorists - or even protecting VIPs, like the Queen when she visited Ireland in 2011.
But the unit is also active abroad in more traditional military roles and has seen service in Somalia, Liberia, Chad and East Timor and Kabul - as well as Mali where it is serving currently.
Its highly trained soldiers are experts in guerrilla warfare, marksmanship, hostage rescue, parachuting and long range patrolling.
They have access to a wide range of weapons, including the Heckler and Koch HK416 assault rifle, the Minimi machine gun - and even the Javelin anti armour missile.
Around 40 soldiers try to pass ARW selection every year, but less than a dozen get through the gruelling process that sees them allowed into the unit - and wear the coveted green beret that marks them out as a Fianoglach, or Ranger.
Deputy Berry said he hoped the unit would still call individual members rangers if it was renamed.
