SOLBIATE OLONA (VA) 16 JAN 2003. NRDC-ITA Headquarters is an organisation with committed, confident and experienced multinational staff working in a cohesive and structured team and using well-developed doctrine for multinational and joint operations at the land component level. The Headquarters has an in-place support structure with equipment both for training and operations, which includes the full range of dedicated communications. Well practiced, the Headquarters undertakes a full and demanding training schedule dealing with the full operational spectrum up to high intensity war fighting utilising the complete range of modern weaponry.
The results are procedures in place, personnel and equipment at high state of readiness, and an ability to deploy and transition to operations as SACEUR's land headquarters of choice for Crisis Response Operations and Collective Defence.
Following a review of its current force structure, NATO decided to create additional rapid deployable headquarters dubbed High Readiness Force (Land) Headquarters. NRDC-ITA is the answer of the Italian Army in order to meet NATO’s requirements and the Final Operational Capability, which we reached at the end of 2002, is not my end state, but the starting point of a much larger scale process because the importance of the HQ NRDC-ITA goes far beyond NATO’s requests.
A real barracks (excellent sports facilities, Officers', NCOs' and Soldiers' Clubs, a village with good housing condition, gardens, schools, swimming pool, cinema, bank, post office and so on) is essential to have a permanent operational and effective multinational HQ, and also a corner stone for the Italian professional Army.
Moreover, we must be a team: from the youngest draftee to the Commanders, all must know the end state, the objective we have to achieve, the function we have to perform and the areas of responsibility. Everyone must be a master on its own field and work for the good of the others and of the HQ.
We have the moral strength, the will and the professional competence to succeed and to give our successor a much better platform to work with.
