Meaning of Irish army abbreviations, 1960

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Waleed Y. Majeed
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Meaning of Irish army abbreviations, 1960

#1

Post by Waleed Y. Majeed » 20 Mar 2021, 17:15

Hello, while searching info on a member of the Irish UN force sent to the Congo in 1960 I found a list. Now, for a 1960’s Irish infantry battalion (in this case as part of the UN force, Congo) there’s a mention of a “Q”-section. They appear as no. 2 between “A”-platoon and the Int-section. What exactly does the “Q” stand for?
Each member of the battalion is mentioned as follows
“Serial-no -|- SS -|- Name -|- 2 Comp Mre Inlr”
What does the “SS” stand for?
2 comp I presume is 2nd. Company but then I’m lost again with the “MRE lNLR”?

Any help in answering my questions are greatly appreciated.

Waleed

Tamari
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Re: Meaning of Irish army abbreviations, 1960

#2

Post by Tamari » 20 Mar 2021, 17:31

Hi Waleed,

what do you think about Q section = Quartermaster section of the Battalion with logistic and technical support? In British and Commonwealth armies a staff is structured this way

In addition I found a list of UK MOD acronyms and abbreviations and MRE is given as Management Radio Equipment (MRE). Does this makes sense to you in this context?

I'm not sure.

Best regards
Robert


Tamari
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Re: Meaning of Irish army abbreviations, 1960

#3

Post by Tamari » 20 Mar 2021, 17:37

Rank OR-7 has a Squadron Sergeant (SS).

20210320_164155.jpg
Wikipedia- Irish Army ranks

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_D ... k_insignia


Best regards
Robert

Tamari
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Re: Meaning of Irish army abbreviations, 1960

#4

Post by Tamari » 20 Mar 2021, 17:53

SS stands also possibly for Staff Section.

InIr = possibly Infantry Ireland?

20210320_165709.jpg
UN Battalion


MRE = Maintenance Repair Equipment ???

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Waleed Y. Majeed
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Re: Meaning of Irish army abbreviations, 1960

#5

Post by Waleed Y. Majeed » 20 Mar 2021, 18:41

Thanks Robert.
For the “SS”, we know he was a private and your suggestion would also make just about all of the men on the list sergeants. Staff section sounds possible but again almost all again. I’m also sure it’s (capital i and lowercase L) Inlr. Here’s an example. I have hidden names and serial no. as these have no relevance right now.
28B35EEB-2AE5-415A-97E9-2745DFC8274F.jpeg

Waleed

Tamari
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Re: Meaning of Irish army abbreviations, 1960

#6

Post by Tamari » 21 Mar 2021, 13:23

Hi Waleed,

your explaination about the term "SS' is totally plausible.

I have found this homepage where you can find reports about Irish army's Congo deployments:

https://www.militaryarchives.ie/en/coll ... -histories

In my opinion "Mre Inlr" is not a English-speaking military term but a short version of a Gaelic name or unit's name because there are also "Mre Corí" and other Gaelic terms behind the different soldiers listed.

Unfortunately I have no clue for what does this stands for.

Best regards
Robert

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