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Armed Forces / Re: Irish Army Record - Can anyone help with the shorthand?
« on: Saturday 12 August 23 23:16 BST (UK) »
Hi,
Any input would be much appreciated. Trying to make sense of an army record, attached.
Record of a family member who served during the Emergency from 1941 to 45.
Some bits I can understand. He's in 5th Battalion
What is CTEM Depot? Central Something?
And whats P/ ACE?
But the one thats really driving me mad is what is an R O number?
And the numbers that follow RO numbers are surely orders of some sort? But how do I make sense of them?
Thanks for reading.
RO stands for Routine Order as someone else suggested. ROs are (or were)issued by units on a regular basis and record the unit's administrative routine. For example if a soldier takes leave it's recorded in an RO. The RO will be forwarded up the chain of command and will land on the desk of a pay clerk who will ensure that deductions for rations are not taken from his pay for the leave period. The RO is numbered sequentially by year so the first one in 1941 was RO 01/41. Your man enlisted at the CT&M Depot on 10th January 1941 and that fact was recorded on RO 27 dated 1st February 1941. I was in the Irish Army in the 80s and 90s and CTD to us was Command Training Depot, so I'm guessing that was what the CT stand for. The M; I don't know.
On 13/2/1941 he was recorded on RO 37 as having been posted from the Depot to 5th Infantry Battalion, effective from 10/2/1941. The 5th Battalion recorded his arrival on their Unit RO which was number 52, dated 3/3/41. And so on through the record. His home unit was the 5th Battalion apparently and he's doing regular detachments/attachments to 2nd Field Company Supply & Transport Corps; 2 F S&T or similar abbreviation.