MISSION READY

Training with the 122 Infantry Battalion as they become...

- MICHAEL O’TOOLE

THIS is the moment Irish soldiers heading to Lebanon practise fighting their way out of an ambush – just like the attack that cost hero Private Sean Rooney his life. 

These exclusive Irish Mirror images show personnel from the 122 Infantry Battalion – which goes to Lebanon next month – coming under simulated attack in Toyota armoured utility vehicles identical to the vehicle the 23-year-old was driving when he was shot dead last December.

In the exercise yesterday, two Toyota AUVs are ambushed on a routine patrol and the soldiers inside have to take on their attackers using their Steyr assault rifles.

The 122 Battalion takes over from Donegal-born Pte Rooney’s unit in May and its most senior officer yesterday told us that his murder has had an impact on the 340 soldiers heading out under his command.

“Every time we deploy we are aware,” Cork-born Lieutenant-Colonel Cathal Keohane told us at the Defence Forces’ training area at the Glen of Imaal in rural Co Wicklow.

“We have lost personnel on a number of missions and each of them is unique and unfortunate.

“It is fair to say, though, that we are more conscious given the circumstances, given how recently [the killing of Pte Rooney] has occurred, of the threats.

“It has provided maybe a renewed focus on the basics of soldiering.”