I find it difficult to remain detached when attending ceremonies such as the "Day of Memory" dedicated to the fallen of the 9 ° Parachute Regiment of Assault "Col Moschin". Do you want the atmosphere full of history that you breathe at the BAI (Base Training Raiders) immersed in the green former presidential estate of San Rossore, but especially thanks to the family atmosphere with which you are welcomed, regardless of your membership or not the department. A wonderful day, also from the meteorological point of view, which has exalted the mass throwing ritual - this year composed of well-known 60 raiders - carried out by a C-130 of the 46a Aerobrigata of Pisa. Suddenly the sky is dotted with green or tricolor veils; a launch like that is not something for every day, also because the guys of 9 ° are used to more discrete flights, in a decidedly inferior number. But this is a different day, where the mass throwing symbolizes - as the commander Col. Inc. Paolo Attilio Fortezza - a moment of solemn union in a discipline proper to the raiders.
The fallen day is an unrepeatable opportunity for members of the ANIE - the National Association of Incursori Army - to gather the pillars of the regimental history. This year, as in the last edition, he renewed his presence with General Franco Angioni, accompanied by his colleagues, ex-commanding officers, General Costanzo Peter and General Franco Monticone. There are also the inevitable president Angelo Passafiume and the tireless Paolo Frediani who, corally to the members involved, recalled the fatigue and the inconvenience of the days when BAI had lived in a completely different way.
In addition to the relatives of the fallen, including MOVM's mother Stefano Paolicchi, there was the commander of the COI and deceased the general incisors Marco Bertolini and the commander of COMFOSE General Nicola Zanelli.
The religious ceremony, commissioned by a military chaplain of the Brigade "Folgore", was very touching, especially when the Corps undersecretary dictated the names of those who offered their life for the Homeland: every call, a "brother" responded with the word "present". The memory, however, must not lead to tears or regrets: those who no longer live each day in the hearts of their companions, who can not teach from their extreme sacrifice. Sadness must, in fact, leave room for the smile so as to grasp again, the gift that these people have disappeared make us alive, giving us a rare opportunity to reunite us all together.
For a few hours, the BAI (titled MOVM Ciro Scianna) has become a convivial place to talk amiably in front of a frugal, but substantial meal. After finishing the party, leaving the guests, the whole base has resumed its daily and unstoppable work. Every day, in this small military engineering masterpiece, whose foundation is swayed by the sweat of generations of saboteurs and incursors, extraordinary boys commit themselves to spasm to refine the department's preparation. Not only because it is precisely here that, without too much compliments, those who wish to indulge in "the eagle and the anchor" are selected.
Among these buildings, lashed by a constant sea breeze, there is no stone that has not been raised, split or placed by the hands of a saboteur before and then raid. This is their home, built with so much effort and humility by men like Giuseppe Vit, Giuliano Bellini and many others who, together, have first dug the land to house the sea. All proud representatives of a generation that has been able to instill, to the deserving successors, the knowledge, the same enthusiasm and love for the department.
(Article published courtesy of the commander of the 9 ° Allied Parachute Regiment "Col Moschin")
(photo: Viviana Cariola)
