Expression of professionalism, competence and passion at the service of the nation. The year 2017, which is drawing to a close, has been an intense year, full of events and milestones for the Air Force. In addition to being the year in which five Fighter Groups celebrated their 100th anniversary, 2017 saw some of the men in the blue uniform achieve very important goals, thanks to professionalism, competence and dedication. Daily work, far from the spotlight, forms the foundation of these characteristics and is what has allowed and will allow new pages of aeronautical history to be written. The traditions, values and ideals that characterised the deeds of past aviators are those in which the men and women in blue continue to identify today. Celebrating an important personal milestone such as achieving a total of 6000 flying hours or 2000 flying hours on the Eurofighter aircraft, milestones reached respectively by Lt Col Alfredo V. of the 70th Wing in Latina and Lt Col Salvatore F. of the 37th Wing in Trapani-Birgi, means recognising and giving due credit not only to them, but also and above all to all those who, in various capacities, made these results possible. The important milestones reached by the two officers, as well as numerous other equally remarkable goals achieved by other pilots and specialists of the Air Force, therefore allow the degree of professionalism of the personnel to be concretely measured. Professionalism and competence are daily put at the service of the country's system, on the one hand, through the continuous transfer of experiential maturity and knowledge acquired over time in favour of future generations, and on the other hand, through the acquisition of ever-increasing operational readiness and experience for the benefit of the defence of national airspace.
