Mr. Colm Doyle:

If you talk about figures, when we talk about a platoon it is the smallest military unit we normally have and consists of 34, 35 or 36. When we talk about a figure of 12 it has to be borne in mind that for those 12, a certain amount of back-up will be needed. What type of transport will be used? What security will be provided? Of the 12, only a fraction of those would be operational because the others would be in an administrative or support capacity. The figure of 50 is the figure that is reckoned. If we send a platoon some place the entire package has to be more than the strength of that platoon. It is reckoned that a platoon of 35 with a back-up of another to make up a total of 50 sounds very reasonable to me, as a soldier.