MILITARY ATTACHE RODOLFO SGANGA EXPLAINS ARMY’S “ITALIAN WAY”

For our second program of the year on March 20, 2016 at Casa Italiana, AMHS was very pleased to have as our speaker the Military Attachè of the Embassy of Italy, Colonel Rodolfo Sganga, who looked familiar to those who came to our program in January 2015 when Major Elio Manes gave us a talk on the Bersaglieri.

At that time, Colonel Sganga offered to give a talk to us in the future. So we decided to take him up on his kind offer. Lucio D’Andrea, our unofficial liaison with the Embassy, reached out to Colonel Sganga, who kindly invited Lucio and me to meet with him at the Embassy. Lucio and I had a wonderful meeting with Colonel Sganga and his colleague Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Massimiliano Tallu who joined us for our program. And both of them brought their lovely families.

Colonel Sganga is originally from Varese in northern Italy and he was educated at the Accademia Militare in Modena, which you could say is the equivalent of our West Point, and also studied at the University of Trieste, the University of Torino and the United States Marine Corps University School of Advanced Warfare in Quantico, Virginia, where he received a Master’s degree in military studies and operational studies. The Italian Army’s history dates back to the 1850s and 1860s and the unification of Italy but Colonel Sganga’s focus was on more recent times, post-Cold War, when the Italian army has seen extensive peacekeeping service and combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.

That is something Colonel Sganga surely knows about very well. One of his prestigious assignments was as brigade commander of the Folgore Paratroopers Brigade, the 187-mo Reggimento Paracadutisti Folgore based in Livorno. La Folgore, which means “lightning”, is the airborne brigade of the Italian Army and is one of three light infantry brigades. Colonel Sganga participated in the Saber Junction 13 exercises in Vicenza in 2012 in which Italian paratroopers took part in multinational training exercises as one of 19 national contingents in preparation for the deployment to Iraq as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the global war on terrorism. During his career, Colonel Sganga served overseas in Kosovo and later in Afghanistan. Colonel Sganga forgot to mention this, but Google makes life so easy and so we were able to learn from his hometown newspaper in Varese that while in Farah, Afghanistan, one of the hot spots there, he was awarded the bronze cross and the silver cross for valor, for saving the life of a wounded soldier by pulling him to safety while their battalion came under heavy enemy fire.

Perhaps this is why Colonel Sganga has said “Yes, war is hell, always. However, there are a few stories in which humanity shows up in its best aspects, stories of incredible camaraderie, friendship and heroism which we have the duty to never forget. If we remember the tragedy of war, maybe we will avoid the next one.” Such wise words!! Colonel Sganga used a power point presentation and videos to illustrate his very informative talk on “the Italian way” as he explained what distinguishes the Italian military from the military of other countries. For one thing, there is an emphasis on using restraint instead of force, whenever possible. Also, there is the use of negotiating skills, and developing good relations with local forces and populations.

From personal experience, he told us how this was implemented in Farah, Afghanistan, and we saw the video that showed us Italian soldiers interacting with the Afghans, meeting with tribal elders, and airlifting supplies of food, water and medicine as well as ammunition. We also watched the Italian soldiers engaging in combat with the Taliban, and Colonel Sganga pointed out that one of the benefits of having good relations with the local population was that they are more willing to provide good intelligence. Colonel Sganga described the various stages in the recent development of the Italian Army which, like the U.S. Army, no longer consists of draftees; it is a volunteer army. He explained that during the shaping period, the Italian Army was in Somalia and Lebanon and later on during the transition stage, the Italian Army was in Bosnia and Kosovo. In reaching the maturity stage, the Italian Army now is in Mali, Iraq and Afghanistan, leading the NATO effort in the Balkans, and preparing for the next effort to fight ISIS in Libya, if and when there is a united government in that country.

And Italian troops will soon be stationed in Mosul, Iraq, to protect the Italian company which is tasked with the important project of working on the Mosul Dam. He noted there are no Italian troops in Syria and said that is a political decision. Colonel Sganga said the Italian Army has played a key role in the last 30 years and has been praised for its professionalism, personal contact and continuity. He mentioned that soldiers also patrol in some cities in Italy such as Naples to help maintain order, and he added that some soldiers at first were not happy to be deployed in their homeland but then they came to understand the value of their assignment. Speaking again about Afghanistan, Colonel Sganga said a decision was initially made to avoid the use of force because civilian casualties alienate the local population. He said his soldiers set up “Checkpoint Pasta” and joked that “we name everything pasta.”

The audience was fascinated by the video showing the Folgore contingent leaving the airport in Italy, checking their equipment before arriving in Kabul, walking around a market in Kabul, and visiting the pediatric hospital built by the Italians. In Farah, the video showed bleak mountains and desert, and it showed the soldiers’ night vision capabilities and how the soldiers used cards to overcome language barriers. The video also showed an intense firefight with the Taliban from the ground perspective. After his very informative talk, Colonel Sganga took questions and comments from the audience, and stayed to chat with many of our members.

We were truly honored to have with us Colonel Sganga and his wife Cinzia, son Roberto and daughter Marta, and CSM Tallu and his wife Silvia and their daughters Giada and Alice. And everyone enjoyed the delicious lunch catered by Three Brothers Italian Restaurant, which was arranged thanks to Sergio and Maria Fresco. We are also grateful to those who donated some wonderful raffle prizes and bought raffle tickets, raising $165 for our scholarship fund.