{"id":391491,"date":"2026-04-10T11:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T11:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/391491\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T11:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T11:09:08","slug":"family-ties-abound-at-101st-army-cadet-class-ceremony-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/391491\/","title":{"rendered":"Family ties abound at 101st Army cadet class ceremony \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forty years on from his own entry into the Defence Forces<\/a>, Maj Gen John Whittaker\u2019s son has followed in his footsteps by becoming an Army<\/a> officer.<\/p>\n

The deputy chief of staff (operations) was the first in his family to join the Army, having applied after his mother spotted a career advert. He said he was \u201chonoured\u201d to see his son Cian become an Army officer alongside 51 other cadets at the Military College at the Curragh, Co Kildare<\/a>, on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Lieut Cian Whittaker (24), from Co Galway, said his decision to join the force was \u201cmassively\u201d influenced by his father\u2019s service. Growing up with an Army member in the family meant he knew \u201ca lot more than the average person\u201d about what a career in the Defence Forces entails, he said.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of variety compared with a more traditional career, he said, adding: \u201cIt is what you make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father has risen to the second highest rank in the Army, but this isn\u2019t intimidating to the newly commissioned lieutenant, who said: \u201cI will take my own journey really; I am my own man.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his father, Maj Gen Whittaker said: \u201cIt is fantastic to maintain the service to the State in the family and to see the next generation take on the baton.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only is it a life less ordinary, but he is serving the State and the people. There is no greater honour or higher calling. It\u2019s not a job; it is a vocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also being commissioned into the Army following the intensive 18-month cadet training were brothers Alex and Simon Gallagher from Co Antrim.<\/p>\n

\"BrothersBrothers Alex (left) and Simon Gallagher at their cadet commissioning ceremony at the Curragh on Friday. Photograph: Defence Forces <\/p>\n

Lieut Simon Gallagher (27) said their decisions to sign up were made independently. They heard about the cadetship programme at a time when they were separately seeking change in their lives. <\/p>\n

He said the Army \u201cseemed like an exciting path to go down\u201d, and it was \u201cdefinitely a bonus\u201d that his brother was accepted into the scheme.<\/p>\n

Lieut Alex Gallagher (28) said joining the Army gave him a \u201csense of direction\u201d and a \u201cgoal to work towards\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed like a good opportunity to better yourself and move forward. I think sometimes in your mid-20s you\u2019re like: \u2018What should I do?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Overseas deployment is likely a while away for the 101st cadet class, but he is not daunted by the prospect. \u201cBy that stage you have to trust your training, what we have been taught to do and what has been drilled into us,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The training was at times \u201cvery challenging\u201d, said his brother, but \u201cyou get through it\u201d. <\/p>\n

The commissioning ceremony, marking the cadets\u2019 completion of their training, was attended by Minister for Defence Helen McEntee<\/a>, who thanked the new officers for undertaking a \u201ctrue act of public service\u201d.<\/p>\n

They join the Army amid a changing security environment, she said, and are taking on the \u201cresponsibility of making sure we are kept safe\u201d.<\/p>\n

Defence Forces chief of staff Lieut Gen Rossa Mulcahy said the new officers will take up roles in operational units across the State and will be providing support when Ireland takes up the European Union presidency in the coming months. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forty years on from his own entry into the Defence Forces, Maj Gen John Whittaker\u2019s son has followed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13308,42,1556,93447,3770,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-391491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-defence-forces","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-helen-mcentee","11":"tag-irish-army","12":"tag-kildare","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}