Until today everyone has kept quiet. From 2008 until today all the previous heads of EMS have remained silent. But not him. We expected it. We expected it because, from the first day of his inauguration as Chief of Staff of the ArmyWe trusted in his depth as a commander and military man. And he finally declared it in no uncertain terms: Operation Safe Streets is a problem for the Italian Army. Words of the General C.A. Parachutist Carmine Masiello. The Army's number one recently outlined in the parliamentary committee the conditions and challenges associated with Operation 'Strade Sicure', emphasising how it takes away important resources from the Armed Forces.
Despite the contribution to urban security, Masiello expressed concern about the sustainability of the operation. He emphasised that deploying such a large force for a prolonged period of time diverts vital resources away from combat training, reducing the Army's operational readiness. This situation is aggravated by the military's need for psycho-physical recovery after the six-month deployment cycles, further compromising their readiness for institutional missions and high-intensity operations.
Launched on 4 August 2008, this operation has seen the deployment of units of the Armed Forces in conjunction with the Police Forces for specific crime prevention and counter-crime needs. Initially planned for a maximum of 6 months with a contingent of 3,000 units, the 2024 Budget Law now authorises the deployment of 6,800 units until 31 December this year.
The Chief of the Army Staff reported how "The deployment of the Armed Forces in Operation Safe Streets constantly diverts the equivalent of 12-14 manoeuvre regiments from combat training. Other forces, in preparation, focus their training on tasks for domestic operations - continued - Such constant and prolonged deployment has a direct and cumulative effect on the Armed Force's level of readiness for institutional missions. This situation is exacerbated by the psycho-physical recovery and reconditioning of units at the end of six-month deployment cycles. In fact, although the personnel enjoy an all-inclusive allowance and overtime compensation, averaging 55 hours per month at the end of the six-month deployment cycle, they accumulate on average about 55 days of recuperation, 40 of which for having served during holidays and non-working days and 15 for overtime work in excess of the quota paid. This does not meet the need to train the Army and prepare the forces for deployment in increasingly competitive, high-intensity and inherently lethal operational environments as dictated by the aforementioned change in security paradigms'.
BrigataFolgore.net has also suggested in the past how the eventual reintroduction of compulsory conscription It would allow, in addition to solving a number of problems within the Armed Force, to reallocate resources for Operation Safe Streets, which does not necessarily require the participation of professional soldiers and which could be entrusted to conscripts.
We therefore hope that the national political apparatus will take the Chief of EMS's words seriously and stop using professional soldiers for tasks that have nothing to do with their actual duties, we add. The Soldier must be the Soldier. The Soldier is part of an Armed Force. In a civilised country, public order must be the responsibility of the Armed Forces. In recent years, the Armed Forces and the Forces of Law and Order in Italy have been improperly overlapping in their functions: not to mention, the limitations that soldiers deployed in the Safe Streets operations have, since they do not have judicial police functions. It is always up to the police forces on the ground to make arrests.
Perhaps the time has come to put a stop to this situation and give the Armed Force all of its own back, already numerically deficient, resources.
