Mayo-born army veteran has seen horrors of war

A Mayo man tells his remarkable story in a new book that spans the military, mountaineering and archaeology.

Kevin McDonald's A Life Less Ordinary is a fascinating memoir that brings readers along his incredible and perilous journey from the 1980s to the present day.

His early days in the FCA in Mayo were followed by enlisting with the Irish Defence Forces and his recruitment to its specialist Army Ranger Wing. At home, he was dealing with the reality of the threat of the IRA but overseas missions with the United Nations brought him to the centre of many global conflicts.

Over a 40-year period, McDonald served on missions in Lebanon, Israel, Chad, Western Sahara and Syria, and with the EU in Mali, followed by subsequent UN roles in the Central African Republic and his current role in the fledging nation of South Sudan.

Kevin gives a vivid eyewitness account of the reality and brutality of war – witnessing the horrors visited on innocent civilians and the ever-present danger facing peacekeepers as he watched the killing of friends and colleagues right beside him. It is also a fascinating insight into the geopolitics of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Kevin McDonald somehow found time for two other all-consuming passions in his life - mountaineering and archaeology. He has scaled some of the world’s most challenging mountain ranges, including the Himalayas and the Alps, and the book details his exhilarating experiences of abseiling, rock climbing and alpine climbing in Ireland and overseas.

He also completed a degree in Archaeology in the University of Galway and has put his passion and expertise to good use at home and abroad. He has made several new discoveries including two 5,000 year old Megalithic tombs in Co Clare.

Kevin penned his book during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“I suppose I knew it wasn’t your usual tale of the military guy telling stories with the mountaineering and the archaeology as well,” Kevin told the Western People.

Kevin had been writing for Castlebar.ie since 2010 about experiences in Chad, Western Sahara, Mali, Israel, Lebanon and the Central African Republic, and those columns helped to inform his latest work.

Some people fall into a career in the military but the army was a lifelong dream for the Mayo man who has a taste for the intrepid.

“When I was in national school during the summer you would hear the gunfire from the shooting range in the barracks and you would see the guys go out on maneouvres. I thought to myself, ‘God, I have to be there.’ 

“Before I joined the army I had seven really good years in the FCA. In Castlebar, at the time, there were two FCA units in the barracks. One was the headquarters of an infantry battalion and the other was the 5th cavalry squadron. The 5th cavalry squadron had trucks, motorbikes, armoured cars, exactly the thing a young fella would want. 

"I was 15 years old at the time and I was sort of ‘inventive’ with my birth cert when I joined. I had a military licence for Land Rovers, Bedford trucks, and motorbikes before I was legally allowed to drive on the road!” 

When Kevin enlisted in the army he went to Co Monaghan and helped to patrol the border during a tumultuous time in Northern Ireland. He craved adventure and the opportunity to test himself and applied for the elite arm of the Irish Army, the Ranger Wing. He recalls the gruelling trials and tests as the field was whittled down to the successful applicants.

“We started on a Sunday afternoon at around 3pm. I think there was probably 60 odd who started and there was 11 gone by 8am the next morning. We finished with just 10 out of 60 plus.

“I was there five years and they were some of the best years of my life. We were living the dream, parachuting, diving and blowing things up!” 

He had a brief stint in his hometown.

"I was kind of tired of living out of a bag and out of the blue a position came up as a training sergeant in Castlebar. I loved Castlebar but it was a bit quiet!” he admits.

Kevin’s ascent through the ranks was swift. He became a fully qualified sergeant within five years of joining the Army – a feat that is virtually unheard of – and he continued to progress throughout his distinguished career.

He successfully applied to become a military officer and this elevation was also unusual for someone who started at the bottom rung.

“It was a big change to go from what’s known in the army as ‘other ranks’ to become an officer, particularly to come up through the ranks,” Kevin recalls.

Overseas tours featured heavily in Kevin’s career.

