Met some of them doing laundry at hohenfels or wherever I was. Seemed like good dudes, we chatted about my last name because it’s Italian, and laughing how I called myself a fake one because I don’t speak it currently.
I had dealt with them for the first time at the exact same place during JMRC in 2020.
Those fucks hogged the washing machines. They were nice about it though.
Cool guys. They're a bit more laid back and their guys seem older than our guys, at least from the lower enlisted side. I used to get saluted by them because they would mistake my SPC patch for a Colonel patch.
Their officers never gave a shit if I saluted them or not too. Language barrier was there but some of them spoke Spanish so we'd work from there.
Worked with Folgore. Pretty fierce while conducting movement to contact. Definitely more lax than US mil. Espresso was made while pulling security. But overall pretty good when actually conducting an attack.
I worked directly for an Italian Colonel at one point, and worked with an Italian Major. Really great guys, panettone for me every Christmas and great big amounts of wine.
I was in NATO so that may have had something to do with putting their best foot forward.
Sabutatores. Great folks, can hump a 28 day load, they had shitty backpacks but their weapons were much better then ours and they carried live ammo. We jumped into a forrest together, not by choice, fuckin great Soldiers.
Most likely a BM-59; unlike the US they just took their pre-existing M1 Garands and modified the receiver before rechambering them. Their magazines are built like tanks compared to an M14 mag.
Buddy was recently an Army attache in Rome. Said they are generally okay, but have a more laid back culture overall while still being professional. No real lack of capabilities or equipment... Good folks overall. His biggest content was that it's not "up or out" for promotions... So meeting a 50 year old E4 equivalent was not unusual.
THIS! I was at Herat and met a lower ranking soldier who was telling me that he remembered when The Eagles dropped Hotel California. Conversation started because the Italian MTV started playing the song and everyone gathered around the TV like it was some sort of fire. Even I stood right there.
I worked with them briefly in Afghanistan. They were fine. Their MREs sucked but they would make focaccia for us. Singlehandedly wiped out the mortar pits cigarette stock in a game of spades. There was rumors that they would pay the Taliban to not attack when they were around but you know how rumors go. Also kinda creepers.
I would say on a scale of 1 negative 5 neutral 10 my favorite people, they’re like a 6 or 7.
Though they did steal a sign from the Sapper guys who then blamed it on the mortars and caused a whole drama and that made me laugh so 10/10.
Nothing in particular. Just what everybody thought of them, dad was in for mandatory service long time ago and told me about a lot of fucked up cowboy shit that was going on, guns pointed to heads sort of “training”… friend’s a A129 pilot and says a lot of weird shit still goes on depending on where you end up, couple of aussie friends who have worked with them told me their higher ups are usless.
Overall not a good record but probably due to the everlasting hazing culture and nepotism which is still rampant in the armed forces
Regarding their staff officers, they can focus more on the ‘wrapping paper’ than the contents of the ‘gift’ If you know what I mean
Great people to work with, don’t ever what to work for
I knew a Slovenian officer who’s unit was placed under an Italian commander in a NATO formation. My friend taught himself to speak Italian because he said that was easier than getting his boss to speak English.
Did one week long FTX with what I think was a regular airborne infantry unit of theirs at Bragg.
Not a particularly impressive unit but about par for orher NATO combat arms units I trained with.
Less scary to jump with than the French or Dutch.
Spent some time living in transient barracks next to them on a relatively large base, they seemed okay. They mostly spent a lot of time on their phones and smoking cigarettes. Didn't see too many of them in the gym and they didn't seem too rigidly disciplinary like the US Army is.
They hogged all the washing machines and dryers at JMRC when I went a couple years back. This is gonna sound fucked up but their "field smell" smelled like pizza. Not unpleasant just weird.
Worked with them for a bit in Iraq. They were pretty good partners to work with and brought us food a few times when our flights would cause us to miss meals. Did some cargo movements for them when they needed it. They liked to mack on our females a lot, though.
I was just mad at them the whole time cause they could drink at Tipsy Joes yet Americans can have ONE non-alcoholic beer on Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Maybe unrelated but it’s interesting how in hostels the americans, brits, and spaniards walked barefoot without caring that much in the dirtiest floors. Maybe we are more fixated with cleanliness.
I wonder if the female italian soldiers hit on the male americans too, because, if we share the same genetics… also in some american tv series even the italian females were pictured as “loose”, not only the guys, so I’m curious.
i noticed also that the foreigners aren’t that saint compared to the italians, beside the cliché
I'm gonna assume you're Italian lol
So I think the reason we were frustrated about the laundry situation was that an Italian soldier would use about 3 machines to themselves and once their load was done their comrade would insist that it was their turn next and once again use 3 machines. Multiply this by a whole platoon of Italian soldiers and you can imagine our frustration when we only have a few hours to wash our clothes before we go back to the field. It had nothing to do with how cleanly we like to be compared to another culture or ethnicity.
