2 July 1993 - 2 July 2024, THOSE WHO FALL FIGHTING NEVER DIE

I enlisted in the Folgore in 1999, inspired by the stories of my friend Marshal Lino Corsetti, now retired. Corsetti, a non-commissioned officer of the Italian Army at the 11th Transmission Regiment "Leonessa", was present at the old port of Mogadishu on July 2, 1993 at the Brigade command. During the winter of 1998, he told me about the bloody battle at the pasta factory in Mogadishu. I remember that evening very well, in the kitchen, with him and his son Francesco Corsetti, then a VFB instructor Corporal in Sora. His words pushed me to join the Army, indeed, the Folgore.

The battle of Check Point Pasta. That was the trigger.

To tell the truth, to be honest, he said verbatim, "... our Paratroopers of the Folgore, those from Siena and the raiders of the Ninth...". He didn't speak of the Army. He spoke of Paratroopers from Siena and Raiders of the Ninth. Then it is clear to everyone that in that war event (yes, war, whether the politically correct like it or not), other units like the Montebello Lancers and other paratrooper units like the 183rd Par. Rgt. Nembo, 187th Par. Rgt. Folgore and the Carabinieri Paratroopers Tuscania were also protagonists, even with very serious losses.

As I tell in my military story, I was overwhelmed by a whirlwind of emotions. Italy had a unit of highly trained soldiers who had fought a bloody battle while I was riding around on my Aprilia 50. I refused my uncle's invitation to enlist, with the application already filled out, as a Navy reserve officer and went to great lengths to switch to the Army and enlist in the Folgore, as a volunteer troop.

When several months later I was then assigned, purely by chance, to the 186th Paratrooper Regiment Folgore (those from Siena...), already heir to the traditions and heroic acts of El-Alamein, the day I entered Bandini my legs trembled. In Siena, I then had the opportunity to come into contact with those who had fought that battle and I was flattered. Flattered also, and proud of a friendship that still today, 22 years after my discharge, binds me also with a raider of the 9th Regiment Col Moschin who fought that battle side by side with those who fought to the ultimate sacrifice. The Heroes.

Because as Lt. Col. Par. MOVM Gianfranco Paglia has repeatedly reminded us, the Heroes are them, those who are no longer physically among us, but will be eternally in our memory. 
Andrea Millevoi, Pasquale Baccaro, Stefano Paolicchi. They are not dead. Because THOSE WHO FALL FIGHTING NEVER DIE.
And NEVER FORGET. Because those who forget their fallen betray their homeland.

Here is our reconstruction of the Battle of July 2, 1993: https://brigatafolgore.net/2-luglio-1993-la-battaglia-del-check-point-pasta/