Vocational in Vicenza!

To all our fans out there, we must apologize for having neglected the BLOG for a couple of days! Internet connectivity is actually a bigger problem than I thought it would be! In any event, the day after arriving in Vicenza was a Sunday and our host Rotarians decided to give us a day of rest with some local Rotoractors (Rotary for folks 18-30 years old-for the non-Rotarian readers!) It was an unusual day of Vespas (small mopeds), mountain roads, a club named Messi Pieni (Half Drunk!), and sushi. Yes…I said sushi! I will let my team describe the rest of the day for you all but I will say that I really enjoyed a good sushi dinner in Vicenza!

On Monday, the team split for some vocational visits. I was fortunate enough to visit a base, which housed both the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units and the European Gendarmerie Force. Now, I had no idea what these two organizations were about, and actually neither did my Rotary hosts, since they had never been inside the base! When we arrived, I noticed that the base was guarded by Carabinieri (Italian Military/Civilian Police), but when we entered we were greeted by a person in full BDU’s (battle dress uniforms or camouflage stuff for the non police/military readers!) When I looked closer at his uniform I saw he was a U.S. Marine! He introduced himself as Colonel Mark Franklin USMC, assigned as the second in command of the Stability Police Unit organization. He and another commander of the Carabinieri then brought us to meet the director, Brigadier General Umberto Rocca (Carabinieri). The General spoke little English and when I spoke to him in Italian, he turned to Colonel Franklin and said, “I wish you spoke Italian as well as he does!” Colonel Franklin laughed and explained to me that he was attempting to learn the language but English was the primary language spoken in their organization.

I was then given a very professional briefing on the organization in a meeting room, which was part ancient palace and part Star Wars! The technology was state of the art and I found out that the organization was born out of a G8 summit in the early 2000’s and was staffed by police and military from the G8 countries. Their directive was to assist countries with policing and the amount of assistance depended on where they were deployed. They were able to go into a country and assist the local police with training, technology and criminal investigations. They also brought police managers and middle managers to their base in Vicenza for intensive courses in police management and police tactics. They also participated in mentoring programs for police managers in other countries. Colonel Franklin advised me that he was assigned as the U.S. representative to the organization because he had been an MP (military police).

We then went to a different building which housed the European Gendarmerie Force. I met the Director, Colonel Jorge Manuel Gaspar Esteves, who was part of the Portuguese national police. I was also given a briefing by his staff and found that this organization was a completely European one, in which countries which only had police agencies which were also part of the military, were represented. The directive of this force was three fold: if deployed to a failed state, they would provide actual police protection for the population, which would come in after the military, and they would be responsible for civilian policing; although they were also considered a light infantry unit and could also go into combat! They could also be present as advisors if a police force already existed in the state they were deployed too or just provide training and mentoring for native police forces. Currently, I was told that they had personnel deployed in several countries including Bosnia, the Middle East and Haiti. This was all VERY interesting for me, but for all of you non-police types out there, this may be a little boring so I will transition to our next stop when the team got back together at a winery!

We visited the Zonin winery which has cantinas all over Italy and also in West Virginia! We had a tasting of prosecco and then a great lunch! That evening we were very fortunate to have a Rotary Meeting outside, in the garden of a beautiful villa in Vicenza Nord! The club members were great and many of them spoke English. They had even set up a screen and projector outside for us to do our presentations. My entire team thinks that has been the best meeting we have had so far in Italy, and I agree!