Among the Irish opposition party's Fine Gael leadership, W. T. Cosgrave, Desmond Fitzgerald, Richard Mulcahy and several others had also fought in the previous Irish Civil War and the Irish Army had thousands of veterans from that conflict. Major General Joseph McSweeney, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Irish Army's Western Command in 1940, had been in the GPO during the Easter Rising. Colonels Archer and Bryan of Military Intelligence G2 had also fought in the conflicts. The IRA member Tom Barry volunteered his services to the Irish Army in 1939 and became operations officer in the 1st Division.