An age of military uniforms

Military uniforms have become increasingly part of our everyday landscape in recent years. Since the end of the compulsory military service, we haven’t seen them much around, and in any case, the young conscripts who filled trains and loitered aimlessly in and out of barracks were not held in high regard. They mostly wasted their time, learned nothing — certainly not how to use a rifle because there were not enough to go around — least of all loyalty to the homeland.

Military service was actually a school of shirking and pretense, associated with endless waste, stolen supplies, illicit trade, and every kind of favoritism. In short, it made our army a laughingstock; it removed any sense of country and, if anything, taught desertion and apathy. Conscription was seen as a punishment, a preventive tax to be paid to the state that made us immediately detest it and for which we could not see the reason, a stumbling block of our youth.

The removal of conscription swept away the image of a sham that hung over our armed forces, which now enjoy an excellent reputation and comprise professionals who are also appreciated on the international stage in our peacekeeping forces. The winds of war blowing everywhere in the world now call for more investment in defense.

Whether we like it or not, deterrence has proven to be the only effective tool in conflict prevention over the past 80 years, and, therefore, military expenditure must increase. A European defense is becoming increasingly necessary by the day. We will get there one step at a time, but in the meantime, we need to re-arm and recruit in a complex profession, where not only military but also highly complex technological skills are required. As much as everyone detests war, it is essential to talk about it; it must be prepared for it, as the Romans used to say.

Therefore, there is nothing wrong with military parades and ceremonies being organized everywhere and with exhibition fairs providing information about the various corps, the training available, and the possibilities a military career offers.

However, I believe that there are places where uniforms should not enter. It’s like polling stations, where the military cannot set foot. Because a uniform always stands for force, for violence — ultimately, domination. It symbolizes the pact that every citizen tacitly signs with the state, giving it the right to exercise violence on its behalf, albeit within the law. A pact that, in the end, is always a little murky because, although it is lawful, it consents to murder, the most unspeakable and obscene act a man can perform.

This is why I consider it wrong for the Bersaglieri to proselytize in schools. We are no longer in the days of the books like Heart and the Little Lombard Lookout. We are citizens, no longer subjects. Today, tax fairness, equal opportunities, fair pay, social welfare, functioning public services, and a worthy health service inspire patriotism. Also, books, culture, education, and art should be kept away from the clamor of arms. Because when weapons speak, culture and education must remain silent, and this must always be something unheard of, outrageous, and unacceptable to us. War must always remain foreign to us; it must never have citizenship; it must always be the ultimate choice, and in the end, it must always be something to be ashamed of.

The Romans, who knew and fought many wars, kept their armies in the Campus Martius, outside the city walls.