17 ° Flocking and fighting with bare hands

(To Francesco Bergamo)
24/07/17

"Sufficit animus!" "It's enough for daring!" Is with this motto that I receive in his office Colonel Claudio Fiore, commander of the 17 ° Flocking Incursori at "Ugo Gordesco" Airport in Furbara (Cerveteri). Outside the door stands out a curious plate made of a thick 5 centimeter ballistic plate and engraved with the use of the explosive to cut the number "XVII".

The commander, originally from Grosseto, 50 years carried very well and two degrees, I come across with a broad smile and add: Vit will eventually not regret having made 600 km for our incursors. In fact, I read in the thought, because the 17 ° Stormo was officially formed 2 April 2008 although operating from March 1 as 2003 as RIAM (AMR Incarnation Department), most of the Italian people do not know the existence and whose skills and operational abilities are known only to jobseekers. There is something to discover.

Within the spacious office and an interesting modern sculpture. It reigns, everything is functional, everything is efficient. The premises therefore are great. The commander in a fraction of a second makes me comfortable and makes himself available to questions to give readers Online Defense the opportunity to get to know his men better.

Commander, why does the Air Force have the incursors?

We have a recent history. We are present at 2003, although historically our roots date back to the Second World War when ADRA (Arditi DistrAs Rega Aeronautica) operated, highly trained and trained personnel for the conduct of "special operations" considered as a multiplicator of expressive power. At the end of the conflict, the Armed Forces decided not to follow the specialty. In modern optics, Special Forces AM are able to conduct the full spectrum of Special Operations that doctrinally involve the Special Reconnaissance in Direct Action and Military Assistance. In addition to these competencies, the 17 ° Frostbite Incursors have the capability of prevailing aeronautical interest such as aeronautical objectives detection and neutralization, Close Air Support (JTAC), Non Conventional Assisted Recovery (NAR) operations in non-permissive environments, Targeting through the use of UAVs, etc .. Of particular importance is the figure of the Combat Controller, qualified personnel for the detection and certification of improvised landing tracks in operating areas and for the control of air traffic control used to support of them. In this broad spectrum of skills, the level of interoperability achieved with the Special Departments of the other Armed Forces is almost complete, thanks also to the work done by COFS (Interforce Command for Special Forces Operations).

What features do men have to have to become part of this elite?

Many and some are also little known. If I told you that our men also have amphibious and underwater abilities, would I be surprised?

Frankly yes! because I did not expect you from Air Force.

Yet it is so. Returning to his question: determination, excellent physical form, spirit of sacrifice, propensity to work as a team combined with the ability to operate in total autonomy that characterizes a special forces operator. As you can see, they are a mix of skills and competencies that are essential to be a real raider. The selection starts from a certain level, that is, soldiers who already have some preparation and setting. After a first internship of 3 weeks with physical tests, psycho-aptitudes and individual interviews the aspiring raider follows the military paratrooper's patent and attends the course BIAM (Basic Military Aeronautical Incursor), lasting 50 weeks and organized in separate modules ( topography, individual combat training, explosives, aeroculture, escape survival and resistance to interrogation, etc.) at the end of which follows the patent from raider and the much aspired sand-colored basque, badge of the raiders AM Subsequently all the raiders are started at the frequency of collective specialization courses such as TCL (parachuting with free fall technique), rock courses and surface amphibians, environmental courses (snow, desert, jungle). The training process is completed with individual specialization courses attended according to the skills highlighted by the operator such as sniper courses, medic, JTAC, diver, air traffic operator etc ...

What does it mean to command them and train them?

Well, first of all, commanding them is an honor, but it is also a big responsibility! Commanding a Special Forces Department means constantly ensuring the level of training and operational readiness required by the Armed Forces and National Defense. Continuous research and experimentation of materials, equipment, opto-electronic systems, innovative physical training systems and in keeping with the times. It means a continuous and fruitful interaction with the joint partners of Special Departments at national and international level for the development and improvement of acquired operational capabilities. In particular, novelties in materials and equipment are studied and deepened in specific inter-working teams for possible experimentation and acquisition. This is to ensure always the full functionality and interoperability of the Special Forces Interactive Devices.