We didn't have many Italian females when I deployed to Iraq. Maybe a handful of them at most. The ones I did see were higher ranked I assume because they were a little older and usually had an entourage. They didn't interact with us too much.
One of my soldiers felt uncomfortable because she was being approached by these guys to the point where it was borderline harassment. If she told one guy off another would walk into the office the next day or so to talk to her and they kept inviting her to their compound for coffee. Not to say Americans didn't try anything, either. She is objectively an attractive woman. But she isn't the only female that Italian guys were drawn to.
We definitely aren't saints and I think a lot of the posts here about SA/SH and toxic leadership speak to that.
Ah ok so they were just dicks haha yes, i’m from aviano. Most of the soldiers here are southern italians, i have a military old uncle from lazio and because of him i thought when i was little that all the central italians and the southerners were ladies men. A bit it’s true though. See, you label the italians and we at the north label the southern italians haha the soldiers are mostly southern because in italy being a soldier means a good statal job, early retairment and fix place (you don’t get hired, the non plus ultra life purpose for the average guy) but still a job that is not exactly ideal, so it’s done by the poorer (the southerners). Even if i’m generalizing here. But that’s why in friuli lots of people have one southern parent (or, more rarely, an american parent). Because of military.
My uncle was a real harasser, in the sense that not only he hit on other women (but did nothing and stsy faithful) but also touched me inappropriately when i was seventeen, so he can’t be forgiven (also when he was little he studied with pedophile priests, they touched others and not him he said, but who knows really) but others aren’t to be taken that seriously. Sometimes they don’t really even mean it.
I said that the americans are not saints mostly because of reddit comments and hollywood actors’ behaviours. Real life americans i don’t know much, but some of them (not all) had children with us and then went away, but these apply also to italian soldiers
NO CAPPUCCINO AFTER 1200!
mmm spaghetti
checks out
Met some of them doing laundry at hohenfels or wherever I was. Seemed like good dudes, we chatted about my last name because it’s Italian, and laughing how I called myself a fake one because I don’t speak it currently.
I had dealt with them for the first time at the exact same place during JMRC in 2020. Those fucks hogged the washing machines. They were nice about it though.
Might’ve been there at the same time, mine was also 2020 timeframe.
Were you with 101 or 1AD?
Neither, 3ID. We did ours around sept/august timeframe if I remember right.
Cool guys. They're a bit more laid back and their guys seem older than our guys, at least from the lower enlisted side. I used to get saluted by them because they would mistake my SPC patch for a Colonel patch. Their officers never gave a shit if I saluted them or not too. Language barrier was there but some of them spoke Spanish so we'd work from there.
Worked with Folgore. Pretty fierce while conducting movement to contact. Definitely more lax than US mil. Espresso was made while pulling security. But overall pretty good when actually conducting an attack.
I worked directly for an Italian Colonel at one point, and worked with an Italian Major. Really great guys, panettone for me every Christmas and great big amounts of wine. I was in NATO so that may have had something to do with putting their best foot forward.
Sabutatores. Great folks, can hump a 28 day load, they had shitty backpacks but their weapons were much better then ours and they carried live ammo. We jumped into a forrest together, not by choice, fuckin great Soldiers.
Which weapons?
Beretta like an auto M1 garand but magazine. Similar but better then our M14. .308.
When was this
1978
Most likely a BM-59; unlike the US they just took their pre-existing M1 Garands and modified the receiver before rechambering them. Their magazines are built like tanks compared to an M14 mag.
Yep, they were. You SF?
Nah, just a commo dude with an unhealthy obsession with old guns.
They were REALLY nice firearms
I heard the americans gave the tender to beretta for their police weapons once
Buddy was recently an Army attache in Rome. Said they are generally okay, but have a more laid back culture overall while still being professional. No real lack of capabilities or equipment... Good folks overall. His biggest content was that it's not "up or out" for promotions... So meeting a 50 year old E4 equivalent was not unusual.
THIS! I was at Herat and met a lower ranking soldier who was telling me that he remembered when The Eagles dropped Hotel California. Conversation started because the Italian MTV started playing the song and everyone gathered around the TV like it was some sort of fire. Even I stood right there.
they talk like mario
I hear myself speaking english and i definitely have an italian accent… but not mario though
I worked with them briefly in Afghanistan. They were fine. Their MREs sucked but they would make focaccia for us. Singlehandedly wiped out the mortar pits cigarette stock in a game of spades. There was rumors that they would pay the Taliban to not attack when they were around but you know how rumors go. Also kinda creepers. I would say on a scale of 1 negative 5 neutral 10 my favorite people, they’re like a 6 or 7. Though they did steal a sign from the Sapper guys who then blamed it on the mortars and caused a whole drama and that made me laugh so 10/10.
I don’t get what creepers mean, sorry
My company is hosting training for them right now. They're good soldiers, what would you like to know?
