The Italians

The base I am on is a mix of service men and women from several different countries. The Majority of them are Italians. To be honest we have never had a very high opinion of our warriors from the land of Olive Oil and pasta. This is mostly because you never ever hear of them getting into a gunfight. It is like they take great pains in order to avoid any type of conflict. This of course is the exact opposite of our current operations. So you can see where some animosity might exist. However I broke on of my very important rules, I assumed. You know they aren't joining in the fight so you mistakenly assume it is because none of them want to fight. I have recently had my eyes open.

The Italian military hierarchy is not unlike the U.S. Military hierarchy. They are following orders passed down to them and directing their subordinate units accordingly. This is usually in conflict with what the subordinate units (the ones on the ground) wish to do and think should be done. These soldiers have as much pride in their job as I do but they are doing it with a much much smaller budget and alot less support from back home. As I recently discovered it is not quite the honor to serve in the Italian Military as it is to serve in the U.S. Military. There will be no flag waving upon their return home and there are not multiple care packages arriving in the mail. One of new friends even joked that his parents tell their friends that he is a police officer vice a soldier, this is hard for me to imagine.

Recently I was befriended by a group of Italian Special Forces soldiers. We had been to many of the same places and have been here about the same amount of time. They would always comment on their awe of the U.S. Military war machine in action. The assets we had available to us simply amazed them as well as our ability to utilize these assets so quickly. This is even down to the amount of ammo we have for training, and our PPE Personal Protective Equipment. Keep in mind this is the Special Forces for the Italian Military so they have it quite a bit better than the rest or their counterparts. These soldiers have trained just as hard for just as long as I have and were very excited to implement their training against the enemy, instead all they encountered was roadblocks established by their government and military. They expressed their embarassment at having to sit inside of a firebase as they listened to a gunfight ensuing not 5 miles away. I have been in similar situations and it is maddening. The difference is I always knew that my time was coming, they however knew that their time was not. They knew that they would continue to hear the war stories from the Americans, the celebration after the fight. So I have now realized that they are no different than me. They want to come over here, do the right thing, and return with honor. So I would like to think my Italian friends for opening my eyes to this and I would like to apologize for my erroneous assumptions.

I hope they get home soon to their families, have a home cooked meal, drink some real wine, and have lots of sex with their wives and girlfriends. As much as I will miss them I truly hope that this happens for them soon. But they are flying back on Italian aircraft so probably not.

M