Training together near the jump tower on Caserma Ederle last week, with temperatures reaching toward 105 degrees Fahrenheit, was a completely different experience for soldiers and Airmen of the U. S. Air Force Detachment 3, 7th Weather Squadron, and the Italian Alpini Comando Truppe Alpini-Servizio Me?teomont than the landscape of their previous joint training.
That time they met in the snow covered Alps at Passo Tonale in a world blanketed in snow with temperatures below freezing. What the two events do have in common is that they were both biannual partnership training and skills exchanges between the two units.
"We call the training program Battlefield Weather Exchange, or BWX," said Air Force Capt. Jason Scalzitti, commander of the 7th Weather Squadron's Detachment 3, which is based on Caserma Ederle.
From June 9-12 the two units focused on sharing skills and techniques in weather observation and forecasting, another iteration of a bilateral training program that dates back to 2001, he said.
Shared skills, joint mission
Scalzitti explained that the primary goals of the partnership are theater security cooperation, host-nation relationship building and a skills exchange to enhance knowledge and proficiency in various meteorological, mountain hazard and weapons disciplines.
The skills learned by U.S. personnel have an impact on current contingencies, including Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where mountain weather forecasting requires specific knowledge of terrain impacts, avalanche threats and other mountain-induced environmental disasters, he said.
"The Italians welcomed us in the winter to learn their processes for forecasting avalanches in the Alpine mountains in Northern Italy," said Scalzitti.
"In the summer we welcome them here on Caserma Ederle and Del Din, and it's a great opportunity to communicate about similar topics, similar processes in different languages. We practice our Italian a little bit with them and they learn to practice their English with us. It's a nice experience that everybody finds rewarding when the week is over," he added.
It was a first ever experience on Caserma Ederle for the eight Alpini troops, who came to Vicenza from Torino, Bolzano and Udine. As part of their initial orientation, they had the chance to learn how the Air Force supports the Army in the battlefield.
Staff Sgt. Marlowe Perry, an airborne weather forecaster attached to the 173rd Airborne Brigade, worked with the Alpini on methods of documenting and radio transmitting field-collected weather data.
"The reason this training is so important is because they are our sister NATO forces, for them to be confident in what it is that we do, and for us, when we go and learn the avalanche training. So should we have to work together in the future we will all have a good 360-degree concept of what each other does and that will help us better fight the mission as a team," she said.
The joint training concluded with an award ceremony at which the Alpini soldiers received certificates.
"This strong relationship that we have with them is something that is unique among Air Force weather forces in the world," said Scalzitti.
"This is a program that we are proud of and a program we hope we'll continue in the future. We also hope that the Alpini headquarters will continue to help us sustain this relationship so we learn from our host nation," he said.
Social Sharing