Irish Media Continue Coverage of MMI Ireland Trip

Pagan traditions were intertwined with Christian traditions
when Ireland was evangelized by monks. To this day, many
traditions from the past, such as bon fires, are still carried
 out but with new meaning. Photos by Claire McElheney Sherling

Where there's smoke, there's fire, and this summer, cadets Gordon Lawless and Travis Connelly, and history instructor, Dr. Rankin Sherling, were hot commodities while studying in Donegal, Ireland.  After a media blitz by Irish newspapers and radio stations in their second week of studies at Oideas Gael, the cadets and Sherling settled back into class, a little stunned by all the attention.  But little did they know, the Irish media were just warming up. In their third week of studies, a third article emerged in another paper, and the international media giant, British Broadcasting Company (BBC) phoned Dr. Sherling for a second radio interview in Gaelic that was broadcast live across Ireland and worldwide on the internet.

The Irish were fascinated by Dr. Sherling (who 7 years ago studied at Oideas Gael), his commitment to Irish, and the idea that students from a military college would be interested in learning Irish Gaelic. As Sherling explains in Gaelic in the radio interview (below), these cadets have Irish roots, like himself, and are interested in learning the language spoken by their ancestors.


Listen to Dr. Rankin Sherling Interviewed by the BBC in Gaelic HERE.  
(Once on the BBC page after clicking the link above, press the triangle in the black box to play the audio. Fast-forward to minute 17:48 to hear only the interview with Dr. Sherling.)

Read what The Donegal Post had to say about the cadets and Marion Military Institute here:

Attention! US Military College cadets learning Irish in Glen

      "Two Military College of Alabama cadets, Gordon Lawless and Travis Connelly along with their teacher, Professor Rankin Sherling, are studying Irish at Oideas Gael in the company of thirty other course participants. 

      The cadets are based at Marion Military [Institute] in Alabama, a two-year public institution, which educates and trains the Corps of Cadets in order that each graduate is prepared for success at four-year institutions, including the service academies, with emphasis on providing intellectual, moral-ethical, physical-athletic, and leadership development experiences in a military environment.
      According to Oideas Gael director Liam O Cuinneagain and former Donegal Poerson of the Year: "We get many interesting people studying Irish with us over the years and it is refreshing to have learners like Gordon and Travis committing to the language, just as their professor Rankin Sherling did six years ago and who is now nearly fluent."  In fact, Dr. Sherling has been teaching Gaelic throughout the academic year in Marion.

      Marion Military Institute (MMI) is the oldest military junior college in the United States and traces its origin back to 1842.  

Unique Culture

      Oideas Gael in Glencolmcille [Co. Donegal] receives students from around the world, where it is known as one of the best locations to learn Irish, in Ireland, because of its unique culture, location and landscape." 

--As printed in the Donegal Daily, Vol. 9, Issue 2 on June 24, 2015

As mentioned in The Donegal Post article, the landscape in Ireland but especially in Glencolmcille is something out of a Yeats poem. In this image, we see two Neolithic burial tombs, erected over 3000 years ago to create a passage way for the clan chief to transcend into a world beyond death.