The inauguration ceremony of the plaque dedicated to Jimmy, the dog of the Army canine unit, took place at the UNIFIL Sector West Command. General Paolo Fabbri, commander of UNIFIL's Sector West under the leadership of the Alpine brigade Julia, attended the ceremony, organized by the Helmets Blu del Combat Support Battalion at the Army cannon unit area at Shama base.
Jimmy, a Belgian Malinois shepherd, was an explosion-proof dog with several missions abroad including Afghanistan, Kosovo and Lebanon. The death, which occurred during a control operation on civilian vehicles entering the base of the Sector West Command, had taken everyone by surprise, generating despair and consternation for what was in effect considered an Army soldier by his fellow soldiers.
Hence the initiative of the canine unit of the Army present in Shama to name their area after the four-legged soldier and to donate a plaque in memory of Jimmy and his precious and irreplaceable contribution in protecting the lives of Italian soldiers to the abroad.
General Fabbri, paying homage to the quadruped, recalled the fundamental and indispensable role of dogs in guaranteeing the safety of military personnel on mission, especially for their ability to detect mines and improvised explosive devices placed in the areas at risk where Italian soldiers find themselves in operate.
The role and the abilities that quadrupeds guarantee during the operations abroad are the result of a long training course carried out in symbiosis with their human comrade with whom they spend their entire military career at the Military Veterinary Center of the Army in Grosseto . This training, based also on the assessment of the character and capacity of the dog, then allows him to learn how to identify and recognize explosive substances.
