On Friday 23 April at the ISMA in Florence, 34 young cadets (18 of whom were female) from the School took an oath of allegiance to Italy and its institutions. In attendance were Air Force Brigadier General Claudio Salerno, Commander of the Institute of Military Aeronautical Sciences, to which the ‘Douhet’ School is attached, and the highest-ranking civil and military authorities in Florence. The thirty-four young cadets, who were admitted in September 2009 to the third year of the Scientific Sixth Form and the first year of the Classical Sixth Form, took a solemn oath, undertaking aa concrete and unbreakable commitment to loyalty to the Fatherland and to the Institutions, and to model their lives on established principles such as a sense of duty, solidarity, discipline, esprit de corps and mutual respect, as Colonel Filippo Caroselli, Commander of the School, was keen to emphasise. General Salerno, addressing the cadets, emphasised the importance of the School’s commitment to doing its utmost to mould them into model citizens, exemplifying cultural refinement and inner richness. He expressed his thanks to the families for wishing to share with the cadets the joy of this latest milestone and for the support they consistently provide to the ‘Douhet’. In his address, General Preziosa thanked the authorities present and offered words of encouragement to the young cadets on the ‘Dardo’ course, emphasising how training forms the strategic backbone of all organisations, including military ones, and how “personal development” enables a better understanding of change and, in particular, the exploration of measures for necessary adaptation without losing sight of our core values. General Preziosa also emphasised that the oath represents the solemn commitment to which our lives—as citizens and defenders of the Italian community—must be guided, with freedom, dignity and responsibility. The oath-taking ceremony was followed by the naming of the course, which took the name ‘Dardo’, a name embodying an allegorical symbolism of the essence and key characteristics of a constellation intended to represent the initiatory preparation of the cadets whilst attending the course at the School, as a life project for a bright future.
‘Il Padrino’, Brigadier General Roberto Quattrociocchi, an alumnus of the Morosini School and currently Commander of the Salto di Quirra Joint Interoperability Range in Perdasdefogu (Nuoro), presented the standard that will forever identify and accompany the course to the Head of Course. The swearing-in ceremony was preceded by the first visit of General Preziosa to ISMA. Before the ceremony, the Commander of the Schools attended an explanatory briefing on the Institute's activities and met with the permanent staff and the COBAR. At the end of the visit, General Preziosa received the ISMA Unit Badge and was "jovially" appointed an honorary member of the Institute's Noble Cap.
