The lighting of the tripod in the Magistrate Square in San Candido in Pusteria officially started the 71 ^ edition of the Alpine Troops Ski Championships. Present at the ceremony the Minister of Defense, Dr. Elisabetta Trenta, accompanied by the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Armed Forces Salvatore Farina, the president of the regional council Roberto Paccher, the government commissioner of Bolzano dott. Vito Cusumano and the mayors of the four municipalities hosting the event.
Born in the 1931 to evaluate the training of mountain soldiers, the CaSTA have evolved over time to become an important training moment and an opportunity to share mountain climbing techniques with an ever-closer look at safety, which, in the 2019 edition , will see committed over 2000 military; in this context the platoon of the 7 ° alpine regiment of Belluno aims to win for the third consecutive year the prestigious Buffa Trophy.
"Today, like yesterday, men and women in uniform stand up for the safeguard of the indispensable values of democracy and freedom; the CaSTA are a competition that demonstrates the collective values referred to the survival, mobility and operational efficiency of entire units in the mountain environment, combining them to the sporting component and the maintenance of the physical form, which are fundamental principles of the life of a soldier ", stressed the Minister of Defense in his speech.
The Army Chief of Staff in speaking to the military deployed recalled that being alpine finds its essence in facing the challenges of the soldier in a highly prohibitive environment, but at the same time a real school of life capable of tempering the body and especially the character. The single combatant, the man, is the center of the Armed Force and this is confirmed here, in the mountains, where technological innovations and materials can be a valid aid, as is the "safe soldier" project to which, together at the Defense Summit, the Army is dedicating energy and resources to implement more and more the skills and security of the individual man and of the Units in a dual key.
"The different races and the two scheduled exercises - highlighted the commander of the Alpine troops in his speech - they summarize the training of the various Alpine units and the acquired skills to operate in the relief phase, as part of a system that employs different tools and subjects in a common effort always inspired by the safeguard of the population in difficulty ".
In fact, not only Italian soldiers compete in the Veneto and Alto Adige mountains, in fact 10 are the foreign delegations present at the Championships, some of which have been present for years, others flowed for the first time like Kazakhstan.
