Lorenzo Petrini, however, arrives at this result after a difficult path, during which he put all his willpower into play, to overcome an obstacle that seemed insuperable. In fact, our officer, after being selected as a pilot student in 2011, and sent to Florida to attend the preliminary indoctrination and pilot training course, had an accident in which he suffered a cervical fracture of the first two vertebrae.
Completely paralyzed from the neck down, the doctors who treated him immediately put him in front of the harsh reality: only the 1% of people with the same type of fracture can recover all the features. The young officer, however, was not discouraged and began to face with determination all the difficult stages of the therapeutic path for the return to a normal life.
A path that began with a delicate intervention for the positioning of a complex thoracic corset (halo brace), a long hospital stay (seven months), moments in which the fear of not making it was felt and, in all this, the young pilot is not never lacked the support of family members, friends and the entire Armed Force.
After 6 months of intense physiotherapy, Pietrini was transferred to the Naval Academy as an official suborder to the students of the normal courses, then he embarked in Augusta where he took part in the Mare Nostrum mission and obtained the qualification to the guard on the operational bridge.
Finally in June, 2014 returned to the United States to complete his training in Corpus Christi.
On December 19, 2014, this incredible adventure ended with the well-deserved "Wings Of Gold" affixed to the officer's chest. Next stop: Sigonella, where he will become part of the flight crews of Atlantic Mk1 maritime patrol aircraft.
Source: Military Navy
