Mayor Brandoni, accompanied by some representatives of the municipal administration, visited the Foreign Language School of the Air Force in Loreto. In particular, the educational offer of the S.L.E.A.M. was presented, aimed at more than 1000 annual participants, which primarily includes the teaching of the English language, also in e-learning mode, for the linguistic training needs of the Air Force personnel in the specific field of Aviation English and in the specialized field of employment outside national borders. To this type of courses are then added Italian courses for foreign military personnel within the military cooperation, also in face-to-face and e-learning mode, as well as English language courses for other Armed Forces and Departments. Under the auspices of the General Staff of the Defense, for about a year now, the Military Operational English (MOE) course for Forward Air Controllers (FAC) has been conducted, intended for those military personnel who require specialized and in-depth English language proficiency for performing coordination functions in close air support activities in support of ground forces (Close Air Support).
During the year, in addition, more than 2000 language proficiency tests are carried out, in accordance with the NATO standards (Joint Forces Language Test – J.F.L.T.), which are necessary for military personnel to be able to operate in foreign duty stations.
After the briefing, the delegation visited the teaching facilities used daily by S.L.E.A.M., a true “Military Language Center” increasingly geared towards operating in an inter-service and international perspective.
The visit then continued at the exhibition “Italian Wings – Between Sky and Sea on the Five Continents” and with the traditional signing of the Honor Roll and the exchange of commemorative items.
At the end of the day, the Mayor thanked Colonel Contristano for the hospitality and the opportunity to get to know the Department, which was not yet well known in its particularity within the Falconara municipal administration.
The exhibition “Italian Wings”, curated by the A.M. Historical Museum of Vigna di Valle (Rome), is on display at Villa Bonci, a historic 19th-century residence within SLEAM that was first owned by tenor Alessandro Bonci and then by the National Opera of the Sons of Aviators (O.N.F.A.), the meritorious moral organization that from 1930 until the 1980s carried out its ‘direct“ assistance activities for the orphans of aviators, in the very same places of the current aeronautical base.
