Page 32 - The Cormorant Issue 14

RSE 1 Rome
By Wg Cdr Martin Smith
The Italian Job began on 31 January 2011, landing in Rome in the early afternoon to be met with a balmy 12°C temperature and Annabel, the Embassy civil-military representative. Our aim: to determine how Italy evaluates its current and future geo-stra- tegic concerns; how it considers its role in the world; to examine its interaction with the international system and experience the La Dolce Vita (sweet life or good life) of Rome.
Rather like the recent ‘Policy-to-Capability’ (P2C) exercise that we had all enjoyed so much, our visit programme followed a similar route. The programme took us from national policy, held at the Foreign Ministry, through to the mission, with briefings held at the Italian Joint Operations HQ on current operations and defence policy. The Course agreed unanimously that the location, food and wine made the experience far more enjoyable than the actual P2C exercise held at Shrivenham! The Policy- to-Mission briefings were interspersed with an excellent visit to the Carabinieri, the fourth Italian armed service, the Joint Staff College, and a battlefield tour of Monte Cassino, which was outstanding if unfortunately a little short due to time pressures. Finally, the trip finished with a brief at the Army Simulation and Validation Centre (CESIVA), effectively the Italian version of Com- bined Arms Simulation Trainer at Salisbury Plain.
A young country, this year celebrating its 150th anniversary, Italy is heavily committed to both the EU and NATO and has strong bi-lateral relations with the UK. What did strike home was the similarity of the challenges facing both Italy and its Armed Forces to the challenges faced by the UK. Clearly, the financial crisis is a world-wide problem and while public debt in Italy is large, personal debt is low. However it is the public debt that, like the UK, has impacted on the Italian Defence Budget. Transformation within both NATO and the EU arising out of the Lisbon Summit is wholly supported and, indeed, the briefing from the Foreign Office seemed to suggest that they believed the Lisbon Treaty did not go far enough; a more collaborative EU security policy was wished for. Examples quoted of potential collaborative projects included multi-lateral cooperation in arms development with a new main battle tank and a combined military training establish- ment The Italian Armed Forces have made great strides in tran- sitioning towards a joint and expeditionary force, having imple- mented a new C4I structure and devised a joint organisational
Brigadier
General Valente, Commandant Joint Services Staff College and Deputy Director ACSC Captain Simon Brand RN
The Vatican
structure covering a Joint Operations HQ, deployable Joint HQ, a Joint Special Operations Force and a Joint Landing and Amphibi- ous Force, but not without difficulty. The move from a conscript force to a wholly volunteer professional force in the 1990s has seen a large reduction in the size of the Armed Forces, down from around 350 000 to 190 000; efforts to reduce further are hampered by labour laws that prevent directed redundancy, thus constraining a similar exercise to the UK’s SDSR. High person- nel costs severely impact on the available budget and thus inflate operating and maintenance budgets. The focus, as in the UK, has been on supporting their main effort, which is Afghanistan, while concurrently committing to operations in the Balkans, Leba- non, Counter Piracy operations and Iraq, amongst others. In total Italy has 7700 troops committed to 26 missions in 20 countries.
This was a wholly enjoyable trip with interesting presentations and we must thank: Consigliere d’Ambasciata Massimo Lavezzo Cassinelli of the Foreign Ministry; Generale Ugo Zottin, Com- mandant of the Carabinieri Officers’ School; Brigadier General Valente, Commandant Joint Services Staff College; General Sal- vatore Farina, Deputy Policy Director/Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Operations), Italian Ministry of Defence; Colonel Baroni, and Lieutenant Colonels Ricceri, Postorino and Sebastiani of CESIVA for their warm welcome and hospitality.
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