On Wednesday 7 December, in the suggestive Aula Magna of the Institute of Aeronautical Military Sciences (ISMA) in Florence, 37 young students of the 1st course of the "Giulio Douhet" Military Aeronautical School received the small sword, symbol of belonging to the School and to the 'Air Force.
The ceremony, presided over by the commander of the Institute of Aeronautical Military Sciences, air brigade general Urbano Floreani, was opened by the intervention of col. Massimiliano Macioce, commander of the Douhet who, greeting the parents of the students, highlighted the extraordinary nature of these boys "who have made a courageous choice by giving up domestic comforts and who are animated by an uncommon motivation".
Addressing the students directly, Col. Macioce urged them to be proud of the first results achieved and to persevere and aspire to even greater goals: "it is the whole of Italy that asks you!"
After his speech, Col. Macioce then invited sergeant major Paolo Pizzo, speaker of the ceremony, to take the stage for his speech.
“Having the courage to face every challenge, head held high but with the humility of knowing how to ask for help from those around us: teammate, colleague, family. Discipline as the main way to get up when life seems to want to bring us to our knees." With these words Sergeant Major Pizzo, fencer of the Italian Air Force and National Team wanted to encourage Douhet's young students not to give up in the face of the small and large obstacles they will have to face on their way.
Pizzo, two-time world champion in the epee specialty (in 2011 and 2017) and silver medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the team epee, then recalled how as an athlete and soldier of the Arma Azzurra he is proud of to be at the service of the country and invited the boys and girls who were preparing to take up the sword to make the values represented by the tricolor their own.
Following this, General Floreani, addressing the students, underlined that: "the challenge is with yourselves and not between you, if you understand that collaboration will help you overcome personal limits, you will be able to go far overcoming all obstacles" and then “don't allow the search to demonstrate your value to yourself to be stronger than compliance with the rule, learn to behave well even when no one is watching you, or you think that no one is watching you, integrity is not a negotiable value.”
The ceremony continued with the awarding of scholarships, donated by Associations, Organizations and families who have always been linked to the School, to the students who most distinguished themselves for curricular, disciplinary and sporting merits achieved in the previous school year.
This was followed by the most significant moment of the day, the delivery of the "sword" to the students of the 1st course, incorporated last 5 September: the students in the second year of education in fact personally handed over to each student of the 1st course the coveted sword. An ideal handover of the School's traditions and a symbol of the values and principles of the Institute and the Air Force.
The small sword originates from an ancient seafaring tradition: it was in fact a short weapon created for young officers who, on board naval units, could not easily perform their service using the long standard cutlass. Over time the small sword therefore became synonymous with "young" or "pupil", spreading as a tradition also among other weapons.
The "Giulio Douhet" Military Aeronautical School (inaugurated in 2006), as well as the other Military Schools (Nunziatella of Naples, Teulié of Milan and Morosini of Venice), is a secondary school institution, which carries out the courses of the second three-year course in the classical and scientific fields, which can be accessed by public competition.
From 5 September 2022 there are 102 students (53 female) distributed as follows: 35 students of the course Sirio, who are attending the third year (18 of the classical high school and 17 of the scientific one), 30 students of the course Taurus, in the second year (13 from the classical high school and 17 from the scientific high school) and 37 first-year students (18 from the classical high school and 19 from the scientific high school).
