The commander of Terrestrial Operations, general of the army corps Alberto Primicerj, greeted, at the barracks “P. Spaccamela ”in Udine, the personnel of the“ Julia ”- MLF alpine brigade, who returned from the“ Resolute Support ”(RS) operation in Afghanistan.
The "Julia" brigade, leading unit of the Italian Army in Afghanistan, led the "Train Advise Assist Command West" (TAAC-W), the NATO command based at HERAT. The TAAC - West expresses a new operational concept no longer focused on the combat function but based essentially on the support and training of the Afghan armed forces.
The ceremony, attended by the mayor of Udine, Professor Furio Honsell, the regional councilor for infrastructures, public works, mobility and territorial planning of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Mariagrazia Santoro, the regional councilor of the Veneto region for the policies of the Education, the right to study and school buildings, Elena Donazzan, has sealed the strong bond between the Institutions and the Army and, in particular, between the Alpine brigade "Julia" and the authorities of the regions in which the dependent regiments find their headquarters.
Brigadier General Risi expressed his thanks to his family in particular and with them, to “all the families, wives, husbands and children who have shared these months away with us. Without your contribution and your active participation, taking care of us, we would never have been able to fulfill our mission ”. He concluded by recalling all the fallen of the “Julia”: “we hope to have been worthy of their sacrifice and their example”.
The commander of the Alpine Troops, division general Federico Bonato, many former brigade commanders, the national banner of theNational Alpine Association decorated of well 209 medals for Military Valor, as well as all the ANA sections of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
For the brigade command "Julia", with Hungarian and Slovenian colleagues of the component Multinational Land Force (MLF), it was the seventh mission out of area, the fourth in Afghanistan, after Albania (2001) and Kosovo (2003 and 2005).
