C-UGO MARA-rivista 4 29-09-2004 17:14 Pagina 21 NRF Brigade by HQ “Taurinense” Brigade The “Taurinense” Alpini Brigade The TAURINENSE Alpini ving many of the highest Brigade was formed in Turin in M i l i t a ry award s . April 15th 1952. In 1963 the TAURINENSE Alpini The TAURINENSE Alpini Brigade deri- Brigade was assigned permanently to ves its military traditions from the TA U- N ATO Immediate Reaction Forces; such RINENSE and “Cuneense” Alpini Divisions, f o r ces took part in all AMF (L) exerc i s e s both established in 1935 and disbanded at the together with other Allied Nations in several end of World War II. E u ropean training are a s . During WWII the two divisions fought on the We s t e rn The Brigade was one of the first to be pro f e s s i o n a l i z e d F ron t, in the Balkans and on the Eastern Front. They in order to reach higher professional stands and be received the highest military acknowledgements for ready to carry on peace and security missions abro a d . their courage and bravery. The Italian Army has chosen the TAURINENSE Brigade as C u rrently the TAURINENSE Brigade consists of re g i - NRF Brigade thanks to the experience gained thro u g h ments and battalions which took part in all the campai- m o re than forty years of commitment to the Land gns fought by the Italian Army from 1885 to 1945, in Component of the Allied Command Europe Mobile the Horn of Africa, the Balkans, Russia and Italy, deser- F o rce (AMF). 19 C-UGO MARA-rivista 4 29-09-2004 17:14 Pagina 22 NRF Brigade CURRENT ORGANIZAT I O N N ATO – led humanita- The TAURINENSE Alpini Brigade is a Light Infantry Unit rian mission; trained to operate in arduous environments. Its Units - also in 1999 the 3rd a re trained in rock climbing, cross country skiing, and Alpini Regiment of the especially to survive and fight in mountain areas. The TAURINENSE Bde was s t rength of the Brigade HQ and its units is appro x i m a- detached to the “ARIE- tely 4000 men. TE” Arm o u red Brigade, The TAURINENSE Alpini Brigade is made up of four to take part in Combat Units, two Combat Support Units and one Operation “JOINT GUARDIAN” in KOSOVO; Combat Service Support Unit. - f rom 1999 until December 2000 its Airmobile Field Hospital contributed to the eff o rts of the Italian Field Hospital in Durres, within “COMMZ WEST” in Albania,; - f r om July to November 2000 the Brigade was employed on Operation “JOINT GUARDIAN” in Kosovo and the HQ took responsibility for the Multinational Brigade (We s t ) ; - f rom November 2001 to March 2002 the Brigade was again deployed on Operation “JOINT GUARDIAN”; - in 2002 and 2003 two Regiments w e re deployed to “ISAF” in Kabul; - in 2003 TA U R I N E N - SE Alpini Brigade constituted the Italian Contingent deployed in Afghanistan on Operation “ENDU- RING FREEDOM”; - two units of the Brigade, namely the Since the early nineties, the TAURINENSE Alpini Bde has SUSA Battalion and the been deployed in a number of overseas missions, in 1st Mountain Art i l l e ry p a r t i c u l a r : Regiment, are curre n- - in 1991 in Nort h e r n IRAQ Operation “PROVIDE tly detached to ISAF in C O M F O RT”, conducted to deliver humanitarian re l i e f Afghanistan to the Kurdish popula- t i o n ; - in 1993 in MOZAMBIQUE, Operation “ONUMOZ”, N ATIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO NRF with a UN mandate; In 2004 the Italian Army General Staff selected the TA U- - f r om January 1996 to RINENSE Brigade as national contingent framework for April 1998 the Brigade the Italian NRF. A significant contribution to the imple- was employed in mentation of NRF 3 has been made by the Staff and the Bosnia, on 3 rd Regiment together with an art i l l e ry battery and one Operation “CON- engineer coy. S TANT GUARD”; The NRF project re p res ents SACEUR’s highest priority - in 1999 it was and is the NATO response to the challenges of the 21st deployed in ALBA- C e n t u ry following the review of NATO Forc e s . NIA, on Operation For the implementation of NRF, the TAURINENSE Alpini “ALLIED HAR- Bde has taken command of the following additional BOUR”, the first assets in order to meet the re q u i rements fixed by NAT O : 20 C-UGO MARA-rivista 4 29-09-2004 17:14 Pagina 23 NRF Brigade - an Airborne Infantry Battle Gro u p T R A I N I N G based on the 183 rd A i r b o r n e In accordance with NATO pro c e d u re, all the R e g i m e n t ; units assigned to NRF are re q u i red to con- - a Mechanised Infantry Battle duct a cycle of six months training, fol- G roup based on the 8t h B e r s a g l i e r i lowed by a six month “stand-by” phase. The R e g i m e n t ; B r i g a d e ’s preparation began with Exerc i s e - a Field Art i l l e ry Battalion based on PEGASO, a computer assisted exercise con- the 8t h Field Art i l l e ry Regiment; ducted at the Italian Army Simulation School - An air defense capability based on in Civitavecchia, where the Brigade was cer- the 17t h Air Defence Regiment; tified by Italy as ready to start the training phase together with the Land Component In addition the following internatio- Command, based on HQ NRDC-IT. nal assets have been assigned to The six months training phase was very the Bde: intense and based on a variety of exerc i s e s ; - One Spanish recce coy; firstly in January, Exercise EAGLE NEST, a - One Greek air manoeuvre coy, assi- study period and MAPEX focussing on the gned to the 3rd Alpini Regiment; NRF concept; in Febru a ry Exercise EAGLE - Two Turkish staff off i c e r s . E N T RY saw both NRDC-IT and TA U R I N E N S E The structure of the NRF Command Bde deploy their Early entry Command Post Post reflects that of a Light Infantry in order to verify their capabilities; In Marc h , Multinational Brigade CP, able to E x e rcise EAGLE LANDING, a Command Post deploy to any theatre at short noti- e x e rcise where the NRDC-IT was certified as ce and able to perf o r m missions L C C - r eady and took the opportunity to such as: i m p rove its Command and Control of the - Initial entry operations; NRF Bde; in May andJune the major NRF - E m b a rgo operations; e x e rci se, Exercise ALLIED ACTION 04, took - Non combatant evacuation opera- place, where the whole NRF capability was t i o n s ; c e rtified by SHAPE. - Crisis response operations; The last hurdle of the training phase will - Show of forc e ; take the form of Exercise DESTINED GLORY - S u p p o r t to counter terrorism ope- 04, a LIVEX to be conducted in Sardinia in r a t i o n s ; the middle of October. The exercise will - S u p p o r t to crisis consequence signify the achievement of initial operatio- m a n a g e m e n t ; nal capability of the NRF. 21.