Italian army

The Italian Army has recently become a professional all-volunteer force of some 112,000 active duty personnel, around 70% male, 30% female. A recent law promotes membership of the Italian Army guaranteing volunteers post-Army careers in the Carabinieri Corps, Italian State Police, Italian Finance Guard and Italian State Forestry Corps, amongst other state bodies. The headquarter of the Army General Staff is in Rome opposite to the Presidential Palace.

Effective Operational Capability

All the brigades- with the exception of the home service Brigades ?Aosta?, ?Pinerolo? and ?Granatieri di Sardegna? may be deployed outside Italy and are often involved in either war-fighting or peace-keeping operations on foreign soil. The three home service brigades have a role of 'presence and surveillance' of key Italian institutions, i.e. the ?Granatieri di Sardegna? Brigade guards the capital city Rome and the Presidential Palace. They are not destined for extra-territorial missions and members expect to remain in Italy throughout their service years.

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The remaining eight brigades are combat brigades, numbering between 3-7,000 troops each. These units are the pride of the Italian Army and are a front-line well-equipped force capable of dealing with most emergency situations. They are characterised by quality, efficiency, motivation and mobility.

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In total numbers the Italian Army can field about 85,000 ground troops out of a total Army strength of 112,000 men and women. But although most units are designated as regiments they consist of one expanded Logistics, Support and Command company and a combat battalion, which- in the case of the infantry (Alpini, Bersaglieri, Granatieri, Lagunari, Fanti) units- consists of:

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: 3 Infantry Companies

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: 1 Mortar Company

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: 1 Antitank Company

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The naming has historical reasons. Most regiments are deployed singularly, especially the support brigades' regiments as adjuncts to combat units, formed for the task ahead.

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