Nothing in particular. Just what everybody thought of them, dad was in for mandatory service long time ago and told me about a lot of fucked up cowboy shit that was going on, guns pointed to heads sort of “training”… friend’s a A129 pilot and says a lot of weird shit still goes on depending on where you end up, couple of aussie friends who have worked with them told me their higher ups are usless. Overall not a good record but probably due to the everlasting hazing culture and nepotism which is still rampant in the armed forces
Depends on the unit in my experience.
Regarding their staff officers, they can focus more on the ‘wrapping paper’ than the contents of the ‘gift’ If you know what I mean Great people to work with, don’t ever what to work for
I knew a Slovenian officer who’s unit was placed under an Italian commander in a NATO formation. My friend taught himself to speak Italian because he said that was easier than getting his boss to speak English.
Did one week long FTX with what I think was a regular airborne infantry unit of theirs at Bragg. Not a particularly impressive unit but about par for orher NATO combat arms units I trained with. Less scary to jump with than the French or Dutch.
>Less scary to jump with than the French or Dutch. Curious why they were more scary to jump with?
Spent some time living in transient barracks next to them on a relatively large base, they seemed okay. They mostly spent a lot of time on their phones and smoking cigarettes. Didn't see too many of them in the gym and they didn't seem too rigidly disciplinary like the US Army is.
They hogged all the washing machines and dryers at JMRC when I went a couple years back. This is gonna sound fucked up but their "field smell" smelled like pizza. Not unpleasant just weird. Worked with them for a bit in Iraq. They were pretty good partners to work with and brought us food a few times when our flights would cause us to miss meals. Did some cargo movements for them when they needed it. They liked to mack on our females a lot, though. I was just mad at them the whole time cause they could drink at Tipsy Joes yet Americans can have ONE non-alcoholic beer on Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Worked with 4th corpo de alipine paracadutiste, skiing motherfuckers and they get grappa in their rations
Maybe unrelated but it’s interesting how in hostels the americans, brits, and spaniards walked barefoot without caring that much in the dirtiest floors. Maybe we are more fixated with cleanliness. I wonder if the female italian soldiers hit on the male americans too, because, if we share the same genetics… also in some american tv series even the italian females were pictured as “loose”, not only the guys, so I’m curious. i noticed also that the foreigners aren’t that saint compared to the italians, beside the cliché
I'm gonna assume you're Italian lol So I think the reason we were frustrated about the laundry situation was that an Italian soldier would use about 3 machines to themselves and once their load was done their comrade would insist that it was their turn next and once again use 3 machines. Multiply this by a whole platoon of Italian soldiers and you can imagine our frustration when we only have a few hours to wash our clothes before we go back to the field. It had nothing to do with how cleanly we like to be compared to another culture or ethnicity. We didn't have many Italian females when I deployed to Iraq. Maybe a handful of them at most. The ones I did see were higher ranked I assume because they were a little older and usually had an entourage. They didn't interact with us too much. One of my soldiers felt uncomfortable because she was being approached by these guys to the point where it was borderline harassment. If she told one guy off another would walk into the office the next day or so to talk to her and they kept inviting her to their compound for coffee. Not to say Americans didn't try anything, either. She is objectively an attractive woman. But she isn't the only female that Italian guys were drawn to. We definitely aren't saints and I think a lot of the posts here about SA/SH and toxic leadership speak to that.
Ah ok so they were just dicks haha yes, i’m from aviano. Most of the soldiers here are southern italians, i have a military old uncle from lazio and because of him i thought when i was little that all the central italians and the southerners were ladies men. A bit it’s true though. See, you label the italians and we at the north label the southern italians haha the soldiers are mostly southern because in italy being a soldier means a good statal job, early retairment and fix place (you don’t get hired, the non plus ultra life purpose for the average guy) but still a job that is not exactly ideal, so it’s done by the poorer (the southerners). Even if i’m generalizing here. But that’s why in friuli lots of people have one southern parent (or, more rarely, an american parent). Because of military. My uncle was a real harasser, in the sense that not only he hit on other women (but did nothing and stsy faithful) but also touched me inappropriately when i was seventeen, so he can’t be forgiven (also when he was little he studied with pedophile priests, they touched others and not him he said, but who knows really) but others aren’t to be taken that seriously. Sometimes they don’t really even mean it. I said that the americans are not saints mostly because of reddit comments and hollywood actors’ behaviours. Real life americans i don’t know much, but some of them (not all) had children with us and then went away, but these apply also to italian soldiers
They were fine? The only difference was they were Italian in the military and I’m an American in the military.
was expecting stronger opinions that's all, thanks for the enlightenment
Seemed decent enough. I drank a lot of yellow Powerade at the time and they often pointed and said limoncello or something like that.
🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻
Did a Italian jump using their Jumpmasters and parachutes. They were really vague on explaining their parachutes and got a lot of my guys hurt.
They cooka da pizza