Yesterday morning the ceremony took place to replace the position of Army Chief of Staff between Lieutenant General Pietro Serino and his peer Carmine Masiello.
The passage of Flag of War of the Army among the generals officially sanctioned the rotation in the presence of the Minister of Defense, the Hon. Guido Crosetto, of the Undersecretaries of State for Defense, Hon. Matteo Perego of Cremnago and sen. Isabella Rauti, and the chief of defense staff, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. Several hundred military and civilian guests were in the stands.
General Serino's three-year term was a key period for the Italian Army: the global conflict which entered its third year a few days ago has provided Italians with such awareness that the fairy tales about the (distorted) "dual use", the "end" of the era of symmetric wars and - above all - the model cowardly of the armed forces were surpassed.
For just a few days, in three years, the Army Chief of Staff did not lead the armed force under three different governments: a real fortune for an Italian officer who in a 46-year career has passed under 35 governments...
As experience shows, the chief of staff is a point of reference for his men, but almost never relevant regarding the concrete choices to be made for the benefit of the armed force.
Does this burden rest with the hiccups of traditional national politics? Letting you listen the words of the minister Crosetto we leave the conclusions to you. Given the minister's frankness, ability and preparation, a year and a half into office, we trust that sooner or later he will begin to regularly answer questions from the press (some colleagues will not take advantage of "inappropriate" events for questions).
General Masiello, knowing that they certainly don't have the comfortable prestige of the Defense Industry at their disposal, placed emphasis on the activity with the best cost/effectiveness ratio: theTraining. As (awake!) citizens we already appreciate the first words.
Good vision!
Images: Online Defense
