IRISH CONTINGENT KFOR
The current Irish Contingent serving with KFOR is the 40 Infantry Group, headquartered at Camp Clarke, Lipljan. The contingent is commanded by Lt Col Des Bergin. Lt Col Bergin is a native of County Kildare. Lt Col Bergin has 32 years service in the Irish Defence Forces. This is his sixth overseas deployment having previously served in Lebanon, Syria and the Golan Heights, Afghanistan and Ivory Coast. He also served with KFOR in 2004 as Second in Command, Civil/Military Operations, in what was then Multi National Brigade (Centre), based in Slim Lines, Camp Jubilee.
Based in Camp Clarke are an operational APC Coy which forms C Coy of Multi National Task Force(MNTF) C and a Logistics Company. C Coy is under Operational Control to Comd MNTF C. The majority of the personnel at Camp Clarke are from the 1 Southern Brigade of the Irish Defence Forces which has its headquarters at Collins Barracks, Cork.
C Coy of MNTF C is commanded by Commandant Canice Brennan. Comdt. Brennan is a native of County Kilkenny. He has previously served in Lebanon and Liberia.
The majority of the soldiers of C Coy have previous experience on overseas service with a significant number having served before in KFOR. They underwent extensive training in Ireland prior to deployment including Crowd Riot Control training, Heli drills, Armoured Personnel Carrier drills, Improvised Explosive Devises and First Aid.
KFOR is the Irish Defence Forces second largest commitment in terms of troop contributing missions. The total number of Irish personnel currently deployed in KFOR is 239. The majority of these personnel are located in Camp Clarke (C Coy MNTF C and Logs Coy). There are also Irish Defence Forces Personnel serving in HQ MNTF C in Camp Ville, Lipljan and HQ KFOR, Film City.
In MNTF C, Irish C Coy serves with troops from Finland (A Coy), Sweden (B Coy), Czech Republic (D Coy) and Slovakia (E Coy).The Irish Defence Forces have a long tradition of serving with soldiers from Scandanavia and many of the more senior officers and NCOs would have very happy memories of serving with Finnish and Swedish soldiers in Lebanon from 1978 to 2001 as part of the United Nations Mission in that country (UNIFIL).
C Coy, MNTF C is a highly trained and motivated unit which, due to the level of experience of its personnel gained on several international peace-keeping missions, brings a unique level of expertise to operations within MNTF C.