At this point, Colonel Fiore is personally accompanying me to the area dedicated to the activities of the incursors. While with the service car we move through the base, I realize that airport logistics in function of the confidence of the incursors is really excellent because it extends over a flat surface of over 200 hectares bordering north with a nature reserve, to the south with a private estate, to the east with a railway line and to the west with the Tyrrhenian Sea. Therefore, they are isolated enough to conduct any kind of day, daytime and night-time training, and even shooting, without any impact on the external social context. They have the space to do walking exercises or by means of any kind. I know with a lively interest a futuristic polygon from sniper equipped for static and dynamic precision shooting and a complex system of cameras that allow vision in team of the target through appropriate computers. A state-of-the-art plant in Europe for length of the pull line and fitting.

With an abrupt turn we go inside a containment perimeter for firearms bullets. Let's go around the perimeter. I see a low and light construction. The windows have the lattice and outside the door there are three sporty men waiting for me.

Colonel Fiore informs me that they are incursors. Get off the car. It's hot, the afa is unbearable. The cobbled crawl under my weight at every step. The sunlight is blinding and flattening the image of the three incursors. Only when I reach a meter from them I realize their excellent fitness.

One of the three stretches out his hand and shows up: Good morning, I'm Massimo (fantasy name)! Follow me. As calamitated by the three, within the structure: a gym.

The ambience is spacious enough to allow training for several of them. There are floating walls, rings, ropes for rapid descent from helicopter at altitude, weapon replicas of all kinds. Along a wall there is an infinite series of cannonball balls with handle: i kettlebell.

The three men look at me. They are serene, relaxed and confident of themselves. Three other men enter the gym. The commander welcomes me and leaves for other commitments already planned but with the promise to see me later. Now I'm alone with the operatives. Only! I have in front of me the 17 ° Formors: the mysterious men of 'elite Air.

Maximum, what kind of martial art used in body-to-body?

Initially we were entrusted with boxing and kick boxing. Then we realized that for operational reasons it was a more concrete style. That meant creating muscle memory in a short time but with an impact that would be more effective in case of collusion, especially in confined environments. For this reason we incorporated the Muay Thai into our program by integrating it with the Krav Maga. The mix that came out is for us an excellent body-to-body combat system, especially with regard to disarmament and weaponry. Our experience has enabled us to take into account all aspects ranging from the terrain in which we operate to the climatic conditions, from the visibility to the equipment we have and the type of clothing, to extrapolate from every martial art we need in reality. Here we are not in a movie set, what we do is real.

Then even with your weapons you can fight well, do not you?

Yes, right! But I'll tell her more. Our fight program is divided into two distinct real scenarios.

Excuse me, can you better explain to the readers what you mean?

Of course! In the first scenario, the operator is in flight and escape. So it is a captured and stripped operator of everything. Thus, he has to react to a threat but without the equipment on him; in the second scenario, and it is the 99,9% of the cases, the operator is to have all the equipment on it. This means that between bulletproof vest, weapons and backpack has a variable weight that swings from 20 to 35 kg.

Now it's clear. It changes a lot in fact.

Of course, the kind of struggle suffers. Landing with a backpack can create stability problems if you are not prepared properly and mobility is also not fluid.

What type of athletic training you use to be at the most of your physical condition?

We rely on athletic training models developed by specialized companies that deal with the highest levels of athletic improvement and performance in the professional world.

They have also developed an area that is the Tactical Training System. I'm an athletic trainer in one of these companies and I specialize in athletic training for Special Forces.

If in January we take a sprinter who has the race in June, he can enjoy specific athletic training month by month and detailed according to the race itself. It has a well-defined time frame. In the case of a raider we speak of a tactical athlete, who must be ready at any time. At this point the preparation itself must be adequate. A training protocol has been created and defined which we use with great success.

Times have changed and the knife is increasingly used in aggression. According to your experience, how long is the blade on average?

It depends on culture. It goes from long blades in use in certain African countries to certain middle blades of some Middle East countries. To relatively small blades in other countries. We do not have a real statistic, because then it can happen that in a given context we find recovery weapons that would not even be those of local use. However, we never find it unprepared, because we document it before.

Now Massimo is positioned in the center of the gym and begins with the standard sequence of heating exercises. It is an important factor because, given the level of training and professional preparation needed to be part of the body of the incursors, they can not afford to hurt the muscle tissue, but above all they must have the maximum physical elasticity for operational use. With great agility Maxi moves from one exercise to the next, increasing the pace more and more. The gym is a bakery! Now all the incursors are getting ready.

