The inauguration ceremony of the new climbing wall created by the Task Force mountain troops was held at the Mosul Dam site, in the presence of numerous representatives of the local military and Coalition components Praesidium.
The ceremony was presided over by the commander of the Inter-operative Summit Command, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, accompanied by the commander of the Italian contingent and deputy commanding general for training at Combined Joint Force Land Component Command - Operation Inherent Resolve, Brigadier General Francesco Maria Ceravolo.
The realization of the training plexus stems from the interest that the Kurdish-Iraqi Security Forces operating in the dam area showed towards the operational capabilities of the mountain troops, particularly suitable for an environment with orographic characteristics such as those found in the area surrounding the hydraulic infrastructure.
The training area, named "Monte Nero" in memory of the summit conquered by the 3 ° alpini in the First World War, is able to provide a wide range of useful elements for the mountain training of the students, and has been made safe and equipped with a via ferrata and with 12 climbing routes of varying difficulty up to the fifth degree, some of which are named after Kurdish soldiers who fell during clashes with ISIS.
Under the coordination of Kurdistan Training Coordination Center (KTCC), the Italian-led multinational training unit, will shortly allow the start of the first course of Mountain Warfare Basic Skills, carried out by Alpine instructors in favor of the Kommando Battalion of the Zaravani of the Kurd Security Forces.
Italy participates with the mission First Parthica, second contributor after the USA, to the operation Inherent Resolve to combat international terrorism: 1500 soldiers belonging to all the Armed Forces, employed in the Baghdad and Erbil offices in the training of the Kurdish Security Forces (Peshmerga) and Iraqis, and by ensuring to the entire Coalition, with an aircraft Task Group located at the Erbil airport, the ability to Personal Recovery (PR) throughout the northern quadrant of the Iraqi theater.
As part of this mission, the "Praesidium" Task Force, with its 500 men and women of the Italian Army, guarantees safety at the dam site where the Italian company Trevi Spa is working to secure the hydraulic infrastructure and avoid the risk of an environmental catastrophe.
