Over 150 members gathered for the event organised by the National VAM Association. For the occasion, over 150 attendees, coming from all over Italy and belonging to various VAM courses, entered the base to the tunes of the Italian Air Force march to experience a true blast from the past. The gathering opened with the laying of a laurel wreath in honour of the fallen of the 9th B.T. Wing. Afterwards, the Commander of the Italian Air Force Marshal School and Viterbo Airport, Colonel Antonio Coppola, gave the participants a briefing providing an overview of the development of the organisation and the current duties of the Italian Air Force. The event then continued with a visit to the places that defined the participants“ stay in Viterbo during their initial military service training, in particular the VAM building, which has been completely renovated and is currently reconfigured as the Leonardo Educational Hub. The tour also included the ”firing track", where recruits trained in marching, the Oath Square, still used for the Swearing-in Ceremonies of the Regular Student Marshal Courses, and the hangar, usually used for indoor oath rehearsals. Lunch at the Unit's mess hall, accompanied by speeches from the Commander and the organisers and the exchange of crests, marked the concluding moment of the day. In his speech, Colonel Coppola, extending greetings on behalf of all the Unit's personnel, highlighted the strong values possessed by the participants of the gathering, who after many years (some even over 40) wished to commemorate with their presence a particularly important moment in their lives as men, but above all as citizens; those very values such as ethics, passion, and dedication to the State and its institutions, upon which the present and above all the future of the Armed Forces are founded.
