The dense darkness, the icy wind, the smell of rain you breathe deeply. The paratroopers of nimbus they slip into silence and disappear in the dark. Only the rustling of camouflage on the leaves and on the branches suggests that the command post of the 20ma company Puma is near.
Absolutely nothing, far from the hectic life of everyday life, we are planning the conquest of an enemy repeater that is just over 10 km. The site is guarded by a platoon of hostile forces, militias ready for everything. These men move in the dark, in the rain, finding shelter in the most prohibitive conditions imaginable. The darkness envelops the operation in total anonymity. We walk for six kilometers when we see the target that will be attacked at dawn.
Our only certainty? Uncertainty.
Although the COMFOSE (Special Forces Command) has given orders to the 183esimo RRAO to send detailed information on the forces and the ground surrounding the repeater, the situation remains tense. The shooters chosen are invisible but ready. The silent but present explorers. There thunderbolt once again it is ready to dart the target: rapid, silent and implacable.
The exercise Mangusta 2015, the most important exercise that sees the paratroopers of the thunderbolt on national soil, it is in full swing and could not have been more successful than that. This year the event touched on theOverbooking, engaging not only our parà, but also involving American colleagues based in Vicenza and a large number of other Italian regiments. In the chaos of the gray-green crowd that took part in the hypothetical crisis scenario this year Online Defense was invited to closely monitor the conduct of a tactical action directly in the field. And that I was a woman, one of the few to be authorized over the years to follow the exercise as an observer, is an irrelevant detail.
In the remote state of Tytan the armed forces are preparing for war. The State of Kamon, bordering on that of Tytan, has repeatedly crossed the border with its militias to reach the huge energy resources. The United Nations, having failed all the diplomatic proposals, decided to approve a resolution allowing the sending of troops that could stand between the regular forces of Tytan and those illegitimately present in Kamon. Tytan and Kamon are names of pure fantasy, but this is the scenario that NATO analysts have decided to contextualize the Mangusta 2015 exercise.
In this hypothetical scenario with high realism, the thunderbolt is called upon to exercise its role as a bridgehead for the secondary input of larger and "heavier" forces. That parachutist is in fact considered a specialty of light infantry capable of being readily used in different ways and situations. The first goal of the Mongoose it was the airport located in an area close to that of operation. In this area, if it were considered safe, the bulk of the forces deployed by the brigade would arrive by airborne and take possession of theentry point for the infiltration of the subsequent national assets into the area of operation.
The tension that comes from such a delicate role is perceived as soon as you set foot in the command post, located in the area of Pian del Lago, just outside Siena. Training on the ground, planning and attention to detail are not only the basis of the paratrooper's work, but allow the children to mix the assets and correct any problems that could present the bill in a true out-of-area operation. Given the pioneering role of the thunderbolt in every future theater it is good that these men and women are prepared even beyond what is due. The night passes quietly. In the distance we hear the voice of civilization, unaware of what is happening just a few kilometers away. I don't even have time to think about what it is experiencing when it starts to dawn. We are preparing for the last march of 4 km before reaching the goal.
During the night, the soldiers of the objective acquisition department work quietly to transmit information. Far several kilometers, the command post of the Nembo Task Force, holds its breath. Despite the need to be invisible and silent, the highlights of the mission are reviewed. One false step and it would be the end.
As per the guerrilla manual, the entire perimeter of the area to be acquired was mined with practically invisible booby traps. To prevent these traps from exploding during advancement, the EOD structures of the 8 regiment of genius are also present in the nuclei that begin the advancement. On our side we have the favor of numbers: the ratio is of three soldiers of the thunderbolt for every enemy.
The assault has begun. They are agitated minutes, after the first shot exploded behind the lens, the chaos is total. The assault starts in three different directions after erecting a smokescreen: the encirclement of the counterpart is inevitable. The firepower of the company is guaranteed by the supplied ARX: each paratrooper is equipped with 7 loaders from 30 shots. Each platoon was supported by machine gun fire. Every shot fired is deafened. The screams of the commanders mingle with those of the soldiers.
After ten minutes it's all over. Once the target has been conquered, the surrounding area is secured, but the enemy, probably still clouded by the adrenaline of the assault, has yet another offensive in store. Two mortars positioned on the adjacent hills open fire on the newly conquered position: the EOD cores and all the safety belts are forced to fall back on the nearby wood. Observers and journalists included.
Mortar shells were a huge auditory and psychological shock. The adrenaline was almost gone. I relaxed my muscles and started thinking about what would happen next. That deafening roar, however, shocked us. We have to run. Only now do I understand that the work of the parachutist goes far beyond that of launching with a parachute on an unexplored area. It is a work of fine cold blood, of constant attention, a state of alert that only vanishes (perhaps) when you set foot back at the base or directly at home with your family.
Once the objective is taken, the work is just at the beginning, because the enemy, in an asymmetrical context like the modern one, does not sleep at night to study how to destroy the counterpart, that is us. Even during the evacuation of the alleged wounded, enemy militias engage in a firefight to neutralize the JTAC and the medical personnel who are providing first aid. Then I remember that the Geneva Convention in some places do not even know what it is, let alone put it into practice.
While the AB205 led by the staff of the AVES regiment of Ravenna, takes away the wounded, the A129 Mongoose makes its swiveling cannon thunder to saturate the area. The Mongoose it is a machine with a refined thin and versatile livery. The roar of his gust against the approaching enemy has the sound of security coming from above. Even after the extraction of the wounded, the A129 continues to fly over the area in search of possible enemies.
With the sound of the A129 moving away towards new horizons, my adventure with the ends thunderbolt exercise Mangusta 2015. This tutorial, as was the case Swift Responce and currently the Trident Juncture, aims to test the procedures of use of the brigade thunderbolt, in light of the development of the new capabilities of the Italian Army, as NATO's rapid intervention force.
Only by excelling in high realism scenarios like this are good soldiers forged thunderbolt as a good soldier he made History.
(photo of the author)