“My first overseas tour was in 1984 as a private and within a month I was promoted to acting corporal. I went back to the Lebanon a lieutenant in 1993 when there was the Seven-Day War, again in 1996 and then was there as an unarmed military observer in 2006 when there was a 34-day war."

He has seen first hand the horrors of war.

"2006 was fairly rough. We had 52 unarmed officers and in around three days we lost over 10%. We had two seriously injured and four very good friends of mine were blown up in an Israeli air strike.” 

Having to watch on as his family had be evacuated was one of the toughest experiences of his life.

"I was working on the occupied Golan. We were transferred to Lebanon and everything was hunky dory but the war kicked off out of the blue. My sister and her husband had been with us and they flew off on a Monday. 

"I went on a seven-day patrol on Tuesday, and the war kicked off on Wednesday. It was fast and furious. From where I was based I could look down on the city of Tyre where Claire and the kids were and could see jets dropping bombs into it and ships firing naval artillery into the city. 

"From our apartment, Claire knew where I was and could see something similar. It took the UN nearly two and a half weeks to evacuate the families. They more or less chartered a cruise liner from Cyprus and they came as close as they could to the shore and sent lifeboats to bring families out."

Some personnel were able to get close to see their loved ones off but Kevin was “getting hammered” where he was.

"Claire and the two kids got into the lifeboat and out onto the ship. I rang her and had to tell her I’ll see you when I see you, which is not a great way to end a family mission. I’d been under fire before but when your family is in the same country under fire and you can’t protect them it’s very different."

Kevin later transferred to Jerusalem and between 2014 and 2016 had a year in Lebanon and Jerusalem during his last two years in the army.

"Most of the war in Lebanon was perilous. In 1993, at the end of the Seven-Day War, an artillery shell landed while I was on the roof of a houe recording impacts. I saw this shell hit the edge of the village and it ricocheted and I just got myself down on this flat roof.

“I didn’t know where it was and one of these field telephones that were on the roof rang to tell me to look at my prefab. It had come through the roof of the prefab and out the door again. An unexploded shell lying at the steps of the canteen and the bomb disposal experts were called for.

"I have this marvellous picture of guys coming in with sandbags and another of loads of guys ferrying beer out of the canteen because it was going to get destroyed!"

Kevin believes Irish Army personnel carry themselves differently from some of their counterparts and can help de-escalate situations in various troublespots around the world.

"The first thing that marks us out is we have no colonial baggage, which is important. The second thing is while some armies have a very gung-ho attitude to being in a peacekeeping situation, the Irish, because of our history and our personality, would have a more ‘Jesus lads, come on approach’. Rather than going in shouting and roaring. 

"It’s not necessarily that we are easygoing but we are easy to deal with.” 

Kevin retired from the Irish Army as a Commandant in 2016. His current role sees him based in Juba, the capital of South Sudan as an Associate Security Coordination Officer with the United Nations. His extensive Middle East experience means it is difficult to watch the current situation unfold as the region hovers on the brink of all-out war once again.

“I have lived in both countries (Israel and Palestine) and have friends in both countries it’s hard to see where it’s going but all wars eventually stop and they stop with people talking and people realising they are not going to get 100% of what they want no matter what side they are on. This thing will end but the question is how much death and destruction will it leave in its wake and what will the situation be the day after it stops?

"Despite the amount of death and destruction, Israel has not defeated Hamas. At some stage they are going to have to say we have to deal with these guys.” 

Kevin’s love of mountaineering has seen him scale some of the highest peaks in the world. It was an ascent of Ireland’s largest mountain Carrantuohill which proved to be one of the most perilous with a spoon coming to the Castlebar man’s rescue.

Taking on the hazardous Primroses route up the mountain, Kevin found himself unable to loop his rope around a rock while a 200ft drop lay below him.

“I patted down my jacket and found the spoon I had in my pocket. I draped the spoon over the sling which gave me the six inches I needed to pull myself to safety.” 

Kevin's illuminating life story truly is a thrilling ride and his book is being launched at the Wild Atlantic Words Festival in his hometown this week.