A real discovery is the possibility of performing physical fitness exercises in autonomy, even in the hardest operating theaters, using specific equipment that is easily transportable and which are part of the standard trim kit, such as a PVC tube of 10 centimeter diameter used for myofascial release exercises. Try thinking of a forced march up and down for the mountains in Afghanistan with a backpack of 35 kg. Obviously, they must absolutely maintain the maximum physical fitness to be able to return to the base quickly. Here's when they can use the tube as a compressor roller, which is then passed over to the muscular node that needs to be loosened. They also include a rubber ball for foot massage.

Now they get up and get ready for the fight. What I see is very effective. For reasons of secrecy I find myself unable to describe in detail the moves, but I guarantee their effectiveness, because I have a martial preparation that allows me to appreciate the "finesse" combatives running. It's not a nice style to look but definitely suitable for purpose. The gym is getting hotter and the air is now irrespirable, yet the raiders continue to struggle proving they have a physical resistance that goes far beyond normal. From barefoot fighting with levers and shots, it goes to the arms.

Massimo pauses for a moment and tells me that all the techniques he is about to execute are designed to neutralize, in an operational phase, a person in a restricted environment. This particular, for those who do not know it, is of paramount importance because the maneuver space is bone-borne and the techniques must be performed perfection in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. In a trained person, reaction times to a sudden threat with weapon extraction are about 1,50 seconds. With pointed weapon it's 0,30 seconds with finger at jumper. If the distance is less than two meters and you do not have the weapon in the shooting position, you should react barefoot because a straight punch from a highly trained person has a reaction of 0,15 seconds and travels at the maximum speed of 7,10 m / sec with an impact of 700 kg.

The first scenario includes breaking into a room and disarming bare hands of the armed knife aggressor. The action in its simplicity has proved to be all its effectiveness since the incursor is not backed by one millimeter from its position. Speed, power, and determination are the constant of all the techniques that make Massimo see with the help of various incursors. Other scenario, knife attack defense using the knife provided as a defensive weapon. Even in this case and so much to complicate my life I asked to delimit a corridor of a maximum width of one meter. Against each other, face to face, no possibility of interpretive error. 1 angle bracket (neck base dx) worn with mid-length white weapon, simultaneous crawler parade-attack. In reality, with this execution he would have wounded the aggressor's arm with a slider. Very technical demonstration and executed in absolute silence.

Maximus asks me if I have any special request. Needless to miss the opportunity: I ask you to see how he is defending when he has his arms occupied, perhaps while he is safely holding a baby and he has no time to put his arms or he has a jammed weapon. She nods and prepares. Part Demonstration: The opponent receives a kick of Muay Thai and ends up on the ground. The execution of the technique highlights the good preparation of the cunning.

It is very interesting that the techniques are carried out with the complete equipment apart from the backpack. However, we speak of a considerable weight. This denotes that the mix martial maneuvered by the 17 ° Stormo incursors, which is very effective for the purpose and nothing has been left to chance.

I greet everyone and I start escorting an officer to the Room Briefing of the Operations Group headed for the aurora Francesco Cargnel (silver medal for military value) also called Sala dei Ricordi, for the last meeting with the commander. Within, I look around and know with pleasure that they give the right value to tradition and memories. It is important because it keeps the Body spirit alive. The room was equipped for a static exhibition of equipment and equipment provided at the 17 ° Stormo Incursori, with the clear purpose of highlighting operational capabilities with connotation clearly Air, the department's specialists, who are entering and enriching the range of operational capabilities expressible by the National Special Forces sector. All the synthesis of what was defined as the SOALI doctrine (Special Operations Air to Land Integration) that frames the Earth's component of the Special Forces AM, as a force multiplier of expressive power by the Armed Forces in real operations. Colonel Fiore illustrates the technology they use in the different types of mission by describing together with a JTAC qualified officer their function and the importance each piece has to cover for its operational capabilities that are operable. Very interesting topic but for obvious reasons of confidentiality can not be described in detail.

The visit turns to the end. When I emerge from the Sala dei Ricordi, the incursors seen at the gym. I kindly came to greet you. They are professionals engaged daily in the service of the country. They are the incubators of the 17 ° Flock!

"Sufficit animus!", Boys. I've traveled 600 km to see you at work, but it was really worth it.

(photo: Sandro Martinelli)