Defence Forces Tribunal: Training session 'a day of horror... like being in Full Metal Jacket', soldier says

Tribunal told recruits were constantly ordered to go on runs and do press-ups for hours on end while being shouted at and berated

The tribunal has already heard that, towards the end of that training session on June 20, 1991, apprentice Oliver Mullaney was ordered to sing nursery rhymes, dance with, and kiss other male recruits.

Tue, 30 Jun, 2026 - 15:30

Neil Michael

A training session two days before an army apprentice killed himself was “a day of horror” akin to the harrowing scenes of the infamous Full Metal Jacket movie by Stanley Kubrick, the Defence Forces Tribunal into historical claims of abuse has heard.

Eddie Gibbons, who was just 17 when he joined the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks in Naas, in October 1989, said it was so surreal it resembled a scene from the Vietnam war movie.