The handover ceremony between the Italian and US Armed Forces at the helm of the Task Force took place yesterday Praesidium in the mission in Iraq.
The event was attended by the Ambassador of Italy to Iraq Bruno Antonio Pasquino and Brigadier General Nicola Terzano, commander of the National Contingent and director of training of the Coalition in Iraq.
Lieutenant Colonel Vincenzo Leone, battalion commander of the 187th "Folgore" parachute regiment, handed over the deliveries to Captain Joseph A. Kinsey, commander of the battery Charlie of the 1 ° battalion of the 161 ° regiment of the United States Army, exchanging a warm handshake.
During the interventions of the Italian authorities, thanks emerged for the extraordinary work of integration with the Iraqi security forces, achieving excellent results in terms of security, stabilization of the area and the support necessary for the regular development of the consolidation works of the dam. Mosul.
Following the awarding of the work to secure the Mosul dam by an Italian company, the Government decided to deploy a Task Force to protect the dam and staff of the company. This contribution took place in agreement with the Iraqi authorities.
The dam is an infrastructure of strategic importance for Iraq, serving to supply water to hundreds of thousands of people living in the surrounding regions. A collapse of the dam would have put the lives of these people in serious danger, and would have compromised the development and economy of the whole area, as well as causing serious environmental damage. The dam is extremely important for the economy and the political order of the area. From this we can easily understand how it is a fundamental element for the development of the territory as well as strategic in the normalization process of Iraq.
The Task Force Praesidium on a mission to Iraq, was born in 2016 after the awarding of works to secure the dam of Mosul by an Italian company, Trevi SpA
In the various years, the contingents, departments and commanders who took turns in feeding the Task Force were:
• 6th Bersaglieri Regiment - col. Piccirillo - from 21.09.2016 to 24.02.2017
• 1st Bersaglieri Regiment - col. Iorio - from 25.02.2017 to 13.08.2017
• 3rd alpine regiment - col. Piasente - from 14.08.2017 to 14.02.2018
• 151st infantry regiment - col. Settesoldi - from 15.02.2018 to 22.07.2018
• 82nd infantry regiment - ten. with the. Carbonetti - from 23.07.2018 to 25.12.2018
• 187th parachute regiment - ten. with the. Leone - from 26.12.2018 to 28.02.2019
