To the students, coming from all parts of Italy, the minister applauded for having overcome the difficult selection of entry to the School, to which more than 7400 boys competed: "represent the excellence of a cultural selection and morality more and more vigilant and rigorous ".
"You are very young and you are our future - said the Minister - on your look I find all the energy and courage necessary to accept the challenge you face".
Recalling the formula of the oath - "I swear to be faithful to the Italian Republic, to observe its Constitution and laws and to fulfill all the duties of my state for the defense of the Fatherland and the safeguarding of free institutions with discipline and honor" - the Minister highlighted the value of the words contained in it.
“Italian Republic, Constitution, discipline, honor, freedom. These are all precious words. If there was a way to do this, I'd say they should all be pronounced with a capital letter. It is nice - he added - that it is you, so young, who give it a new polish. These are words that commit you to the institutions and, above all, to yourselves, in a life project that does not only concern your professional future ".
In his speech the minister also recalled the marshals of 1 ^ class Giuliano Velardi and Giuseppe Buttaglieri, both Gold Medal for Military Valor, who died in September of the 1992 during a humanitarian mission. The other two crew members, Lieutenant Colonel Marco Betti and Captain Marco Rigliaco also lost their lives with them.
Among the most significant moments of the ceremony - which took part in the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, general of air squad Pasquale Preziosa, the commander of the ISMA, gen. by Gian Franco Camperi, the mayor of Viterbo Leonardo Michelini, the vicar general of the Bishop of Viterbo, don Luigi Fabbri and the president of the administration of the province of Viterbo, Marcello Meroi - reading the formula of the oath, the blessing and delivery of the pennant symbol of the Course.
The majority of the students of the "Thunor" course - 89 of which 17 women - attend the three-year degree courses in political science and international relations at the University of Tuscia; another six follow the nursing courses at the Viterbo branch of the "La Sapienza" University of Rome.
Source: Ministry of Defense
