Fit to serve abroad

ABOUT two years ago the Minister for Defence announced that the FCA or the Army Reserve, as it's now called would eventually serve overseas.

It shocked me that we could be represented abroad by the FCA or, as we termed it, the Free Clothing Association.

However, I now realise that the old image of the FCA has changed, at least for some. On South Mall in Cork I saw members fall in for the Patrick's Day parade. They were in two groups, the first referred to as a 'comhlacht' or company the other An t-Ochtú Réisiment or the 8th Regiment. The first fitted the old image the lads just having a laugh but the second acted very professionally, silent and still.