Open letter to the general Nicolò Manca opposed to military unions

19/01/19

Good morning General. I will speak frankly as I always have, especially with her who has always made her a workhorse of frankness. We have been united in the sword defense of the bases in Sardinia and this has often seen us together even on public occasions and I acknowledge this and thank you. Allow me, however, to express my absolute opposition to your thoughts on military unions!

I read her recently article on Online Defense and I don't even agree with commas. His thought on this issue, allow me a joke, risks being placed in a century that is no longer made of horses and bayonets where certain arguments were not only shared but even necessary because of the very structure of the military instrument. Today it is no longer so fortunately and the military union is the result of historical battles started in the streets in '75 by the democratic military movement to restore dignity to workers with stars up to those years harassed by a military system that did not even have hours of service , he paid very badly and the conditions in the bases and barracks were very bad for an infinity of things that I am not here to list.

The military union is the result of a ruling by the Constitutional Court of our Republic, the result of appeals in Strasbourg and indications of the European Union and not a whim of a 5-star minister as you argue in your article.

It is the result of the request of most of the men in uniform who no longer recognize themselves in a Bourbon military system that only wants to command and control everything. Today's military is educated, graduated and highly specialized inserted in a modern society that runs at the speed of light.

The military union is not a limit but an added value to improve military institutions with the contribution of new ideas, new life and good practices. It has been shown that the general staffs reach a certain point in dealing with the well-being of the personnel, which today more than yesterday is the most important resource of defense, and where the general staff does not arrive today the union, made up of soldiers on duty, enters to contribute also through political and media pressure to improve life in the bases and barracks. The commanders, contrary to what you say, do not reach everywhere and have enormous disciplinary and also financial limits.

Today it is up to a third party, free and democratic, to lend a hand to improve the conditions of military personnel and to ensure that these conditions are suitable for guaranteeing the operation of the military instrument. In fact, this last aspect affects everyone and not just the general staffs since the armed forces are citizens and the military are citizens in turn at the service of citizens.

The time has come to open up to change and avoid unnecessary resistance since these can only exacerbate the climate and open a warm front that risks ideologically dividing military personnel and higher states.

The military union is for everyone! Also for the general staffs because where the military leaders do not arrive, the unions can arrive through politics, mediation and the press. These are the armed forces of today and of the future wanted by the Consulta. Armed forces that embrace their workers and work with them through legally recognized tools, with all the guarantees of the law such as trade unions.

Always with respect and affection

Antonsergio Belfiori (Promoter of the Committee for the establishment of the SIAM - Military Aeronautical Union)

   

I do not agree. In all this there is only talk about politics policy. For those who want to do politics is fine, but not for me. If I had thought otherwise I would have left the uniform and I would have gone to politics. The fact remains that some military jackpits even if it does not seem to influence and like things.

However, our respectable opinions affect only the two of us, but I confess that I delude myself that among the 20.000 readers of my page on the first day of Online Defense a good (?) Number you think like me.

Gen. Nicolò Manca

Photo: US Army