Since the foundation of the state few if any of the senior officer corps have written memoirs. In An Irish Officer's Diaries, Michael Moriarty becomes the first officer to change that. From joining the Ennis Battalion of the FCA in 1949 until his retirement as a Colonel in 1992, Michael Moriarty experienced almost the full range of domestic and foreign postings that the Irish Army participated in. He served in Congo, Cyprus, Angola and Lebanon as part of Irish contributions to UN missions. In this personal memoir he reveals his struggles to serve in difficult and challenging circumstances, the changes in the army and Irish society during his years of service and the life of a senior officer from the inside.