In the dictionary of the Italian language the term "hazing" is defined as follows: "In military life, the behavior of soldiers close to leave, who claim to exercise authority sometimes tyrannical and oppressive towards the recruits, by virtue of an alleged power deriving from seniority". It is clear, the description does not make a wrinkle, but behind the problem of "hazing" there is a vast world that crosses the boundaries of the military environment. In fact, we must not forget that this kind of harassment, or the exercise of authority by older people on the younger ones, still exists in the workplace, in certain sports and even academic groups.
For anyone accessing for the first time in a new group, where there are already elements with more experience and years of service, there is always a sort of entrance ritual that can vary from simple " the last arrived pay for all "up to more unpleasant and humiliating cases of taxation. The various episodes of violence linked to American university confraternities are known to the news, or more simply the penitences of the "primini" in high schools and initiation rites in a sporting context. The "hazing" is therefore a movement of abuse, not only military, which lasts for a limited time and not for its own sake since it is handed down: it is a fact that the young man once he becomes an elderly can - to his conscience - infinitely multiply the foolishness of such practice.
Behind the walls of a barracks this transition was sanctioned by the so-called "passage of the cue" through which the dismissal band, next to abandon the uniform, entrusted the "burden" of the naja to the next echelon. The much contested episodes of prevarication occurred obviously once the recruit ended the month of training at CAR (the old Recruiting Training Centers) where he had already tasted the legitimate authority of the instructor corporals with whom, in some cases, it could even become friends. Once the Scaglione brothers had left, they would arrive at the destination ward which could be operational and not operational, and the old ones were waiting for them.
In the first place it is good to remember that the problem of the hazing was not the prerogative of the thunderbolt, but uniformly shared with other army departments. And to tell the truth there was still a very important difference that should not be underestimated: in the thunderbolt you went there voluntary, good or bad you knew to meet a peculiar environment, while in the Alps (popular as the paratroopers for the "sympathy" of "veci") we were sent to office. Once crossed the thresholds of the barracks began a path that for many was a new experience, for others a real ordeal, and this regardless of the relationship with the elderly. The military experience was a breaking point for a young man of 18 years in both a negative and a positive sense; some friendships made at the time of the naja remain indelible, like some values that today, for example, are completely missing. For some, however, the year of military was a real nightmare, and not just because of the hazing. The context in which the boys who had just abandoned the comforts of civil life were in themselves destabilizing, the elderly perceived this unease, but they did not always exploit it to make you feel even worse.
In the barracks the figure of the "grandfather" also had positive meanings, since for many it was the one who possessed the right coordinates to guide you in a new world full of pitfalls. Unfortunately, the dynamics of the herd were often overwhelming - they look good - they are not the same ones that amalgamate a military unit. The act of prevarication, in fact, was nevertheless one imprinting individual probably already inherent in the individual during his life as a "bourgeois": the officers or non-commissioned officers knew the problem, perhaps they underestimated or coexisted it, but we must be sure that they did not promote it unofficially. The judiciary will make clarity.
How could one defend himself rookie? The most common method was simply to put a good face to the stupid games that the "old" forced you, as long as these were not violent or too humiliating. Pumps, phrases to be repeated or songs to sing, blocks and breakouts, bending for the post or for an undesired statement were all seemingly harmless theaters for the use and enjoyment of the elderly.
The film by Marco Risi, "365 days at dawn", He reproduced quite faithfully what these" jokes "consisted of, even if in the film case they had a negative implication. In the film case the young Amendola decided not to bow to the orders of the "old", embarking on a personal battle that will lead him directly to the door of his direct superior, but without getting satisfaction.
This is a crucial issue that is also highlighted in the procedural documents of the Scieri case, namely the possible connivance between what happened and the senior officers of the thunderbolt. In principle, the officers were the most suitable persons to whom to turn if victims of acts of hazing, but we can not exclude that certain episodes were silenced for the good name of the department and to avoid trouble with the high hierarchies. We assume that the conscription concentrated in the young Italian barracks of every social background, some with positions already established, others of real human cases. This heterogeneity involved both the troops and the officers promoted thanks to the AUC (Official Complementary Cadets) competitions. The military discipline should have smoothed out any differences that existed on the social level, nevertheless it was not able to intervene on the character of the individual, indeed in some cases it emphasized the problems: in other words, no good trainer could transform a potential assassin into a good boy.
The episode of poor Scieri is first of all a crime committed by one or more criminals who have had the cowardice to hide behind an alleged "tradition" by throwing mud on their uniform and on the name of the department. We can not and do not want to imagine that a military institution has voluntarily covered such a shame: if that were the case it would be a very serious matter and those responsible should be condemned with exemplary penalties precisely because they are military. We must not fall into the trap of punishing a priori the "Folgore" or any other department of the army, it would be stupid and useless compared to an evolution that began just from the defense sector with the suspension of the naja and the transformation of the barracks in places in which professionals are trained and worked. Be careful not to dirty even what was the conscription: there are millions of Italian citizens who served under the arms, some doing it with conviction, others perhaps in a more skeptical way: however it is necessary to reflect on the fact that all, indiscriminately, have brought on top and with pride the flag of Italy in Lebanon and Somalia where, although they were surrounded by professionals, they never made the difference.
We hope that the sanction against those idiots (or single idiot) is not yet another excuse to point out the thunderbolt, but it serves as an example to all those that the nonnism goes on under other names, like the "bullying" that draws legitimation only from stupidity, from the boredom and from the total ineptitude in which a whole generation has fallen in search of identity. At least in this the naja offered something alternative, a starting point, changing the fate of people who otherwise, in civilian life would not find anything that reflected their beliefs.
(photo: web / US Army)
