A mixture of excitement and nerves among troops bound for Lebanon
As he prepares to spend Christmas in South Lebanon on his first tour of duty overseas with the Defences Forces, Gnr Jordan Amos was looking at the bright side of the situation. "I won't have to do my Christmas shopping, anyway!" he smiled.
Jordan, who is from Glasson and a past pupil of Athlone Community College, is one of 13 Westmeath troops who are part of the 381-strong deployment set to depart in the weeks ahead.
At the age of 25, he is almost three years in the Defence Forces, having trained in Athlone.
When asked how he feels about the mission ahead, he said: "I'm nervous, but I'm looking forward to it at the same time. It will be a new experience."
At Thursday's ceremony in Custume Barracks, Jordan was joined by his parents, who live in England, as well as his girlfriend and his sister. He said the training for the mission, which was undertaken at Finner Camp in Donegal and in the Glen of Imaal in Wicklow, had been difficult.
"It was tough. I had to do different driving courses to do with armoured vehicles and stuff like that, because I'm going over as a driver. Then we had all the ground exercises and various other types of training."
He said that there was a good sense of camaraderie among the group.
"You're a bit nervous because you've never been there before, and because of the current situation going on, but in the group that's going we're all good friends," he said.
"We're all in the same unit, we're all roughly the same age, and we're all travelling together."
Brothers Michael and Thomas Griffin, from Bealnamulla, Athlone, were preparing to travel on what will be their second mission to Lebanon. Gnr Michael Griffin (27) was asked what emotions he felt around the six-month deployment.
"I'm ready. Emotion-wise, I don't know, I haven't really thought too much into it. But we're well trained and we're going to get the job done," he stated.
He and his brother, Gnr Thomas Griffin (30), were joined by their Dad, Michael, at last Thursday's gathering in their local barracks.
Thomas acknowledged that the situation in south Lebanon was very different today than it had been when he served there on his first overseas mission two years ago.
"I don't know what to think about it, really, because we've never been in that environment," he said.
"From chatting to a few lads who are out there now it seems to be a little bit rough, but they're getting on well and hopefully we'll get on well also."
The youngest member of the departing group is Máirtín Heraty, 19, from Killybegs in Donegal. "I'm excited, first of all, because we've done the training. A lot of hard work and preparation went into it, and it's why I joined the Army, to go on these overseas trips," said Mairtín.
A total of 111 of the departing troops will be taking part in their first mission overseas.