17 September 2009 will remain etched in the collective memory as one of the most tragic days for the Folgore Parachute Brigade. In a suicide attack in Kabul, six brave paratroopers lost their lives, leaving an indelible void in the hearts of their families and comrades.
In Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, at 12:10 local time (9:40 in Italy), a patrol of the 186th Parachute Regiment Folgore is transporting to headquarters ISAF some military personnel returning from a short leave in Italy picked up right at the airport of the Afghan capital.
Arriving near the Massud roundabout, the Lynx of the Lieutenant Fortunato stops to allow the second vehicle to clear an obstacle. At that instant, an old white Toyota Corolla car, driven by a suicide bomber, squeezes between the two vehicles and explodes. The explosion is devastating. The first Lynx withstands the impact, but the Paratrooper the First Corporal Gian Domenico Pistonami collapses inside the vehicle: he is dead.
The injured, the 1st Air Force Marshal Felice Calandriello and the Paratroopers 1st Corporal Parachutists Rocco Leo, Sergio Agostinelli and Ferdinando Buono are stunned by the explosion. They get out of the vehicle and immediately receive gunshots: they return fire, securing the area by switching off the frequencies set on their radios: dozens of civilians quickly approach the vehicles and the bodies of the soldiers who died in the explosion.
Parachutist Rocco Leo later stated in Sky's 'Reduci' docufilm that they thought only they had been caught in the explosion and that the first vehicle had managed to get inside the Italian embassy.
The second Lynx is projected a hundred metres away by the force of the explosion. Inside, Five paratroopers died on impact: Lieutenant Antonio Fortunato, Sergeant Major Roberto Valente and First Corporals Massimiliano Randino, Davide Ricchiuto and Matteo Mureddu.
The devastation all around is total. The streets are strewn with rubble and destroyed vehicles. The suicide bomber's car contained 150 kg of explosives, as the ROS investigation later ascertained. The attack, claimed by the Taliban a few minutes later, marks one of the most serious losses for Italy in the international arena since Nassiriya.
The news immediately reached Italy and deeply affected the families of the fallen and the entire nation. Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa strongly condemned the attack, while the Folgore Parachute Brigade suspended all activities in Italy as a sign of mourning. The bodies of the fallen will be repatriated on 20 September, welcomed at Ciampino airport by family members and the highest offices of the State.
On 21 September 2009, a day of national mourning, solemn state funerals will be held in the basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. It is a sad day, where an entire nation huddles around six young lives deprived of their future for having fulfilled to the full the tasks assigned to them by the State.
Despite the severity of the attack, the Folgore does not stand still. As always, the paratroopers will show courage and determination, continuing their mission in Afghanistan with the same expertise and efficiency that has always distinguished them.
And it went on, because as always, as happened to El Alamein in 1942, and to Mogadishu on 2 July 1993, the Paratroopers of Italy showed that they can bend, but never break.
Yet, despite the supreme sacrifice of those who are no longer with us, we all too often forget our own Fallen. But we must not only remember them in moments of tragedy. Their sacrifice requires constant remembrance and respect, from everyone, not just the defence institutions.
Today, 15 years after those events, we are here to remember them. Those who fall for the Fatherland must never be forgotten.
