Italian Army: The Ordinary Soldier. From the Analysis of the Past, the Instrument of the Future

摘要

The paper identifies the factors that have contributed to the success of the Italian conscript troops in performing Peace Support Operations. Then, it offer a pattern to translate such aspects into doctrine, training and organizational changes to adapt them to a volunteer Army in order to successfully face future challenges. As the number of nations that deployed soldiers to perform peace support operations tasks, grew in size, one thing became clear: no armed forces in the world had done any major preparation for the new mission. The large majority of soldiers deployed in these operations, most of the time improvised, some time made the most out of a strong combat training, others tried to adapt a strong warrior spirit to peacekeeping. For many it was and still remains a frustrating activity, others, however found the new mission more appropriate and in line with their mind-set. Despite the fact that many doctrinal publications or field manuals have been produced to understanding peacekeeping, the shift from warfighting and the warrior mind-set to peacekeeping and the peacekeepers mind-set is extremely slow. However, one thing is clear today and it is that many of the skills, whether practical or mental, associated with peacekeeping are of great importance to dominate 'the battle field' of the future. While war has become an increasingly more sophisticated technological effort, peace support operations, but also stabilization operations and the so-called phase four emphasize the 'human' factor, with its ability to observe, to assess and to act according to practical wisdom. In simple words the technological warrior is going to be successful in the traditional battlefield, yet the warrior that is going to win the aftermath needs different skill, where human is central.