Pioneering Irish Army’s Karina Molloy casts light on dark shadows

Ardara woman Karina Molloy served 31 years in the Irish Defence Forces and was the first female to get promoted to the rank of senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) rank.

It was the fulfilment of a dream as a young woman back in 1981, becoming part of a pioneering group of the first females to serve with the Defence Forces.

Last Friday, she appeared on the Late Late Show, as her ground breaking and eye opening book, ‘A woman in Defence - A Soldier’s Story of the Enemy within the Irish Army’ was published by Hachette Ireland.

Earlier this week, she appeared on Ireland AM.  

Karina on her first service as a United Nations peacekeeper with the 57th Inf Batt in 1985

Having left the Defence Forces back in 2012, mainly because of the way that she was treated by her superiors and some of her former colleagues, she recalls a number of harrowing events as part of that career, in which she was allegedly sexually assaulted, on more than one occasion.

She is the a member of the Women of Honour Group which was set up in the wake of the military #metoo group, which detailed allegations of sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination within the military, while calling for change and accountability with the Defence Forces for both men and women.

The book recalls the symbiotic relationship of a soldier who was forging new goals and aspirations for females in the Defence Forces while at the same time dealing with an institution that contained bullying, promotional glass ceilings and many elements of life, totally unacceptable in any sphere of work or career path. 

Karina has also served in Lebanon, Eritrea and Bosnia as part of this country’s United Nations peacekeeping Force and to date, still has the most overseas service as a female senior NCO.. 

Retired Army Captain and now Senator Tom Clonan, described the book as “a searing, honest and courageous account of professional soldiering, in a toxic military culture”.

The passing out parade of the first female recruit platoon, in the Curragh Camp in October of 1981 

This week, she caught up with the Donegal Democrat, after a busy set of interviews, when she returned home: 

“There was never even a whisper of joining the Defence Forces, as when my brother joined, there were no females. I thought of the British Army but that all crashed and burned, when I realised where I lived and there was a youthful naivete attached to that notion as well. I ended up going to the UCD Sports complex as a Sport Assistant, but as soon as I heard of new female recruits, I jumped at the chance and managed to join, after a little help,” she said.

The basic recruiting course, through no fault of their own, had an emphasis on that they would be non-combatants. 

She said: “We were the first batch of females in the Irish Defence Forces, but the powers that be changed our training and condensed a later three star (Private) course into two weeks, so we did 18 weeks training but we passed out as three stars, but we skipped all of the tactical training in a three star course that a male would be required to do and we were just taught how to answer the phone and how to type letters.”

38 female recruits were dispersed to four different commands, with eight girls in each barracks, “and that stayed like that for ten years”.            

She said that things didn’t change at all, being treated as a novelty element and a unicorn for the first three years, “until they got used to us, walking around the barracks”.

Reality kicked in when she went to do a five month NCO course to advance her career to attain the rank of Corporal, “and that is when it started getting nasty”.

Within six weeks, she was sexually assaulted in a swimming pool, which she recalls in her book. She recalls her emotions of being “humiliated and in shock”.  

Karina Molloy pictured after attaining her NCO rank in 1984

She told the paper: “What really annoyed me was that there was a lack of respect. All I was doing was what every other male soldier was doing and that was to advance in our career. And they decided to push me a little further and do that. The most upsetting thing of that whole incident was that the particular NCO announced and bragged about it in the NCOs mess, in a bar full of men.    

“Through no fault of our own, for the first 12 years of our career, all females were non combatants and that really frustrated and annoyed the men. But they behaved as if it was our choice. They behaved as if we controlled the narrative. We didn’t. The government controlled that narrative.”

Despite the obstacles, Karina succeeded in getting to be an NCO but the innuendo and microaggressions continued. She bit her lip and got on with it. Speaking with both male and female colleagues she was repeatedly advised to not bother in taking matters any further, if she wanted to continue to have a career in the Army. 

Serving in Bosnia in 2002 with the Stabilisation Force Mission (SFOR) 

The rest of that career which is excellently documented in the new book, thanks to extensive journaling of her memories and events down the years, is a reflection of a pioneering and determined Donegal woman, who battled the odds in staying for over three decades in her chosen profession, achieving many first, but sadly casting light on many dark corners of the profession, which she says has improved in recent years.     

The book ‘A woman in Defence - A Soldier’s Story of the Enemy’ by Karina Molloy with Kathryn Rogers is published by Hachette Ireland, with the paperback and ebook retailing at €14.99.