Maureen O'Brien (Irish Army general)

Brigadier General Maureen O'Brien is an Irish Army general and current Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights appointed September 2019.

Brigadier General

Maureen O'Brien
O'Brien as a Commandant (right) with then-Defence Minister Willie O'Dea and Lieutenant General Dermot Earley before deploying to Chad in 2009
Born1960
Cork, Ireland
Allegiance Ireland
Service/branch Army
Infantry Corps
Years of service1980–present
Rank Brigadier General (OF-6)
Commands heldDeputy Force Commander UNDOF
Director J4
Officer Commanding 27 Infantry Battalion
Deputy Commander 100 Inf Bn MINURCAT

Brig Gen O'Brien has completed 14 overseas missions, including serving in Lebanon, Western Sahara, East Timor, Sarajevo (OSCE) and Chad, and is the first female promoted to General in the history of the Irish Defence Forces.

Military career

O'Brien is a native of Galway city and graduated from University College Galway with a Bachelor of Science and Higher Diploma in Education, spending time as a teacher, before joining the Cadet School in 1981 - one year after the Army allowed women to apply. On commissioning in 1983 she was posted as an Infantry Officer, to the 4th Infantry Battalion, Cork, before returning to the Cadet School some years later as an instructor.

O'Brien has achieved a number of "firsts" for women in the Irish Defence Forces, becoming the first female Army Line Officer to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 2011 as Battalion Commander of the 27 Infantry Battalion in Aiken Barracks, and as Colonel assuming the role as Director of the CIS Corps in 2016, responsible for all communications and information technology across the Army, Naval Service and Air Corps.

Her career has included extensive overseas experience, with her first two deployments being to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, serving as a Captain in MINURSO in the Western Sahara and UNTAET in East Timor. She assumed the role as Second-in-command (2IC) of a 420-strong infantry battalion with MINURCAT in Chad and was deployed as Chief of Operations Planning in a multinational sector headquarters in Lebanon (UNIFIL). O'Brien has held appointment in the Operations Branch of Defence Forces Headquarters where she was the senior staff officer responsible for EU and NATO/PfP engagement.[1]

She holds a first class master's degree in Leadership, Management and Defence Studies from Maynooth University and has completed a postgraduate diploma in IT from University College Cork.[2]

While the ratio of women in the Irish Army is at a low 6.7%, O'Brien is recognised as one of the most accomplished officers operationally in the Defence Forces.[3]

As Deputy Force Commander, O'Brien ensures that directives are met within UNDOF for the force commander and liaises with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), among other responsibilities.

gollark: Fluid cells are great for fluids you won't produce all the time. Fusion reactor stuff is not that.
gollark: Not a very good one.
gollark: Hey, *you're* the one now annoyed at it because you just filled up everything.
gollark: Well, it's a use, just not a useful use.
gollark: 64k *fluid* cells? That's so useless.

References
  1. McMahon, Aine (7 July 2016). "Defence Forces promotes first woman to colonel". The Irish Times. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  2. Murphy, Darragh Peter (7 July 2016). "Meet the Defence Forces' first female colonel". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  3. BRADY, Tom (16 September 2019). "Woman promoted to general in the Defence Forces for the first time". Irish Independent. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
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