Giampiero Monti, 1 marshal, lgt parachutist, class' 66, enlisted in May 1984 at the Viterbo junior high school, this year celebrates his first thirty years of military career. For about twenty years he was in the Folgore Paratroop Brigade, and then served, from the 2009, at the military office of the Italian Embassy in Washington USA.
He has participated in several missions: "Ibis" in Somalia in 1993, "Enduring Freedom" in Kosovo in 1999 and 2001, "Decisive Endevour" in Kosovo in 2003, "Nile" in Sudan in 2005. He is currently on EUTM Somalia mission in Mogadishu. It is a highly decorated one, among which we remember the silver medal for military valor and the gold medal as a victim of terrorism (for the weapons events of 2 July 1993 Check Point PASTA in Mogadishu).
Marshal, his was an intense career, what motivated her to enter the military world and what motivated her to stay there?
In my family I was the seventh of ten children, since the age of 10 years I began to keep my bed tidy, my little space inside the closet shared with the brothers and sisters. I have always respected the rules. When I arrived at the age of 16 years, during high school, I saw a poster inside the school, where it was written "Enlist volunteers at the school for non-commissioned officers". I immediately felt an uncontrollable emotion, my heartbeat accelerated, I told myself this would be my way. I went back home and talked immediately with my parents, who were amazed at my choice, as in my family no one has ever approached the FF.AA. including grandparents. Enrolled in 17 years, day after day the passion for the uniform grew in me, this world is my world. Discipline, rules, respect, honor, brotherhood and loyalty are the codes of my DNA. After being wounded in Somalia, they offered me the reform, obviously I did not accept, for me it would have been like dying.
Everyone knows what happened during the battle of Check Point Pasta in Mogadishu in 1993, few perhaps know what were the emotions experienced at that time, except for those who lived them. Would you like to describe them?
That day, we broke a spell, we were there to help not to invade. We have been providing humanitarian aid for months, we have built schools, offices and we have received good service. That day for me, I reached the peak of being a soldier, in a fraction of a second I had to decide whether to shoot or throw the weapon, I decided to fight because I'm a soldier, offense equal defense and I have defended. You can not describe some sensations because they are so strong and invasive that you can not control them.
You imagine yourself as a Rambo always ready for action - and so must be in the operational sphere - but I imagine you also have a human side, with joys and sorrows like everyone else. How do you manage to reconcile both aspects, or one excludes the other?
Being a soldier means sacrificing one's own life unconditionally for the country. We know we have to put our lives at risk, and we are subject to rules that often may appear "excessive", but we respect them, we all love to proudly show our tricolor outside Italy, we are proud to be Italian.
We carry out our daily training activities because we must always be ready for an eventual call, today the Armed Forces have highly technological means and tools and being trained is the least we can do.
Rules and discipline, what do they mean for you? Everyone could be brought or is it a lifestyle only for some privileged?
Rules and discipline are the basis of respect, first of all for oneself. Not everyone is led to respect for the rules but, as life teaches, those who do not respect, first of all, are not respected and there is never a happy ending for them.
Can the restoration of military service be of benefit to young people? Many are now the barracks that are abandoned, the enlistments are only volunteers, how could it be reinserted?
Many barracks are abandoned not because we have suspended the lever, but because, as we know, in the years 90 with the end of the Cold War the need has been reduced. In my professional experience I have been able to work with the lever, with the mixed system and now with the professional one. There are advantages and disadvantages in all the formulas. Of course, with the suspension of the lever, we have taken away the possibility for generations of young people to know a different world from the one they were used to, depriving them of an important experience away from home. It is serious to see young people without ideals, often selfish, totally disinterested in the common good, attentive only to play station technologies, cell phones and more, I like, instead, listen to our fathers as they look forward to the beautiful times of the service .
Marshal Monti, she is a highly decorated. If you remember her feeling when she received her first medal, her first recognition? What does it mean to receive a medal?
A motive of pride, pride but at the same time a burden, representing a high decoration like mine means always showing impeccable, setting an example, being at all times a point of reference for the youngest and, why not also for the elderly can only be a source of pride.
We live in a historical period in which values have faded, there is confusion, the concept of Homeland seems to have become abstraction - unless we talk about football - it becomes increasingly difficult to recognize oneself in something and have an ideal. What do you think?
Also in this regard, with the military service, we tried to convey values, the same values with which our fathers made Italy a nation.
Thirty years of membership are not few, it could be considered a second successful marriage. Have you ever had second thoughts? Would you come back would do something different?
No rethinking, I would do another thirty in order to transmit those values we are talking about.
I would do everything again, I would not do anything different because what I have done is recognized to me in the right way.
Is there an anecdote of his career that he is fond of and would like to share?
The 20 February 1986 my first launch on CH47, very excited for the first launch, just 18 years, I shared the moments with my brothers of course, all morning in Tassignano (Lucca) to joke and tell the emotion between us. In particular there was a Lecce (future bersagliere who had to do only three launches for qualification), to which I was very fond, said he could not wait and made fun of those who hesitated. Climbed on the CH47, I was the third in a row, just sitting I watched with admiration, through the open ramp of the helicopter, the ground that went away, after about three minutes "standing" I got up, the "Lecce" in front of me turns and he winks at me. 500 meters of altitude, make us hook the tie rope, pass the seconds and I can not wait to jump, give the go, the first goes away, the second (the Lecce) does not move, I shout "aoooooo movete "But nothing, it was with a glance in the void, just him who shook the others, another two three seconds and the launch was canceled, I began to push it forward until it came from the DL (launch director) that gives him a pat left leg, at that moment he recovers and jumps, and I immediately after him.
At the return of the parachute approached me and says thank you "without your help I would not have jumped", I answer "now, however, you put before everyone and start to pump singing ... I'm not worthy of you".
Monica Palermo
