[3] Irro subsequently returned to Somalia where he worked in the office of the central command and the directorate of planning under Daud Abdulle Hirsi, and Siad Barre in 1960s, and later under Mohammad Ali Samatar and Abdullah Mohamed Fadil.

[3] Irro along with other left-leaning comrades was later admitted to the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow (Военнаяакадемия им М. В. Фрунзе), an elite Soviet institution reserved for the most qualified officers of the Warsaw Pact armies and their allies.

[5] There, he specialized in Strategic Planning and wrote many articles on strategy, operations and contemporary warfare, with an emphasis on Proactive National Defense.

A distinguished graduate of Frunze, Irro's research focused on the various strategies employed during the Sino-Indian War of 1962 and the Indo-Pakistani conflicts of 1965.

[5] Under the leadership of General Mohamed Ali Samatar, Irro and other senior Somali military officials were mandated in 1977 with formulating a national strategy in preparation for the Ogaden campaign in Ethiopia.

Subsequently, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) signed a 385 million dollar arms agreement with Ethiopia in early September.

[10] Godey's capture also allowed the Somali side to consolidate its hold on the Ogaden, concentrate its forces, and advance further to other regions of Ethiopia.

[15] In spite of unreserved support by Cuba, USSR, Southern Yemen and East Germany, it took nearly three years for the Ethiopian Army to gain a full control of the Godey region.

[17] In 1978, fallout from the aborted Ogaden campaign culminated in an attempt by several Somali senior military officials to overthrow Siad Barre's administration.

[18][19] According to the memoir of the late Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Irro informed him via a secured communication network that the coup d'état had failed.

[1][5] Most of the people who had helped plot the coup were found guilty and executed by marshal court; but others, including fellow Frunze Military Academy graduate Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, managed to escape abroad.

[3] In this capacity, he helped put together the National Academy for Strategy, and had a hand in formulating strategic training syllabi for senior military personnel, the presidential advisory councils and legislators.

Irro and his colleagues provided a framework document to address strategies for both short-term security challenges and longer-term capacity-building measures.